A new agreement between the state and five Indian tribes promises to give local governments far greater oversight of casino development projects than ever before. >>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

After nearly five years of work and $5 million of expense, Monterey County's general plan revision effort has taken a drastic turn. Monterey County supervisors have installed a new team to take charge of the revision and have put on ice a draft general plan that had been endorsed by the Planning Commission. >>read more

A state appellate court has upheld an environmental impact report for a 96-unit condominium project in downtown Oceanside. The court rejected arguments that the environmental impact report failed to analyze a reasonable range of alternatives, did not address the project's impact on neighboring residents and did not require adequate mitigation of biological impacts. >>read more

The City of Los Angeles may not revoke a building permit issued to a religious congregation that relied on the permit to commence a demolition and construction project, a divided panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The court ruled that under the doctrine of equitable estoppel, the congregation had a vested right with which the city could not interfere. >>read more

One of the peculiarities of architects is their love of design method - and their love, equally great, of talking about it. The problem is, almost nobody really gives a toss about design method. Sometimes, however, design method is genuinely interesting, such as the five-year process to design and approve the Viewpoint School, a private academy for 1,200 students in the City of Calabasas. >>read more

There is little question that, in most parts of California today, the idea of “smart growth” is winning the political battle. The land-rich areas of the Inland Empire and the Central Valley remain suburban holdouts, but in most of the ret of the state, the core ideas – higher-density housing, mixed-use development, and even improved transit service – are gaining political acceptance. >>read more

Two bills that give the state the ability to control local tax increment financing advanced at the state Capitol during June. If the bills become law, state officials would have more control than ever before over local projects that rely on tax increment financing. >>read more

Some of the most desirable office jobs are leaking overseas, and no one seems to know how to plug the hole in the employment dike. If the globalization trend continues as expected, it could dampen demand for commercial development and affect economic development strategies throughout California, especially in the Bay Area. >>read more