Search Results

The state’s challenge to Norwalk’s moratorium on homeless shelters and supportivre housing projects can move forward, a Los Angeles judge has ruled.

In the latest twist over the long-running battle about housing development in the affluent Los Angeles suburb of La Cañada Flintridge, a judge has ordered the city to post a $14 million bond as a condition of appealing a recent ruling.

In approving a hotel project, the City of Clearlake didn’t follow the procedural for tribal consultation laid out in AB 52, an appellate court has ruled. The court overturned a lower court ruling in favor of the city and – in a published decision that can be cited as precedent – clarified the extent to which lead agencies such as Clearlake must follow consultant procedures.

In a major opinion that could unravel implementation of SB 743 throughout the state, an appellate court has ruled that cities and counties can’t assume infill development will automatically lead to lower vehicle miles traveled. The case was published and therefore can be used as precedent around the state.

A legal battle is brewing in Silicon Valley over how much time builder’s remedy applicants have to submit a complete application.

In an unpublished ruling, an appellate court has found fault with the environmental impact report for the proposed aerial gondola from Los Angeles Union Station to Dodger Stadium and has ordered LA Metro to redo the EIR. The court found that LA Metro had not sufficiently analyzed noise impacts during the construction period and had failed to adequately consult with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, which has jurisdiction over the natural resources in several parks that would be affected by the gondola. But the 119-page ruling was not all bad news for LA Metro, however. The court ruled that a land use inconsistency with the Los Angeles State Historic Park near Chinatown was easily resolved with an amendment to the park’s general plan. The court also said Metro had properly analyzed alternatives, including increased bus service from Union Station to the stadium.

The infll exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act can’t be used for a project in Hollywood because the project – which would remove 40 rent-stabilized apartment sand replace them with a hotel – is not consistent with the city’s Housing Element.

The California Supreme Court just strengthened the idea that state law can pre-empt a local ballot initiative.

For the second time in two weeks, an appellate court has found that the City of Los Angeles improperly used the infill exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act to move a development project forward. Although the case was not published by the Second District Court of Appeal, meaning it cannot be used as precedent, it could be published in the future.

An appellate ruling from San Diego has been published which says that a city doesn’t have to correct defects under the California Environmental Quality Act if it simply chooses to abandon the project instead.

In a case that could eventually have significant implications for legal questions about the builder’s remedy, a Los Angeles judge has ruled that La Canada-Flintridge should not have claimed that its housing element was compliant even though the state had not approved it. The judge said if the plaintiff had been a developer with a project in front of the city –a public-interest law firm that’s an arm of the California Association of Realtors – it could have sought relief under the builder’s remedy.

Following in the spirit of a San Diego case decided last year, an appellate court in Orange County has reaffirmed the rule that the Regional Housing Needs Assessment process is not subject to judicial review.