Articles

The State of California's 2000-01 budget and various pieces of legislation created several new programs and expanded some existing housing programs under the Department of Housing and Community Development. They new programs include: o Jobs-Housing Balance Improvement Program. $110 million. Covers three areas: — Economic development grants to local agencies in "housing rich" areas to attract new businesses and jobs. — Incentive grants to cities and counti...

Federal housing officials violated the free speech rights of three Berkeley residents who protested plans for a homeless shelter in their neighborhood, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The court ruled that a Department of Housing and Urban Development officials' eight-month investigation into the activities of project opponents trampled on rights that were clearly protected by the First Amendment. The court held that the five HUD officials (one of whom is now deceased) are...

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court judgment giving an Indian tribe the right to regulate the use of fee-patented private property within a reservation boundary. The unanimous three-judge panel ruled that an Indian tribe has the authority to regulate land owned by nonmembers only when given specific Congressional approval or when then land use directly affects the tribe's political integrity, economic security, or health and welfare. The case involved a small timber ha...

The U.S. Supreme Court has accepted for review a takings case from Rhode Island. The case centers on the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council's denial of permits to fill 18 acres of wetlands and a pond in the town of Westerly. The landowner, Anthony Palazzolo, first sought permission to dredge and fill the marsh and pond in 1962 so that he could build 74 houses. He filed several subsequent applications but did not receive the approval needed to proceed. The state age...

With affordable housing ranking as a major issue in nearly all of California, the Davis administration and the Legislature responded this year with a gigantic increase in funding for housing programs. However, they did not adopt the significant policy changes supported by the building industry and some housing advocates, and the governor even vetoed one of the few important housing bills approved by lawmakers. Housing programs will receive about $570 million of this year's state budget — up from about...

When a disaster destroys your home, there are basically two responses. You can choose to start afresh, and build an entirely new house. Or, you can rebuild the house you had before, brick by brick, because it was familiar and because you loved it. That was the dilemma facing Avila Beach, an unincorporated community San Luis Obispo County, which found itself with the rare opportunity of rebuilding after a near-total demolition. The community's decision says much about both planning and the human di...

The largest Bloomingdale's department store outside of New York City is coming to San Francisco thanks to a $27 million loan from the city to the developer. In approving the 1.6-million-square-foot redevelopment project, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors also backed an agreement that requires all retailers in the project except Bloomingdale's not to block labor union organizing. The five-story, 375,000-square-foot Bloomingdale's will anchor the retail, hotel and office project...

Redevelopment is supposed to be out of fashion. The legislative reforms passed in 1993 made it more difficult for local governments to find "blight" — and cut down on the financial incentives for using redevelopment as well. Furthermore, California's appellate courts have made it increasingly clear that they have little patience for California's redevelopment games. In three recent rulings, appellate judges have hammed local agencies for playing fast and loose with the definition of both "blight" and "u...

Ever since Camp Pendleton opened on its northern border during World War II, Oceanside has been known as a military town. Over the years, nude dance clubs, rough bars, tattoo parlors and hourly motels flourished in the beachfront downtown, giving Oceanside a reputation as a tough town with a high crime rate. But city officials, civic leaders and merchants in this northern San Diego County town of 160,000 people have worked hard to make those days history. Now, downtown is on a comeback, aide...

The First District Court of Appeal has cleared the way for Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown to participate in redevelopment decisions in neighborhoods where he owns property. In overturning a Fair Political Practices Commission ruling, the court held that Oakland's City Charter provides a loophole in state conflict-of-interest laws by requiring the mayor's participation in redevelopment activities. Brown championed the state's conflict of interest law, the Political Reform Act of 1974 (Gov. Code §81000), whe...

The City of Los Angeles's general plan framework and accompanying environmental impact report have survived most aspects of a legal challenge. The Second District Court of Appeal found the EIR acceptable but rejected the city's findings regarding traffic impacts, remanding the case to the trial court. The unanimous three-judge appellate panel upheld the EIR's discussion of alternatives, water resources analysis and housing policies. Assistant City Attorney Susan Pfann said city officials we...

The California Supreme Court has voted to review a business tax case from San Diego. However, the state's high court deferred action on Teyssier v. City of San Diego until the court decides a similar case from Los Angeles. In June, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that San Diego's tax on rental residences was not subject to Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act of 1996 (see CP&DR Legal Digest, August 2000). The city assessed a rental unit business tax on all residential pr...

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will not reconsider a takings case involving a building moratorium in the Tahoe Basin. However, five Ninth Circuit judges did vote to hear the case of Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc., v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 216, F3d., 764. (9th Cir. 2000), and Judge Alex Kozinski issued a blistering dissent in which he accused the three-judge panel that decided the case of ignoring takings precedent. "The panel does not like the Supreme Court's Takings Claus...

After years of meager funding at the hands of a congressional majority with little affection for environmental issues, land-conservation and habitat-protection programs nationwide are about to receive a huge financial boost from the federal government. California, in particular, stands to gain a great deal from what some observers characterize as a "landmark" conservation-funding measure in the $18.8 billion Interior Department appropriations bill sent to President Clinton in Octobe...