CP&DR -

Developer Suit Aganist Own Consultant Not SLAPP

Aug 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

Reversing a trial judge's ruling, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled that a development company's lawsuit against its own engineering firm is not a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation - a so-called SLAPP suit - within the meaning of the state anti-SLAPP law. It is one of the few instances in which an attempt to use the state anti-SLAPP law has failed in the appellate courts. SLAPP suits are often filed by developers against citizen groups or others who speak out against their...

Farmers Support Anti-Sprawl Measures

Aug 1, 1998

Local Watch, Timm Herdt, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

Reports on the need for farmlands preservation in the urbanizing Central Valley have become nearly as commonplace as tract homes in Fresno. But when a high-powered group of valley farmers released their own report last month, the reactions indicated that this one might carry more weight than the rest. The California Building Industry Association, sensing the potential loss of a sometime ally in the valley's land-use wars, condemned the report as "alarmist rhetoric". And the head of a environmenta...

Zoning: Court Reverses Ruling Aganist San Diego in Sex-Club Case

Aug 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

The city of San Diego did not prosecute the owner of a sex club maliciously or selectively even though the city made a series of mistakes in granting him zoning approvals and then prosecuting him, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Reversing a district court jury's decision, the three-judge panel concluded that the city did not violate Elbert Poppell's civil rights and that Zoning Administrator Sharren Carr should not be held personally liable because she was acting in a professio...

Blight Finding Overturned: Murrieta's Plan Not Supported by Evidence, Court Rules

Aug 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

The City of Murrieta's was wrong to declare 3,500 acres of land blighted in order to create a redevelopment project area, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled. In a lawsuit brought by the Riverside County government, the Fourth District found that the property is not "predominantly urban" nor is "blighted," both of which are required in order to create a redevelopment area. With the exception of 200 acres of vacant county land that was withdrawn, the area in question "has been depicte...

Coastal Commission Case Remanded

Aug 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

The California Supreme Court has remanded one takings case against the Coastal Commission to the Second District Court of Appeal, in Los Angeles, to be reconsidered in light of the high court's decision in another takings case against the Coastal Commission. In Coastal Commission v. Buckley, No. B081544, the Second District reversed a $2.1 million takings award against the California Coastal Commission, saying that the evidence on the record does not establish that the Commission's actions against a s...

Locals Get Standing in EIS Challenge

Aug 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

Local governments in Nevada do have the standing to intervene in a lawsuit against the Interior Department, challenging the environmental impact process on a proposed water rights acquisition program, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The case involves the Interior Department's attempt to implement a water rights acquisition program designed to settle complex and longstanding water rights issues associated with the Newlands Reclamation Project in western Nevada. Under Section 206 of t...

Can We Restore Civic Health by Measuring It?

Aug 1, 1998

Stephen Svete, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

In this time of widespread prosperity and record consumer confidence, it's hard to swallow the notion that, as a society, we may be on the wrong track. But that's exactly the thesis that a report by the new National Commission on Civic Renewal supports. Sure, crime rates are down from the early 1990s, and school test scores have edged upward from their nadir in the mid-1980s. But a far-reaching statistical evaluation presented in the Commission's recent report "A Nation of Spectators" suggests that ...

State Urges Policing of Land-Based Securities; Waterford City Attorney Faces Charges

Aug 1, 1998

Featured Articles, Morris Newman, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

The current system of regulating municipal securities, including Mello Roos and Marks Roos bonds, is "inadequate" and "encourages non-compliance", according to a new report a state task force. Noting the alarming rate of defaults among land-based securities, the report recommends creation of a new municipal bond law-enforcement division within the state's department of justice. The findings and recommendations have been praised by both government officials and some industry observers, although at...

Another Big Deal in Long Beach

Aug 1, 1998

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

Four years is a long time in most life situations. In four years, a child can learn to walk, talk, and become a social being. A stand of bamboo can grow 20 feet. The governor of California can serve out a complete term, and a pair of flies can generate several billion offspring. But in the glacial pace of planning, four years is the blink of an eye. That's why the completion of the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific in the City of Long Beach is such a notable accomplishment. After a public investment...

Battle Over Dam in Monterey

Aug 1, 1998

Environment Watch, Larry Sokoloff, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

For twenty years, water planning on the Monterey Peninsula has been in a stalemate, as local voters have turned down proposals to increase the water supply in the region. Now, a bill moving through the legislature may finally bring resolution to the matter - or complicate things further. The bill, AB 1182, by Assemblyman Fred Keeley, D-Santa Cruz, would require a special election to choose between either building a dam on the Carmel River or moving forward with a plan developed by the Public Util...

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...