Articles

In one of the first published opinions upholding an environmental impact report's water analysis, the Third District Court of Appeal has overturned a lower court's ruling favoring opponents of a gravel mine proposed in Placer County. >>read more

A final rundown of city- and county-level ballot measures from all over the state. >>read more

It's a little hard to make out the houses in aerial photographs of the 1997 flood in south Yuba County. Only after a minute or two do we realize that we are not looking at floating detritus, but at the rooftops of homes nearly submerged in the brown water. >>read more

Voters who decided local land use ballot measures in November showed slow-growth tendencies. They also displayed more than a little unpredictability, suggesting that nothing in local land use politics is certain, or at least certain forever. >>read more

If you asked the average person to name a city that has professional sports, big-name entertainment, acres of waterfront park and dozens of historic buildings, not many people would say Stockton. But, in spite of its reputation as a crime-ridden, working-class place, downtown Stockton has all of the above — and more is on the way.

Two ballot measures approved by Santa Cruz voters in November appear to have further strained the already difficult relationship between the city and the University of California. >>read more

Of all the Election Day upsets in congressional races across the country, none was more surprising than the defeat of veteran Central Valley lawmaker Richard Pombo, who has represented California's 11th District in the House of Representatives since 1992. The seven-term congressman, chair of the House Committee on Resources, was unseated by a candidate with virtually no political experience and little name recognition outside his immediate family. >>read more

In November 1986, California Planning & Development Report was born as a four-page "sample." We haven't missed a month since. >>read more

Looking back at the environmental issues that grabbed headlines 20 years ago, it's tempting to conclude that nothing at all has changed. >>read more

Back in the early 1990s, regionalism was the hot planning topic. Championed by then-Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, regionalism sought to organize a range of planning functions traditionally managed at the state and local levels into newly defined "regions" that would better reflect actual human activity and social function. >>read more

Thesis: Cities are dynamic places, where different forces constantly push against each other. Among those many forces are the desires of local residents to maintain a "sense of place," or in some cases create that sense de novo in locations where it does not already exist. >>read more

Several pieces of land use legislation have been vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, including two bills aimed at affordable housing and a bill that would have decreased local discretion over the siting of emergency shelters and group homes. Meanwhile, state lawmakers and lobbyists are already starting to prepare housing bills for the 2007 legislative session. >>read more

After five years of planning, dozens of public meetings and a couple advisory elections, Humboldt County has abandoned a plan to establish redevelopment project areas in rural communities spread around the county. >>read more

Construction has begun on an eight-block project in central Ontario that city officials and developers say will be a cornerstone of downtown revitalization. >>read more