San Diego judge rules that Santee couldn't end-run a voter referendum by repealing approval and then passing an emergency ordinance moving the project forward. SB 330 was no help.
Nevada officials want Las Vegas to expand even further, by opening federal land to development. As too many places in California illustrate, that's a recipe for sprawl, but not for a better city.
by Ella Morner-Ritt and Alexandra Friedman on Aug 13, 2024
The Oakland City Council adopted the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan, its first comprehensive plan for the area, which integrates racial equity into its vision and implementation
The state passed a law protecting the species after the Fish & Game Commission deadlocked on listing it. Critics say the mitigation fee of $300 to $2,500 per plant will make housing projects infeasible.
The San Diego City Council approved the major updates to several community plans that usher in significant increases in density and urban design upgrades
The governor has a new infill housing initiative that includes a proposal to use housing as CEQA mitigation. But this play is only partly about housing. It's mostly about getting transportation projects adequately mitigated under SB 743.
Neighbors have challenged in the project, located along a high-rise corridor, in two different lawsuits -- one challenging the city's application of an eldercare zoning deviation and the other challenging the city's use of a Sustainable Communities Environmental Assessment. So far the church is winning.
by Ella Morner-Ritt and Alexandra Friedman on Jul 30, 2024
The San Diego City Council adopted a comprehensive general plan amendment called Blueprint SD, aiming to guide the city's growth while addressing climate change, expediting zoning updates and tackling racial segregation
by Ella Morner-Ritt and Alexandra Friedman on Jul 23, 2024
California Forever, the parent company behind the East Solano Plan to build a new city of up to 400,000 residents on the northeastern edge of the Bay Area, reached an agreement with Solano County on a new process for advancing the plan
The city bought the theater to avoid sale to an evangelical church. That set up an explosion of litigation -- which the city is winning and the church is losing.
A nearby office-building owner challenged the infill exemption on a condo project, claiming rare species were in the vicinity. In a case of dueling biologists, the Court of Appeal ruled that the species weren't rare enough to qualify.
