Vol. 18 No. 09 Sep 2003

A developer’s allegation that a City of San Dimas general plan amendment was an unconstitutional taking has been rejected by the Second District Court of Appeal.

Price: $2.95

Infill development is increasingly the best — or only — option for landlocked and built-out cities to add housing. However, estimating where and how much infill housing could realistically be developed are challenges.

Price: $2.95

John Menne is chairman of the Urban Land Institute’s Los Angeles district council, which is one of ULI’s most active regional organizations. Last year, the organization sponsored the “Reality Check on Growth,” in which 200 civic leaders used chits and a map to figure out where to put 6 million more people in metropolitan Southern California. More recently, ULI-LA introduced an urban planning and development curriculum in four Los Angeles high schools.

Price: $2.95

It's perhaps premature to ask what changes smut peddler Larry Flynt would make to the General Plan Guidelines, or where buxom billboard celebrity Angelyne stands on the latest wrinkles in the California Environmental Quality Act. But with the recall election only a month away -- and two statewide propositions on the special ballot along with the recall -- it's not too early to speculate on how the whole October 7 circus will affect the world of planning and development in California.

Price: $2.95

Two audits of redevelopment agencies that the Department of Housing and Community Development completed in August strike hard at local agency practices. The state found a number of accounting and planning deficiencies at the Baldwin Park Redevelopment Agency and told the City of Concord to stop using housing set-aside funds for general code enforcement activity.

Price: $2.95

The First District Court of Appeal has published its decision upholding a slow-growth initiative approved by Alameda County voters in November 2000.

Price: $2.95

A Huntington Beach property tax override intended to fund employee retirement benefits violated Proposition 13, a divided Fourth District Court of Appeal panel has ruled. The court majority held that the tax override approved by voters in 1978 allowed the city to assess property owners only for retirement benefits offered at that time — and not for increased benefits the city had given to employees since.

Price: $2.95

An appellate court has overturned a Superior Court decision requiring the City of Escondido to reimburse the city redevelopment agency’s housing fund for 13 years worth of underpayments. The appellate panel instead ruled that, because of the statute of limitations, the city had to reimburse the housing fund for only three years worth of underpayments.

Price: $2.95

The importance of a complete and clear administrative record for development projects came to the forefront in a case from Merced County in which the Fifth District Court of Appeal overturned approval of a gravel mine because the administrative record was muddled. The court said it could discern little from the administrative record and, therefore, could not uphold the project’s environmental impact report.

Price: $2.95

A long-planned 115-acre lagoon restoration project in Del Mar is on track after an appellate court rejected neighboring property owner’s lawsuit over the restoration. Two to three years worth of work to restore San Dieguito lagoon could begin as soon as 2005.

Price: $2.95