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Sacramento Yields Few BIg Bills in ‘98 Session; Some Minor Proposals Remain Alive

Aug 1, 1998

Featured Articles, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998, William Fulton

With the election-year session coming to a close, the California Legislature has not moved aggressively on most issues associated with planning and development. A deal to place a multibillion-dollar school bond on the November ballot may still materialize - and if it does it could repeal or reform the state's long-standing Mira doctrine on school impact fees. A constitutional amendment to permit sales-tax sharing is still moving forward, as it a minor revision of the housing element law and a few...

School Plan for Williamson Act Land Creates Conflict

Aug 1, 1998

Morris Newman, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

A proposal to build a high school on farmland under Williamson Act protection has set off fireworks between local farmers and the school district in San Luis Obispo County. "This is the first time that we have seen such a controversy" over a public benefit acquisition of Williamson Act land, said Will Dale, staff attorney for the state Department of Conservation. Notwithstanding, the furor may presage similar conflicts as the agendas of farmland preservation and school construction crash head o...

Zoning: Registered 'Marks' Override Zoning Ordinances, Court Rules

Jul 1, 1998

Larry Sokoloff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

In a case involving municipal zoning, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a city cannot enforce zoning regulations for signs if they require the alteration of a registered service mark. The court did rule, however, that a city can prevent a company from erecting an awning containing a service mark. The case arose in Tempe, Arizona, where Blockbuster Video and Video Update, two national chains, rented space in two separate shopping centers. All exterior signs in Tempe's shopping ...

Unocal Reaches Deal on Avila Beach

Jul 1, 1998

Environment Watch, Larry Sokoloff, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

In a major victory for environmentalists, Unocal has agreed to a settlement that will clean up 400,000 gallons of petroleum contamination in Avila Beach, an unincorporated area south of San Luis Obispo. The June settlement is being called the largest Proposition 65 settlement in state history and is believed to be the first time a company has been forced to remove contamination and rebuild a community. "This is the biggest cleanup since Love Canal," said Richard Drury, legal director of th...

S.F. Hotel Takings Case Returned to State Court

Jul 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

In the latest in a long line of cases challenging the constitutionality of San Francisco's hotel conversion laws, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has sent one hotel owner back to state court. The case involves the longstanding attempt by the owners of the San Remo Hotel to have the city officially recognize their hotel as a tourist hotel. San Francisco has had strict restrictions against the conversion of residential hotels to tourist use in place for almost twenty years. When the first "h...

Mojave Water Deal Overturned: Apellate Court Says Farmers Have ‘Overlying' Water Rights

Jul 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

An appellate court has overturned a significant ruling by a trial judge in San Bernardino County that sought to adjudicate conflicting claims on groundwater in the Mojave River Basin. The Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division 2, ruled in favor of farmers who will likely be forced to change their water usage as a result of the sweeping decision issued in 1995 by Superior Court Judge E. Michael Kaiser. In the ruling, Kaiser consolidated a series of conflicting water claims and sought to make an "...

Election Activity Focuses on Bay Area; Only One Measure on Ballot in Southern California

Jul 1, 1998

Featured Articles, Larry Sokoloff, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

The June 1998 election featured only eight land use and environmental measures throughout the state, the lowest since 1986 according to a CP&DR analysis of election returns. Seven of the eight measures were on the ballot in Northern California cities and counties. In the only Southern California ballot measure, voters in San Diego overwhelmingly approved a measure to finance a $216 million expansion of the city's convention center. That expansion had been fought by opponents of downtown redevelopment,...

El Dorado County Continues Growth Battles

Jul 1, 1998

Elections, Larry Sokoloff, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

Development continues to be a contentious issue in El Dorado County in the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento. In the June primary, development interests were able to beat back a ballot initiative that would have reduced housing densities. However, a second candidate critical of the county's growth policies was elected to its Board of Supervisors, and a new ballot initiative to control growth may be headed for the November ballot. Voters turned down Measure A, which would have required public re...

Zoning: U.S. Violated Species Law in Renewing CVP Contracts

Jul 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

The federal Bureau of Reclamation violated the Endangered Species Act by renewing Friant Dam water contracts prior to completing required consultations with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The court has also overturned District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton's decision that environmentalists' challenges to the renewal of the water contracts under the California Fish & Game Code were moot. The case involve...

Public Utilities: City Can't Impose Regs on Gas Co. Sand Removals

Jul 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

Reiterating earlier court decisions stating that "neither the public nor a public service corporation could tolerate as many standards and policies as there were towns, cities, or boroughs through which they operated," the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled that the City of Carlsbad may not require San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to remove dredged sand from its beach. San Diego Gas & Electric has dredged the Agua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad ever since the early '50s, when it first constructed the ...

Kern County Reinstates Planning Board; More Inclusive Permit Process Expected

Jul 1, 1998

Larry Sokoloff, Local Watch, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

In a move that promises to bring a planning commission back to Kern County, the county board of supervisors voted 3-2 on June 17 on a measure directing planning staff to recommend ways to reinstitute the long-disbanded body. The decision was applauded by activists who had complained that the public had not received adequate notice of public hearings, nor provided enough input into projects in their early stages. The county's planning director also welcomed the decision, which he said would assist i...

Hooray for Hollywood

Jul 1, 1998

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

The notion of the "background building" is one of those profound concepts that was startling when first introduced in the 1960s (by Robert Venturi, I think) and now seems so commonsensical that we might assume the idea had always existed. The basic idea is simple: Some buildings are "stars" and should stand out, while other buildings are merely supporting players. The distinction between foreground and background buildings is not value-laden; foreground buildings are not necessarily better or mo...

Wasco Narrowly Averts Marks-Roos Bankruptcy

Jul 1, 1998

Economic Development, Morris Newman, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

The City of Wasco in Kern County is trying to stave off municipal bankruptcy as a result of a series of problems with Marks-Roos and other bonds. The possibility of bankruptcy compounds the legal and financial problems facing the city, including a "cease-and-desist" order in May from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission which bans the agencies from issuing further bonds. Wasco was one of three California municipalities, including the City of Ione and Nevada County, to consent to the cease-and-...

The Real Impact of Proposition 13

Jul 1, 1998

Numbers, Stephen Svete, Vol. 13 No. 07 Jul 1998

Ask any local government veteran in California what has most hurt their cause and the answer will very likely be Prop 13. Since 1978, the infamous taxpayer revolt and its aftermath has been blamed for every public service woe in the book: closed libraries, lack of police protection, dying street trees, indeed faith in government itself. Yet a growing body of research suggests that per-capita spending by cities in California has not changed from that of pre-Prop 13 years. And nearly all observers of...