Articles

With the politicking already under way, another confusing campaign over eminent domain restrictions is likely to confront voters next year.

Stanislaus County supervisors and developers have beaten farmland preservation advocates to the punch. Supervisors adopted a developer-written growth plan for the unincorporated community of Salida six months before voters are scheduled to decide on a slow growth/farmland protection initiative that actually was written first.

The Coastal Commission's denial of an application for after-the-fact approval of a caretaker's mobile home, a storage shed and other facilities at the site of an antenna farm in the Santa Monica Mountains has been upheld by an appellate court. However, the court ruled that the commission could not prevent the property owner from erecting gates and "to trespassing" signs.

The City of Dinuba's redevelopment agency is entitled to tax increment that Tulare County erroneously distributed to itself and nine other local government entities, according to a unanimous state Supreme Court ruling.

An eminent domain action's impact on the future development of the remaining private property — which needs rezoning for development — may be considered by a jury that is determining the fair market value of the taking, the state Supreme Court has ruled.

A lawsuit contending that a Eureka Redevelopment Agency deal for a waterfront development violated conflict of interest laws has been thrown out. The First District Court of Appeal upheld a trial court judge, who ruled the lawsuit was filed after the statute of limitations had expired.

A common method of converting rent-controlled apartments into for-sale condominiums in San Francisco has been upheld in a lawsuit filed by apartment tenants who alleged an unlawful business practice. The First District Court of Appeal ruled that the tenants had no right to bring the lawsuit.

New housing units provide financial benefits for local and state government, according to a new study prepared for the California Homebuilding Foundation. But some analysts are not ready to embrace the study or its conclusions.

Concluding that Fontana has dodged its affordable housing obligations since 1987, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has blocked the Fontana Redevelopment Agency from issuing $40 million in tax allocation bonds because the agency has exceeded its debt limit. The court also declined to "validate" a settlement between Fontana and the state Department of Housing and Community Development concerning a $67 million shortfall in affordable housing funds, and the court makes clear that Fontana has been avoiding is affordable housing obligations since 1987.

San Bernardino County has agreed to deal with greenhouse gas reduction in its general plan as part of a settlement agreement in a high-profile lawsuit filed by the state attorney general's office.

In passing the state budget on Tuesday, the Legislature agreed to begin resolving issues associated with the California Environmental Quality Act and global warming.

Almost 30% of Californians name air pollution as the state's biggest environmental problem — far more than any other — and another 10% say the biggest environmental problem is global warming, which is related to air pollution. Furthermore, a significant plurality say the state government should do something about it, which suggests that there might be political tolerance for air pollution regulation

The Salton Sea sits likes a time bomb in the desert, serving up a brew of bad smells, turgid waters and the potential to increase air pollution in an area where thousands of homes are planned. But under a proposal making its way through the Legislature, some of the sea's lurking hazards may be stopped. Instead, the Salton Sea may be shrunk to a third of its current 240,000 acres and revived as a recreational lake for sport fish and migrating birds. All it will take is billions of dollars and at least 75 years of maintenance.