With Sacramento bogged down in the annual battle over the state budget, it appears that the Schwarzenegger administration may not push forward a housing agenda before the legislative session concludes on August 31. But whether or not the administration gets behind legislation this year, it is apparent that administration officials led by Business Transportation and Housing (BTH) Secretary Sunne Wright McPeak are devising broad housing policies. >>read more

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

Two recent appellate court rulings appear to have clarified aspects of the California Environmental Quality Act and may have even broken new legal ground. One case involved the project description in an environmental impact report and in public notices. The court held that the identity of the proposed project's end user did not have to be disclosed. The other case contained a lengthy discussion about how to address a proposed project's impact on a community's jobs-housing ratio. >>read more

In the latest round of a battle that began during the late 1980s, the City of St. Helena has won an appellate court ruling stating the Napa Valley Wine Train is not a public utility to be regulated by the Public Utilities Commission. The decision appears to mean that the city has sole jurisdiction over the design and operation of the Wine Train’s long-proposed station in downtown St. Helena. >>read more

Nearly every project falls a little short of its initial promise, and nearly every project loses some of its visionary luster in the translation from idea to fact. Even with limited expectations, however, Playa Vista comes as an unpleasant jolt. The 1,085-acre housing development immediately south of Santa Monica is the most striking example I know of the discrepancy between a plan and on-the-ground reality. >>read more

The average home price in California topped $400,000 in June. This news stimulated the now-familiar headlines about how even beat-up tract homes from the ’60s have become unaffordable for middle-class families. It’s getting to the point that a six-figure income does not guarantee homeownership. >>read more

Habitat conservation plans have become popular tools for balancing development with protection of imperiled plant and animal species. However, recent court rulings have resulted in the suspension of the federal government's HCP program and have cast doubt on its long-term future. >>read more

Yolo County officials have voted to use eminent domain to purchase the 17,300-acre Conaway Ranch. The ranch, which lies between Woodland and West Sacramento, contains 15,900 acres of productive farmland, endangered species habitat, open space, rights to 50,000 acre-feet per year of water, natural gas sources, and flood control value. >>read more

A state appellate court has rejected a claim that a Coastal Commission permit condition requiring the dedication of a public access to the beach was a taking. The court ruled that the lawsuit should have been filed 20 years earlier, and that an agency's more recent acceptance of the "offer to dedicate" did not give the landowner a new chance to sue. >>read more