Two Southern California redevelopment agencies have lost separate lawsuits over the allocation of property tax revenue from redevelopment project areas.
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide a case in which Lake Tahoe property owners allege that a temporary building moratorium amounted to an unconstitutional taking.
A Clinton-era Interior Department policy that delayed endangered species petitions filed by the public has been thrown out by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The unanimous three-judge panel agreed with environmentalists who said the policy improperly stalled consideration of plants and animals that could qualify for protected status.
Regulations that require most new development to contain and treat stormwater runoff continue to advance at Regional Water Quality Control Boards for California's coastal urban areas. The regulations, however, have received mixed reviews from environmentalists and condemnation from the building industry.
An environmental group that sued the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection over environmental review of a North Coast timber harvest lost its chance to pursue the lawsuit because it did not request a hearing within a prescribed deadline.
The Bay Area town of Hercules has adopted a new plan that city officials hope will allow the town to capitalize on a unique asset: 400 acres of mostly vacant land, some of it with sweeping bay views, situated in the middle of town.
While finger-pointing and chest-thumping have been California politicians' most visible reactions to the latest version of the energy crisis, a few local governments are slowly emerging as leaders in addressing the new energy crisis. The most aggressive of these agencies are going beyond simple conservation programs and actually using their existing facilities as alternative energy power generating locations. And some are seeing that by being leaders in alternative energy production, they can gain com
Here is a twist on the familiar story of neighborhood groups negotiating with developers: The two sides did not limit their discussion to traffic congestion. On the table were a surprisingly wide array of social and environmental concerns, including hiring guarantees, wage levels, job safety and affordable housing.
A developer who lost his ownership interest in a piece of property had no standing to seek a court order forcing a county to recognize a 19th century subdivision of the property, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled. A unanimous three-judge panel of the Second District, Division Six, overturned a trial court's writ of administrative mandamus in the case.
