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Latest initiative Might Preclude New Airport at El Toro

Nov 1, 1999

Local Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

The future of the El Toro Marine Corps base in Orange County remains as clouded as ever, with voters likely to decide in March on an initiative that could doom a commercial airport proposed for the site. A 3-2 majority on the Orange County Board of Supervisors continues to push ahead plans for an international airport at El Toro, located in and adjacent to the City of Irvine. But the Safe and Healthy Communities initiative would require two-thirds of voters to approve a new airport. Further ...

One Phase of Diablo Grande Construction May Begin Soon

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

A Stanislaus County superior court judge appears to have cleared the way for housing construction at the controversial Diablo Grande development in the hills west of Interstate 5, near Patterson. Judge Donald Shaver said Stanislaus County may permit construction that would be served by water sources that have been "fully and adequately reviewed under CEQA." Project proponents contend the Oct. 1 ruling allows them to pursue the first phase of the project, which amounts to 2,000 homes, two go...

Anti-Stadium Initiative Barred

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

An appellate court has blocked from the ballot an initiative that seeks to overturn a 1997 ballot measure that approved partial public financing for a new San Francisco 49ers football stadium and amended the city's zoning ordinance to allow the stadium and an adjacent shopping mall. (See CP&DR Economic Development, July 1997.) Stadium opponents gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot an initiative that would overturn the 1997 measures. The 49ers sued and San Francisco Superior ...

Planner Pleads No Contest in Rail-Cycle Case

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

Valery Pilmer, a former San Bernardino County land use services director, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of stealing a public document. Under the plea agreement with the county district attorney's office, Pilmer was sentenced to 300 hours of community service and retired from county employment effective October 15. Pilmer was indicted earlier this year on four felony counts relating to hiding, altering or destroying public records and lying about it in a sworn statement. The charges stem f...

Paseo Pasadena: A Retail Mall Turns Urban Village

Nov 1, 1999

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

Architects and planners like to think they are building "for the ages." Recent experience, however, suggests the very opposite. The culture, the economy and fashions in urban design all appear to be in a rapid state of change. Perhaps the Internet and advances in telecommunications are shortening the half-life of cultural events. Perhaps we're just getting older and the world seems to be getting faster. Notwithstanding, buildings that exemplified urban life only 20 years ago are rapidly becoming obsolet...

Infill Receives CEQA Exemption: In FIrst Published Ruling, Court Makes Guidelines Retroactive

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

A 5,855-square-foot retail and office building proposed for downtown Mill Valley is exempt from environmental review under revised California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines, the First District Court of Appeals has ruled. The court ruled that buildings of up to 10,000 square feet proposed for an urban area may be exempt from CEQA review. In the Mill Valley case, the court concluded that the project opponent did not prove the existence of any "unusual circumstances" that would preclude the exempti...

Incorporation: City of Shasta Lake Entitled to Proposition 172 Revenue

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

A six-year dispute between Shasta County and the new City of Shasta Lake regarding tax revenue has been decided in favor of the city. The Third District Court of Appeals upheld nearly all aspects of a ruling issued during binding arbitration by retired Siskiyou County Superior Court Judge James Kleaver. The appellate court said the city, which incorporated on July 2, 1993, has the right to receive Proposition 172 sales tax revenue and that the Proposition 172 revenue should offset the amount the count...

Court Makes DFG Adfd CEQA to Stream Permit Reviews

Nov 1, 1999

Environment Watch, Larry Sokoloff, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

Forced by a lawsuit to incorporate the California Environmental Quality Act process into the way it issues streambed and lake alteration permits, the California Department of Fish & Game has issued new procedures that will require more property owners to do greater environmental review before they undertake such projects. Every permit (often called a "1600" for a section of the Fish and Game Code) will be examined to see how CEQA applies, according to Jim Steele, a DFG program manage...

Governor Leaves Mark on 1999 Legislative Session : Redlands ‘Doughnut Hole' Bill, Marks-Roos Reform Earn Vetoes

Nov 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999, William Fulton

In his first year as governor, Gray Davis has gained a reputation as a chief executive quick to wield the veto pen — and the field of planning and development legislation proved to be no exception. Even though the Legislature passed only small and incremental bills — opting against sweeping change in any area — Davis vetoed one-third of all planning and development bills that reached his desk. "I think he actually striped the middle pretty well," said Clyde McDonald, Assembly Local Governme...

Tulare County Dairy Suits Settled

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Local Watch, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

Two lawsuits Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed against Tulare County regarding approval of giant dairies have been settled. The county agreed to add an animal waste management element to its general plan and to complete a program EIR by the end of the year. Under terms of a settlement reached in August, the Airosa Diary agreed to suspend its 3,600-cow expansion of a dairy near Pixley until the county completes the EIR and reviews the expansion. An October settlement of a second lawsuit places the sa...

County Wins ERAF Suit

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

Sonoma County has won the first round in its lawsuit over the state's 1993 shift of property taxes from counties and cities to school districts. Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Laurence Sawyer ruled that the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF) shift was unconstitutional because "the shift of local property taxes compels the counties to accept financial responsibility in whole or in part for a program that was required to be funded by the State." Fifty-three counties joined the lawsuit, whi...

LAFCO Skirts Proposition 218

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

The Proposition 218 requirement for public elections regarding property-based taxes does not apply to areas annexed into a jurisdiction that already has such taxes, according to an Attorney General's opinion. The opinion issued in October by Deputy Attorney General Gregory Gonot says that a Local Agency Formation Commission may require that taxes levied by the jurisdiction be imposed on the newly annexed parcels, even though those landowners did not vote on the taxes. The proposition was not intended ...

Fremont Project Meets Demand For High-Tech Business Space

Nov 1, 1999

Economic Development, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

Although it may not receive as much attention as high-tech powerhouses such as San Jose, Santa Clara and Mountain View, Fremont has attracted numerous small and medium-sized technology companies in recent years. Now, Fremont — in southern Alameda County about 12 miles north of downtown San Jose — is poised to become an even bigger player. Catellus Development Corporation has received nearly all the government approvals necessary for 8.25 million square feet of commercial developm...

Mello-Roos Foreclosure Upheld

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

Delays in constructing roads and utilities funded by Mello-Roos bonds do not absolve property owners of paying Mello-Roos assessments, the Fourth District Court of Appeals ruled in a recently published opinion. In a case from Riverside County, the unanimous three-judge panel found that property owners have an obligation to bondholders that is independent of any dispute over how bond proceeds are used. The County created Community Facilities District 88-8 under the Mello-Roos Community Faci