The state Supreme Court has sided with builders in a case regarding construction defect liability. In a 5-2 decision, the court held that homeowners cannot sue for economic losses in cases where no property damage or personal injury has occurred. The ruling was a definite victory for the development industry. Builders for years have complained about the burden of construction defect liability, and they have blamed negligence lawsuits for their inability to construct condominiums and townhous...

A 2-2 vote on an environmental impact report is not enough to certify the document, the Fourth District Court of Appeals has ruled. The California Environmental Quality Act requires that the elected body make an affirmative decision on environmental documents, the court held. In this case, the Orange County Board of Supervisors, after one member recused himself, voted 2-2 on an EIR for a proposed 705-unit mobile home park. The county then determined that the Planning Commission's certification of the ...

A Pacific Gas and Electric proposal to auction its hydroelectric assets could bring about a new land rush in the Sierra Nevada, the southern Cascades and the coastal mountain ranges. If the sale goes forward as proposed, as many as 20 different owners could assume control of PG&E's 99 reservoirs, 174 dams, 110 electricity generating units — and 140,000 acres of land, much of which is pristine. State and federal land managers, advocacy groups and a draft environmental impact report make clear that the ...

The standard saying among retail analysts in the past month is that "this is a tough Christmas." Even though incomes are going up, retailing is off. Kmart has closed dozens of stores nationwide. HomeBase has gone out of the home improvement business (focusing on home furnishings instead) in order to duck direct competition with Lowe's and Home Depot. Two of the biggest movie theater chains have gone under, and most of the others are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Home Depot's third-quart...

A lawsuit that has already reached the state Supreme Court is again making its way up the legal ladder. In mid-December, San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Bob McNatt upheld the San Joaquin Local Agency Formation Commission's approval of the Califia project (formerly called Gold Rush City) in the City of Lathrop. Last year, the state Supreme Court allowed the case to go forward after McNatt and the Third District Court of Appeal ruled that project opponents did not exhaust their administrative re...

The Fourth District Court of Appeal has upheld Orange County's environmental impact report for expansion of the James A. Musick jail. In an unpublished opinion, the court overturned a trial judge's ruling in a lawsuit brought by the City of Lake Forest. (City of Lake Forest v. County of Orange, G023884.) The county wants to expand the existing jail, which is bordered by Lake Forest, Irvine and El Toro, from 1,250 beds to nearly 8,000 beds. However, the county has indicated it would pursue a smaller faci...

The California Supreme Court has accepted a takings case that threatens the viability of San Francisco's Hotel Conversion Ordinance. The court has decided to hear San Remo Hotel v. City and County of San Francisco, C.A. 1st Div. 5, No. A083530 (see CP&DR Legal Digest, September 2000, October 2000). In an opinion published in two portions, the First District Court of Appeal ruled that the "heightened scrutiny" test applied to the hotel conversion ordinance, meaning there must be a close relationship ...

It's not every day that a city places a full-page newspaper advertisement demanding a larger sphere of influence. Yet that is just what the City of Santa Clarita did last fall — on the same day it placed another full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times complaining about a gravel quarry proposed outside the city limits. The splashy advertisements are just one part of the latest round in the City of Santa Clarita's long fight with Los Angeles County over control of one of the state's fastest growing areas.

Steven Nissen became acting director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Research in April 2000 and the appointment has since become permanent. Besides advising the governor and carrying out his interests, OPR provides assistance to local government on land use planning issues. The office is responsible for preparing CEQA Guidelines and General Plan Guidelines, and it operates the state clearinghouse for environmental impact reports. Besides his role at OPR, Nissen serves as a governor's s...

California's system for generating and distributing electricity — which has attracted little attention from the public and most policymakers in the past — became topic number one in December and January when extraordinary efforts by the state and federal governments were needed to keep the lights on. But the electricity concerns is only the latest in a series of recent efforts that focus on the state's infrastructure Transportation planners are wrestling with daunting growth projections for Southern C...

Land-use ballot measures for November 2000. Alameda County Voters approved the Sierra Club's urban growth boundary initiative drawing draw a tight urban limit line around Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore, Sunol and Castro Valley. Voters rejected the competing Tri-Valley Vision 2010 measure, a less-restrictive UGB placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors. Measure D (Sierra Club initiative): Yes, 56.5% Measure C (Vision 2010 plan): No, 56.9% County voters approved a 20-year extension of a hal...

Cognitive science has taught us that a human being cannot keep more than seven things in its mind at any given time. That figure, of course, does not apply to local governments in California, which appear unable to focus on more than one thing at a time. Perhaps we should set up a charitable organization for cities suffering from the condition known as Single-Purpose Agenda Syndrome (SPAS). I can see television ads right now featuring a bureaucrat, in short sleeves and pocket protector, looking b...

In Brief: Election results from Arizona, Colorado and Oregon; Stanford growth plan approved; Speaker appoints Commission on Regionalism; SCAG and HCD fight over housing allocations; Bolsa Chica development limited; Cisco announces Fremont building plans; Navy agrees to clean up Hunters Point; Kern County sludge ban upheld.

When the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed in September that 5.4 million acres in 31 California counties be designated critical habitat for the threatened red-legged frog, howls of outrage came from nearly every corner of the state. Builders, water agencies, local government officials and farmers decried the designation as an impending disaster with dire implications for everything from construction of affordable housing to the integrity of Southern California's precarious water supply. The...