News Briefs

This month's selection of In Brief items includes: surplus state property recommendations, audits of LA City's Community Redevelopment Agency, limits on development in the Santa Monica Mountains, housing shortfalls in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, approval of the Rancho Mission Viejo development in Orange County, uncollected impact fees in Riverside County, and migration to and from the Central Valley

This month's selection of In Brief items includes Nut Tree redevelopment, a shopping center referendum in Glendale, campaign contibution restrictions for Ventura County developers, and competition for a cargo base in the Inland Empire.

The City of Los Angeles will require economic impact studies for proposed Wal-Mart supercenters and certain other big box stores. The studies are intended to determine the effect of a new big box store on a neighborhood's existing jobs, wages and businesses.

Sutter County voters may get to relive the ballot-box growth wars of the early 1990s. In July, county officials began preparing an advisory measure for the November ballot regarding the potential development of at least 8,000 acres in the south end of the mostly rural county, near the Sacramento airport. >>read more

A State Auditor's report questions reserve fund accumulations and spending practices at independent water districts. The auditor also selected eight districts for closer scrutiny and found that five of them "may have trouble defending to their ratepayers and taxpayers the need for some portion of their accumulative resources." >>read more

A bill concerning development under military airspace continues to evolve in the state Legislature. The bill would require local governments to notify the military of proposed development projects, general plan amendments or plan updates when the property in question lies beneath a low-level flight path or adjacent to a military base. >>read more

The big box wars continue unabated in California, with retail giant Wal-Mart losing one high-profile round but winning elsewhere. In early April, City of Inglewood voters rejected an initiative endorsed by Wal-Mart that would have required the city to approve, without environmental review, a 60-acre retail development between Hollywood Park race track and The Forum. A Wal-Mart supercenter was at the heart of the proposed shopping center. >>read more

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released three reports of interest to planners in March. The reports address housing supply, the link between water and planning, and planned developments. The housing supply study surprised many people because it reported a statewide shortage as of 2000 of only 138,000 units, when interest groups and other analysts have pegged the shortage at 500,000 to 1 million units.

Three highly anticipated studies regarding the potential impact of Wal-Mart supercenters in California have been released in recent weeks. The studies have some common threads but reach dramatically different conclusions - and the studies drew predictable responses.

A large residential and commercial development in Upland is back on track after an appellate court lifted an order that halted some grading. Although litigation filed by the San Bernardino County Flood Control District against developers of the Colonies Crossroads continues, construction is proceeding.

The Bush administration announced it has dropped a plan to relax federal regulation of wetlands. For most of 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers worked on a proposal to redefine which streams, ponds, wetlands and other seasonal and permanent bodies of water would be protected under the Clean Water Act.

The first update of the Governor's Environmental Goals and Policy Report (EGPR) was issued in the final moments of the Davis administration. However, it was unclear how seriously the Schwarzenegger administration and state lawmakers would take the report. One member of the stakeholder advisory committee called the EGPR an "instant historical curiosity."

The Navy has asked incoming governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to block a proposed new town on the Tejon Ranch because the development would hinder national security