When a disaster destroys your home, there are basically two responses. You can choose to start afresh, and build an entirely new house. Or, you can rebuild the house you had before, brick by brick, because it was familiar and because you loved it. That was the dilemma facing Avila Beach, an unincorporated community San Luis Obispo County, which found itself with the rare opportunity of rebuilding after a near-total demolition. The community's decision says much about both planning and the human di...

The largest Bloomingdale's department store outside of New York City is coming to San Francisco thanks to a $27 million loan from the city to the developer. In approving the 1.6-million-square-foot redevelopment project, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors also backed an agreement that requires all retailers in the project except Bloomingdale's not to block labor union organizing. The five-story, 375,000-square-foot Bloomingdale's will anchor the retail, hotel and office project...

Redevelopment is supposed to be out of fashion. The legislative reforms passed in 1993 made it more difficult for local governments to find "blight" — and cut down on the financial incentives for using redevelopment as well. Furthermore, California's appellate courts have made it increasingly clear that they have little patience for California's redevelopment games. In three recent rulings, appellate judges have hammed local agencies for playing fast and loose with the definition of both "blight" and "u...

Ever since Camp Pendleton opened on its northern border during World War II, Oceanside has been known as a military town. Over the years, nude dance clubs, rough bars, tattoo parlors and hourly motels flourished in the beachfront downtown, giving Oceanside a reputation as a tough town with a high crime rate. But city officials, civic leaders and merchants in this northern San Diego County town of 160,000 people have worked hard to make those days history. Now, downtown is on a comeback, aide...

The First District Court of Appeal has cleared the way for Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown to participate in redevelopment decisions in neighborhoods where he owns property. In overturning a Fair Political Practices Commission ruling, the court held that Oakland's City Charter provides a loophole in state conflict-of-interest laws by requiring the mayor's participation in redevelopment activities. Brown championed the state's conflict of interest law, the Political Reform Act of 1974 (Gov. Code §81000), whe...

The City of Los Angeles's general plan framework and accompanying environmental impact report have survived most aspects of a legal challenge. The Second District Court of Appeal found the EIR acceptable but rejected the city's findings regarding traffic impacts, remanding the case to the trial court. The unanimous three-judge appellate panel upheld the EIR's discussion of alternatives, water resources analysis and housing policies. Assistant City Attorney Susan Pfann said city officials we...

The California Supreme Court has voted to review a business tax case from San Diego. However, the state's high court deferred action on Teyssier v. City of San Diego until the court decides a similar case from Los Angeles. In June, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that San Diego's tax on rental residences was not subject to Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act of 1996 (see CP&DR Legal Digest, August 2000). The city assessed a rental unit business tax on all residential pr...

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will not reconsider a takings case involving a building moratorium in the Tahoe Basin. However, five Ninth Circuit judges did vote to hear the case of Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc., v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 216, F3d., 764. (9th Cir. 2000), and Judge Alex Kozinski issued a blistering dissent in which he accused the three-judge panel that decided the case of ignoring takings precedent. "The panel does not like the Supreme Court's Takings Claus...

After years of meager funding at the hands of a congressional majority with little affection for environmental issues, land-conservation and habitat-protection programs nationwide are about to receive a huge financial boost from the federal government. California, in particular, stands to gain a great deal from what some observers characterize as a "landmark" conservation-funding measure in the $18.8 billion Interior Department appropriations bill sent to President Clinton in Octobe...

The process of initiative and referendum is California's most peculiar institution. Other states rely on their legislators or other elected officials to hash out controversial public issues in lengthy, complicated and subtle debates. But Californians prefer the blunt instrument of the ballot box — a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down from voters. We all know this is true at the state level, where voters are confronted on each ballot with a bewildering array of initiatives and bond issues. But it...

It's the oldest contract in the world: I'll scratch your back, if you'll scratch mine. The Walt Disney Co. recently worked a variant on this contract when it agreed to help the City of Anaheim obtain attractive interest rates for nearly $400 million in public improvements around Disneyland and the city's other big draws. On its face, the deal looks good. The town gets fixed up, and both the city and the theme park make money. Why would I care that The Walt Disney Co. was able to obtain at l...

The California Environmental Quality Act does not apply to a city's design review process, the Third District Court of Appeal has held. In a case involving a Border's bookstore in the City of Davis, the court also ruled that the identity of a particular tenant in a retail project that has already undergone CEQA review does not compel further study. And the court held that the city's design review process does not extend to approval of particular tenants. The partially published appellate cour...

It seems like a grand time for urbanists. Downtowns across California are dusting off their dancing shoes and, in some locations, absolutely cutting up rugs. This is particularly the case in older downtowns that have enough amenities – the sort that neotraditionalists like to copy — to draw recreational use. In the best cases, the workaday downtowns of yore have evolved into the work/play/live spaces of today. San Francisco, Santa Monica, and San Diego may provide the best examples. In...

Showing the willingness to veto bills for the second year in a row, Gov. Gray Davis rejected land use bills that ranged from high-profile measures to legislation that was nearly off the radar screen. Two project-specific bills that would have aided Indian casino development received vetoes in late September. Davis also rejected bills that would have, among other things, thrown a new obstacle in front of a controversial Ventura County subdivision; encouraged a 1.5 to 1 jobs-housing balance; a...