by William Fulton

In an unpublished ruling, an appellate court concluded that cities challenging RHNA targets can't sue the state. Previous rulings only said that cities couldn't sue their council of governments.

Their project was denied even though they asserted the builder's remedy. The lawsuit sets up a legal battle over whether cities can get out from under the builder's remedy by self-certifying their housing element. 

In a case that could have significant implications for the application of the builder's remedy, an L.A. County judge said that La Canada-Flintridge's self-certification of its 2022 housing element may not be enough to get out from under the builder's remedy requirement. He implied that HCD approval is also required. 

In a case from South Lake Tahoe, an appellate court ruled that the city has the right to eliminate all short-term rental permits in residential zones -- but not to give favorable treatment to local residents.

An appellate court concluded that San Diego staff emails constituted a "smoking gun" that the city had not considered a proposed increase in the height limit in the Midway area's programmatic EIR.

In a new case from Oakland, an appellate court ruled that the city can impose new fees on an old project despite signing an agreement that seemed to lock the fees in.

One camp says CEQA litigation stifles housing production and reinforces the status quo. The other camps says CEQA litigation isn't all that frequent and leads to better projects. But what if they're both right?

Koll Center Developer Can Use Old EIR: Kennedy Commission Beats Huntington Beach Again

At least that's what an appellate court ruled in a case from Pomona that was brought, ironically, by a prospective cannabis merchant who argued otherwise.

Dueling environmental groups disagreed over how much the university should thin non-native trees to reduce fire hazard. They both sued -- and they both lost.

Most developers have been trying to get their projects approved for years. Some are adding multifamily affordable units to single-family projects in order to qualify.

Or is one Huntington Beach City Councilmember's attempt to decertify the Beach and Edinger Specific Plan EIR simply a sideways attempt to repeal the plan?

State's water quality law will likely continue to protect wetlands in an expansive way. 

One-for-one mitigation may work for agricultural land or biological resources. But a court has found that it won't work for "The Sphinx" -- a unique and now-demolished brutalist building in downtown San Jose designed by the famous architect Cesar Pelli.