Articles

A bill tying all local transportation projects to a regional "preferred growth scenario" that reduces automobile travel is quickly becoming the most important land use proposal of recent years in Sacramento.

On July 24, the last 7-mile stretch of the 210 Freeway opened from Rialto to San Bernardino. In a way, it was the end of an era.

San Francisco's practice of using building permit fees to fund long-range planning has been upheld by the First District Court of Appeal. The court rejected arguments that the fee plan violated Proposition 13 and the city charter. Instead, the court ruled that long-range planning is sufficiently related to the regulation of building construction to justify the spending.

Riverside County is moving toward adopting restrictive zoning and even acquiring private property in high fire hazard areas.

The Yuba County Board of Supervisors approved the 5,100-unit Yuba Highlands project on Tuesday, July 10, after nearly seven years of planning and negotiation with developer Gary Gallelli. Now it appears the action will shift to the courtroom.

Like a blast of hot air from the Santa Ana winds of fall, the push to address global warming in environmental impact reports has come on suddenly and with surprising intensity.

Corrections. A case involving enforcement of the Williamson Act in Tehama County and the payment of attorney fees to the state has in fact been published in full. A story in the June edition erroneously reported that only a portion of the case was certified for publication. The case is People ex rel. Brown v. Tehama County Board of Supervisors.

The Coastal Commission has rejected Pebble Beach Company's Del Monte Forest plan in Monterey County, Placer County Board of Supervisors remove thier panning commissioner after published controversy, a superior court judge rejects San Francisco referendum petitions, Napa County begins processing an application for the largest project in county history, and Oregonians will vote on a takings ballot measure.

The U.S. Supreme Court has changed course on liability for the cleanup of contaminated properties under the Superfund law. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that a private party undertaking voluntary environmental cleanup can sue another "potentially responsible party" to recover cleanup costs.

The state Supreme Court has depublished a Sixth District Court of Appeal opinion in a case involving the water analysis for a 28-lot subdivision in northern Monterey County.

The California Supreme Court has recently accepted for review three land use cases, including the court's fifth California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) case since 2003.

The Coastal Commission had the authority to order removal of a private, three-hole golf course that violated development permit conditions, even though the course was in place for 18 years before the Commission took action, the Sixth District Court of Appeal has ruled.