Commuter rail has a perception problem. If everybody wants to live near to a train, nobody wants to live directly on the line. Trains are dangerous, noisy, kick up dust and push down the price of homes bordering the rails — or so we believe. Fear and misunderstanding of the impacts of commuter rail, in fact, have led to some very volatile politics among homeowners, and that, in turn, has led to some unfortunate planning decisions.

Determined to maintain its identity as a "nice valley town," the City of Reedley has adopted a specific plan that contains many of the precepts of traditional neighborhood design. The plan, adopted in January, covers Reedley's future growth areas — about 1,200 acres outside the city limits but inside the sphere of influence.

A state appellate court that ordered preparation of an environmental impact report on a Metropolitan Water Agency habitat conservation project has ruled that MWD cannot slice the project into smaller pieces and proceed without an EIR.

Throwing into question utility users' taxes collected by many cities, the state Supreme Court has overturned a lower court's ruling that a lawsuit challenging a city's utility users' tax was filed too late. The state's high court ruled unanimously that the three-year statute of limitations begins anew every time the city collects the tax.

An appellate court has upheld the City of Napa's zoning ordinance that requires developers to devote a portion of their projects to affordable housing. The unanimous three-judge panel of the First District rejected the Home Builders Association of Northern California's contention that the inclusionary zoning law amounted to an unconstitutional taking.

The Cadiz Valley is an unlikely spot for an agricultural empire. A windswept Mojave Desert outpost best known for its spectacular sand dunes and dry lake beds, the valley receives only about 4 inches of rain a year and is seared by 120-degree temperatures during the summer. The nearby hamlet of Bagdad qualifies as one of the continent's driest spots, having once gone without recorded rainfall for 767 days. Left to its own devices, the landscape around Cadiz would support only such hardy veg

The opponent of a proposed Mendocino County inn should have named the Coastal Commission in her lawsuit because the Commission, not the county Board of Supervisors, made the final decision on the project, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled.

A developer whose project was the subject of a California Environmental Quality Act lawsuit is not entitled to attorneys fees for helping a city defend the suit, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled.

In a stunning trial court ruling, the California Coastal Commission was declared an unconstitutional agency. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Charles Kobayashi ruled that the commission's composition violated the separation of powers doctrine because the Speaker of the Assembly and Senate Rules Committee appoint eight of the twelve commission members.

Despite what Ralph Nader claimed, the differences between Al Gore and George W. Bush on environmental issues were stark. Those contrasts have become even more vivid during Bush's first few months in office. However, Bush appears likely to continue the Clinton Administration's support for Habitat Conservation Plans as a way of managing endangered species issues.

Long considered a poor stepchild in Orange County, Santa Ana is working to turn around its image. The city is pressing forward with downtown redevelopment efforts, and the midtown Civic Center continues to cement its position as a center of government. The city recently landed the first Mexico Trade Center, beating out Los Angeles and San Diego for the office. And business leaders have undertaken a "branding" campaign that they hope to convert into a major marketing effort.

A new method of awarding state funding for school construction projects under Proposition 1A appears to be favoring urban districts at the expense of suburban and rural districts. The change has satisfied, for now, a number of ethnic and anti-poverty groups that had sued over an earlier state funding method. However, the change has angered many school districts, about 110 of which have sued the State Allocation Board.