Sutter County voters may get to relive the ballot-box growth wars of the early 1990s. In July, county officials began preparing an advisory measure for the November ballot regarding the potential development of at least 8,000 acres in the south end of the mostly rural county, near the Sacramento airport. >>read more

The average home price in California topped $400,000 in June. This news stimulated the now-familiar headlines about how even beat-up tract homes from the ’60s have become unaffordable for middle-class families. It’s getting to the point that a six-figure income does not guarantee homeownership. >>read more

Two recent appellate court rulings appear to have clarified aspects of the California Environmental Quality Act and may have even broken new legal ground. One case involved the project description in an environmental impact report and in public notices. The court held that the identity of the proposed project's end user did not have to be disclosed. The other case contained a lengthy discussion about how to address a proposed project's impact on a community's jobs-housing ratio. >>read more

In the latest round of a battle that began during the late 1980s, the City of St. Helena has won an appellate court ruling stating the Napa Valley Wine Train is not a public utility to be regulated by the Public Utilities Commission. The decision appears to mean that the city has sole jurisdiction over the design and operation of the Wine Train’s long-proposed station in downtown St. Helena. >>read more

A state appellate court has rejected a claim that a Coastal Commission permit condition requiring the dedication of a public access to the beach was a taking. The court ruled that the lawsuit should have been filed 20 years earlier, and that an agency's more recent acceptance of the "offer to dedicate" did not give the landowner a new chance to sue. >>read more

The court of appeal has cleared the way for the Modesto Redevelopment Agency to sue manufacturers and suppliers of dry cleaning solvents and equipment. >>read more

The California Supreme Court has accepted for review a case in which lower courts ruled that a state agency may not provide tax-exempt bond financing to religious schools. >>read more

A new agreement between the state and five Indian tribes promises to give local governments far greater oversight of casino development projects than ever before. >>read more

If you tried, you probably could not design a better candidate for extinction than the California tiger salamander. But government protection of the salamander was slow to arrive and now, while the state and federal governments dawdle, the salamander has become embroiled in the politics of growth control and Indian gaming.

After nearly five years of work and $5 million of expense, Monterey County's general plan revision effort has taken a drastic turn. Monterey County supervisors have installed a new team to take charge of the revision and have put on ice a draft general plan that had been endorsed by the Planning Commission. >>read more

One of the peculiarities of architects is their love of design method - and their love, equally great, of talking about it. The problem is, almost nobody really gives a toss about design method. Sometimes, however, design method is genuinely interesting, such as the five-year process to design and approve the Viewpoint School, a private academy for 1,200 students in the City of Calabasas. >>read more

Two bills that give the state the ability to control local tax increment financing advanced at the state Capitol during June. If the bills become law, state officials would have more control than ever before over local projects that rely on tax increment financing. >>read more

Some of the most desirable office jobs are leaking overseas, and no one seems to know how to plug the hole in the employment dike. If the globalization trend continues as expected, it could dampen demand for commercial development and affect economic development strategies throughout California, especially in the Bay Area. >>read more

A State Auditor's report questions reserve fund accumulations and spending practices at independent water districts. The auditor also selected eight districts for closer scrutiny and found that five of them "may have trouble defending to their ratepayers and taxpayers the need for some portion of their accumulative resources." >>read more