Less than a week after voters decided nearly 20 growth-related ballot measures, an attorney for a developer who lost an election last January made its case to the Second District Court of Appeal. The lawyer for Costa Mesa-based Messenger Development argued that a referendum over a 3,200-home development in the City of Moorpark was illegal.
During a January special election, Moorpark voters overturned their City Council's approval of Hidden Creek Ranch, a subdivision proposed inside Moorpark's sphere of influence. Voters also approved an initiative that requires an election before development may occur on land zoned for agriculture or open space. The latter was part of the Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) campaign that has swept across Ventura County.
The special election appeared to deal two fatal blows to Messenger, which had worked nearly a decade on the Hidden Creek Ranch project. But Messenger went to court, challenging both the referendum that overturned approval of the project and the Moorpark version of SOAR.
The builder lost the challenge of the referendum at the trial court level, but the case was argued before the Second District Court of Appeal on November 8. (The lawsuit over the SOAR initiative is on hold pending outcome of the referendum lawsuit.) One of Messenger's primary arguments is that voters did not receive complete information. The referendum was over the development agreement between the city and Messenger, but other legislation, including a general plan amendment, was contingent upon the development agreement, Messenger argued. Voters could not decide on the development agreement without seeing the entire package, according to the developer. Messenger further contended that the form of the petition that qualified the referendum for the ballot was improper because the petition shrunk an 83-page development agreement down to 19 pages of microscopic type that was nearly illegible.
Besides the technical quarrels, the developer also argued that the referendum severely hampered Moorpark's ability to provide necessary affordable housing, and that the vote left Messenger with zoning that conflicts with the general plan.
Attorneys for SOAR, who are defending the city, argued that the voters have spoken on two perfectly legal ballot measures. They contend that Messenger was only complaining about having to play by new rules that directly insert the electorate into land-use decisions.
A decision in the case is due by early February.
The Case:
Hidden Creek Ranch v. City of Moorpark, No. B127901.
The Lawyers:
For Hidden Creek Ranch, Wendy Lascher, Lascher & Lascher, (805) 648-3228.
For Moorpark: Richard Francis, (805) 486-5898.
In a decision that could have implications for the cleanup of polluted industrial sites, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled that an oil company's insurer has no responsibility to pay for state-mandated remediation.
In a 2-1 ruling, the court held that the insurer's promise to defend a "suit" did not force the insurer to defend an administrative proceeding. Furthermore, the court said, the insurer must pay only court-ordered damages, and not fines coerced by an administr...
An environmental group that sued a company over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act has been denied attorneys' fees by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
The unanimous three-judge panel — which included retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White, sitting by assignment — said that in cases where the government eventually does take action, such as this one, a private party is not entitled to receive its court costs.
In November 1995, The Montana Coalition for Health, Environmen...
Claims that Sacramento County violated the California Environmental Quality Act while approving a commercial development have been dismissed by the Third District Court of Appeal because the project opponent did not submit a written request for a hearing within 90 days of filing a lawsuit.
The attorney for opponent Forster-Gill, Inc., argued that a telephone call to the court clerk within the 90-day period was adequate, but the appellate court disagreed, ruling that the law "plainly contemplates a written request that can be, and is, filed with the court."
A state appellate court has upheld the California Coastal Commission's denial of a development permit for a small mixed-use project in Morro Bay.
The court rejected developer Dan Reddell's arguments that the commission violated his due process and equal protection rights, and that its decision was a regulatory taking of property. Instead, the Second District Court of Appeal ruled that substantial evidence supported the commission's finding that Reddell's project was inconsistent with Morro Bay's local coastal plan (LCP).
A state appellate court has thrown out an Inyo County general plan amendment that the county argued was nothing more than a clarification of a longstanding policy.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, concluded that the amendment was more than a mere clarification and that the county should have completed an environmental impact report before approving the amendment.
A City of West Hollywood moratorium on new multi-family housing development has been declared invalid by the Second District Court of Appeal. The court ruled that the city had not made required findings for the moratorium.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has set back a plan to develop the country's largest solid waste landfill near Joshua Tree National Park. The court ruled that the environmental analysis for the project was inadequate and that the Bureau of Land Management undervalued land it would provide to the landfill developer.
A state appellate court has struck down a California Environmental Quality Act exemption for an air district rule permitting new power plants to offset emissions by paving roads. The court found that the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District did not have adequate evidence to support its finding that the rule could not have a negative impact on the environment.
A developer is not entitled to reimbursement or damages from a consultant hired by a local government to complete an environmental impact report, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled. Even when the consultant fails to complete an EIR in a timely manner, the consultant owes no contractual duty to the developer that paid for the consultant, the court concluded.
In the first decision of its kind, a divided Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel has declared that the City of Goleta's mobile home rent control ordinance constitutes a regulatory taking.
The City of Claremont's moratorium on dispensaries of medical marijuana and a Superior Court injunction shuttering a dispensary have been upheld by the Second District Court of Appeal.
A city may determine that project alternatives once considered potentially feasible for California Environmental Quality Act analysis are infeasible as actual projects, the Sixth District Court of Appeal has ruled.
