Articles

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.

The environmental impact report for an aggregate mine expansion in Merced County has been invalidated by an appellate court because the document's description of the project was "curtailed and shifting," water and traffic impacts were understated, baseline assumptions were not identified and mitigation measures were deferred.

I simply adore being in Cannes, with its splendid, high-end hotels, its outdoor cafes, the elegantly turned-out couples strolling on the boulevard, the nearly naked young people frolicking at the water's edge, unembarrassed by their perfectly toned bodies and golden skin….What's that? I am mistaken? We're not on the Riviera? Oh, naughty carissima, you are trying to fool me with a cruel joke! This couldn't possibly be…Huntington Beach?

Land use politics in Monterey County reached a new level of chaos in early June, when voters cast ballots on four land use measures but apparently resolved nothing. Voters provided conflicting direction on a general plan update adopted by the county, rejected a slow-growth general plan initiative, and overturned county approval of an 1,100-unit housing development.

Californians are relatively thrifty when it comes to electricity consumption, using less on a per-capita basis than residents of any other state. The average Californian consumed 7,032 kilowatt-hours of power in 2005, according to the California Energy Commission. That's not much more than half the U.S. average of 12,347 kilowatt-hours.

WASHINGTON _ Home builders are praising and environmentalists criticizing the Supreme Court's decision allowing states to administer water pollution permitting programs without complying with a key provision in the federal Endangered Species Act.

This is a story of two downtowns — one that has become a model core for a large suburb, and one where the walls that stalled progress have finally come down. This is also the story of the long-term consequences, sometimes unintended, of land use decisions.

Wouldn't you know it? Right when the real estate market slows down, the land use initiative business is picking up. And, as is often the case, the initiatives – rather than clarifying things – are making things more confusing. Although localized in nature, the confusion will continue all the way through the emerging real estate bust and on to the beginning of the next boom.