This month's selection of In Brief items includes the Governor's action on several important housing bills, an invalidated urban water management plan in Castaic, and a conflict between a condominium tower and a multi-modal transportation depot in downtown San Francisco, among others.

This month's selection of In Brief items includes: surplus state property recommendations, audits of LA City's Community Redevelopment Agency, limits on development in the Santa Monica Mountains, housing shortfalls in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, approval of the Rancho Mission Viejo development in Orange County, uncollected impact fees in Riverside County, and migration to and from the Central Valley

California's population growth never seems to change much - a half-million more people per year, give or take. But where all those people come from and what the growth means for the future of the state are always changing.

The purely aesthetic impacts of a housing project in an urban area are not enough to require preparation of an environmental impact report, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled. In a lengthy opinion, the court appeared to conclude that where aesthetics are the lone issue, a local government's design review process could substitute for environmental review.

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear three cases during its 2004-05 session with potential implications for planning, land regulation and development in California. The court has accepted for review an eminent domain case from Connecticut, a case involving the installation of a radio antenna in Rancho Palos Verdes, and a takings case from Hawaii.

Mendocino County's automatic merger of four lots into one has been upheld by an appellate court. The court rejected the property owners' argument that they should have received advance notice from the county before the lot merger became effective.

Monterey County should have completed an environmental impact report for a proposal to demolish a county jail that many people consider historic for cultural and architectural reasons, the Sixth District Court of Appeal has ruled.

In the first published ruling on the subject, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled that the newly incorporated City of Goleta had the discretion to reject a final subdivision map.

A sweetheart deal that permitted nearly 300 mobile home owners to maintain homes in a state park at the beach has reached a conclusion.

A Placer County judge's decision to throw out a mitigated negative declaration for an employee housing project in the high Sierra has been upheld by the Third District Court of Appeal.

Measures that would impose sales taxes for transportation dominate local ballots around California this November. Five counties are attempting to get voter approval for local-option sales taxes for the first time, while another five counties are seeking extensions of existing taxes. The elections demonstrate the growing growing importance of local, general taxes for funding transportation projects. However, the two-thirds vote requirement makes the revenue source far from certain.

A bill that would have required cities and counties to prepare economic impact reports for proposed big box stores that sell groceries received a veto from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. During a flurry of activity in September, the governor also rejected a bill that would have created a pilot brownfield cleanup program and a measure making minor amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act. Schwarzenegger signed two other brownfield bills, and measures endorsed by environmentalists.

Kern County is moving forward on a new application process for nearly 30 new dairies and 214,000 cows. Although dairy supporters argue that the dairies would be good for the local economy, the cows bring with them tons of worry over public health, air quality, ground and surface water quality, and quality of life.

Ten counties have ten different ideas about what to do with revenue from a local-option sales tax. Here are the details.