Vol. 20 No. 03 Mar 2005

A county may extend the life of a tentative subdivision map that has expired if the subdivider filed for an extension before the map expired, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled.

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An overhaul of the flood control system in the Central Valley is in the works. Exactly what the new approach to flood control will be is uncertain. But what is clear is that a 2003 court decision making the state liable for more than $400 million in damages from a 1986 flood in Yuba County has dramatically raised the profile of flood control as a state policy issue.

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After years of planning, negotiations and political battles, redevelopment of the former Marine Corps base in Tustin is proceeding. A developer is in the midst of building 565 single-family homes, townhouses and “paired homes,” and another 4,000 housing units are on the way.

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Here is a list of one-liners about suburbia, inspired by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, originator of the popular “you-know-you're-a-redneck-when” jokes.

You know you're in suburbia when: The only ethnic restaurants you can find are Italian and Chinese. The churches are all bunched together in a “religious-use” district. The synagogues have no Hebrew lettering on them, only English transliterations that make sense in no language whatsoever...

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This month's selection of In Brief items includes: purchase of El Toro Marine Corps base; failed slow-growth initiative in Santee; Malibu land use controversy resolved; Orange County light rail project in trouble; and more...

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An appellate court has thrown out a decision by a City of Los Angeles planning commission because of the activities of a planning commissioner prior to a public hearing.

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A county may not rely on mitigation measures to determine that a project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the First District Court of Appeal has ruled.

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A lawsuit challenging approval of the 6,000-acre, 22,500-unit Sunrise Douglas community plan and a related specific plan in Rancho Cordova has been tossed out by the Third District Court of Appeal.

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The fight over a gigantic addition to a house in Los Angeles's Pacific Palisades area has resulted in an appellate court decision revoking three building permits and the certificate of occupancy for the structure. The order to revoke permits, originally issued by the trial court, came because the city let the property owner build 14 feet closer to the street than permitted by the Municipal Code.

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The San Joaquin Valley will likely lose a considerable amount of farmland to urbanization over the next 40 years no matter what policies the region adopts. However, different policy scenarios can substantially reduce the amount of farmland loss, according to a new report that I helped prepare for the Public Policy Institute of California.

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