Articles

The package of water legislation approved by state lawmakers and signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger earlier this month may be the most ambitious attempt yet to address the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. However, the legislation angers and worries many interests in and around the Delta, including local government leaders concerned about their ability to approve development.

Residents of the Riverside County city of Temecula, which has been among the state's fastest growing cities for 20 years, have run into some growth they do not want. City leaders and local residents are opposing a proposed quarry located one mile south of the city limits near the San Diego County line.

News from around the state: A Riverside County grand jury has indicted four San Jacinto councilmen and four people in the development business; San Marcos has adopted a specific plan for a new downtown; Yolo County has completed an ambitious general plan update; and Santa Clara County property owners are letting an open space district keep the proceeds of an illegal tax.

Two separate California Environmental Quality Act lawsuits over unrelated measures that raised revenue for transportation purposes have been thrown out by the state Court of Appeal. One case involved a half-cent sales tax in Santa Barbara County. The other concerned a Los Angeles bus fare increase.

A report by the California state auditor gives the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) generally good marks for overseeing nearly $5 billion in bond funds approved by voters.

A state appellate court has struck down a California Environmental Quality Act exemption for an air district rule permitting new power plants to offset emissions by paving roads. The court found that the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District did not have adequate evidence to support its finding that the rule could not have a negative impact on the environment.

A developer is not entitled to reimbursement or damages from a consultant hired by a local government to complete an environmental impact report, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled. Even when the consultant fails to complete an EIR in a timely manner, the consultant owes no contractual duty to the developer that paid for the consultant, the court concluded.

If predictions about the impact of global warming are even half right, a lot of us are going to be quite literally swimming – or at least wading – through our daily lives in 30 or 40 years. Yet in the current debate about how the state should approach "adaptation" strategies, all parties are crouched in their typically unhelpful postures.

NBC Universal has unveiled a master plan for buildout of its 391-acre property in the hills between Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley. Morris Newman offers his analysis by way of a dramatic monologue.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has given new life to a lawsuit alleging that the City of Modesto and Stanislaus County discriminated against four predominately Latino communities.

A city may consider aesthetics in regulating the construction of telecommunications antennas, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The ruling is the latest in a series of court decisions upholding the authority of local government to decide where wireless antennas are located.

he Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals continues to crack open the door to property owners seeking compensation for what they claim is a government taking. In its most recent decision, the court ruled that the owner of a rent-controlled mobile home park in Capitola should have its day in federal District Court. This despite the fact that the U.S. District Court and two state courts ruled that a state court decision against the property owner should have settled the matter.

The Natural Resources Agency has altered proposed amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines. The changes appear to shift the focus of environmental analysis away from a project's effects on automobile traffic and toward impact on the overall transportation system.