In Brief

In this month's roundup of land use news: The Los Angeles City Planning Commission president gets her wish – a lawsuit against the city; Rancho San Juan conflict settled in Monterey County; planning director's role as head of LAFCO upheld by court; Napa County grand jury scrutinizes farmworker housing cost overruns. » read more | add to cart

This month's news roundup: The Legislative Analyst's Office has recommended that state lawmakers take charge of the Salton Sea restoration efforts; Stockton makes progress in court; the Coastal Commission runs a marathon; Santa Monica's mall closes for an overhaul. » read more | add to cart

News from around California: The battle continues over Santee's Fanita Ranch; a Congressional commission recommends tripling the gas tax; Bay Area builders go green; Caltrans demands a refund from Placentia; global warming suit dropped in San Bernardino County; Diablo Grande goes on the market; the historic Cocoanut Grove falls; proposed Barstow casinos die; Madera County water controversy roils; San Bernardino corruption figures must pay up; San Francisco Supervisor forced to resign; local taxing authority explained. » read more | add to cart

A roundup of green news: San Francisco may soon have the most stringent environmental building standards in the country; the state's "million solar roofs initiative" gets a slow start; new Oakland office tower would be among the tallest and greenest.

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A federal judge has told Half Moon Bay to pay a property owner for making his property unbuildable; Placer County has sued a former planning commissioner for alleged Subdivision Map Act improprieties; government agencies are suing over a San Diego State expansion plan; Humboldt County has dropped proposed timber zoning resrictions; and more news about flood issues in Sacramento.

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News from around the state includes a ruling against opponents of a new community planned next to the University of California, Merced, campus; a jury's award of $89 million to Southern California developer Rick Caruso; final approval of a multiple-species habitat conservation plan for the Coachella Valley; and redevelopment accounting discrepancies found by the state controller's office. 

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The Manteca City Council offers a time extension on permits and fee deadlines to developers, Wal-Mart’s impact on global warming is questioned in Perris, the Dyer Mountain project in Lassen County has been approved but expected to be put on hold, and the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley has released the first of their annual reports on the state of the valley. » read more | add to cart

Playa Vista development in Los Angeles gets put on hold again, Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge tells city and UC to play nice, a San Luis Obispo landowner sues after winning approval to develop, State Auditor keeps busy with both good marks and ultimatums, and Glendale approves two residential towers downtown. » read more | add to cart

The City of Stockton intends to take back control of its water, eleven redevelopment agencies fail to correct major audit violations, a federal court judge throws out approved initiative that prohibits the dumping of out-of-county sewage sludge, and The owners of the 216-acre Wavecrest development site in Half Moon Bay agree to sell to POST. » read more | add to cart

The ABAG executive board approves the draft regional housing need allocation, meanwhile, San Francisco questions whether to conduct an EIR for its previous housing element update. San Diego’s Mayor vetoes an ordinance that would ban big-box stores that sell groceries, while a disputed Wal-Mart supercenter in the City of American Canyon will open this fall. Placer County supervisors have approved a 14,000-unit housing development but litigation is likely, a judge throws out Rancho Cordova’s approved town center plan, and the City of Bakersfield responds to a “moratorium on future development within metropolitan Bakersfield.” » read more | add to cart