Vol. 21 No. 03 Mar 2006

In recent years, matters related to planning and development have not appeared at the top of state lawmakers’ agenda. But 2006 is different.

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A state appellate court has overturned a trial court judge’s decision to impose a mobile home park rent increase in the City of Carson. Rather than impose the rate hike, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs should have sent the matter back to the city’s Mobilehome Park Rental Review Board, the Second District Court of Appeal ruled.

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A groundbreaking property rights initiative is upheld in Oregon while Chula Vistans will vote on an eminent domain limiting amendment. Three redevelopment agencies are being investigated by the state attorney general for potential violations. Western Riverside COG increases its development mitigation fee while the Environmental Protection Agency releases a "smart growth" report. And, finally, the Department of Water Resources has adopted a new California Water Plan.

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For almost 60 years, urban redevelopment and eminent domain have been intertwined, both in public policy and in the public’s mind. Since at least the passage of the Housing Act of 1949 – and in some states even before that – eminent domain has been used to assemble large blocks of urban land out of small, cut-up parcels. Maybe urban development specialists can’t imagine life without it.

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The state Supreme Court has been extraordinarily active in the field of land use during recent weeks. The court has accepted for review an important case involving the environmental impact report for the Cal-Fed Bay-Delta Project. The court also took a case involving redevelopment in the City of Stockton

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Twenty miles south of San Francisco, the City of San Mateo has approved a specific plan calling for a major, mixed-use development next to the busiest Caltrain station in San Mateo County.

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A turf battle between two local agency formation commissions has concluded with an appellate court ruling that a commission from one county has jurisdiction to determine a sanitary district’s service area in another county.

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Two new chapters have been written in one of California’s longest-running environmental dramas. The latest installments lack the emotional wallop of earlier parts, which featured celebrities, death and torture, but may ultimately prove more significant.

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Redevelopment plans in downtown San Bernardino appear to be advancing after many years of fits and starts.
In January, proponents of a plan to replace an older neighborhood with a 44-acre lake won two lawsuits over the project. In February, LNR Properties, a subsidiary of homebuilding giant Lennar Corp., acquired a long-struggling mall. The developer plans to build at least 900 housing units on the site.

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Some people hissed in January when landscape architect Ken Smith won the competition to design the future Orange County Great Park. The 1,347-acre portion of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in south Orange County was a covetable plum if ever there was one.

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