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Most ‘98 Bills Make Minor Legal Changes; Only School Bond Would Have Widespread Impact

Oct 1, 1998

Featured Articles, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998, William Fulton

Nineteen ninety-eight will not go down in history as a year when the California Legislature made sweeping changes in California planning and development law. Instead - like most legislative sessions since the passage of term limits in 1990 - it was a year in which legislators who sought minor changes were more likely to succeed. In general, the Legislature passed a series of small bills that made changes on the margins of planning and development law. The big exception, of course, was SB 50, the...

Eastern Contra Costa County Explodes with Growth

Oct 1, 1998

Larry Sokoloff, Local Watch

One of the last undeveloped regions of San Francisco Bay Area land - eastern Contra Costa County - is booming so much that a county supervisor has asked local cities to consider a temporary halt to residential growth. Eastern Contra Costa County, with its rich delta topsoil, is where the Central Valley meets the Bay Area. For years, agriculture was the main industry in this area east of Mount Diablo and south of the Sacramento River-San Joaquin River Delta. The region is made up of the local citi...

NEPA: Presidio Golf Analysis Consistent with NEPA

Oct 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

The federal government's review of potential impacts of a new public clubhouse at the Presidio Golf Course was adequate under both federal environmental and historic preservation laws, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The federal analysis had been challenged by the Presidio Golf Club, a century-old private golf club which owns an historic clubhouse adjacent to the Presidio. A predecessor to the Presidio Golf Club built the golf course on the grounds of the Presidio in 1895, as well a...

A Lake for Downtown San Bernadino?

Oct 1, 1998

Public Development, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998, William Fulton

Seeking to improve local groundwater problems and possibly expand redevelopment activities as well, the City of San Bernardino has created a joint-powers authority with a water district and an economic development agency to pursue some kind of "water feature" near downtown San Bernardino. The project would cover some 300 acres in the Base Line area north of the current downtown and might involve condemning some 900 parcels of land at a cost of more than $100 million. The San Bernardino Municipal W...

Federal Railroad Pre-Emption: Local Ordinances Don't Coveer Ancillary Construction

Oct 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

Federal law pre-empts state and local power to independently review the environmental impact and land-use consequences of construction projects dealing with railroads, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled that the King County, the City of Auburn, and several other local governments in the State of Washington can't undertake their own environmental review of the federal Surface Transportation Board's decision to permit reopening of the S...

Cars and Planners

Oct 1, 1998

Stephen Svete, Trends, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

For most planners, society's reliance on - and even outright integration - of the car into our social and physical culture is a tough pill to swallow. We believe we are fundamentally concerned with environmental, social, and health issues; and so the car is the machine against which we rage. To counter its evils, we push for neo-traditional urban design that promotes pedestrians and transit and eschews automobiles. We advocate for bicycles. We craft trip reduction ordinances that penalize e...

Judge's Decision Reversed in Watsonville Annexation Dispute

Oct 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

In the latest skirmish in a longrunning battle, an appellate court has overturned a trial judge's decision to strike down the City of Watsonville's decision to "pre-zone" and annex 216 acres of land in a disputed agricultural and coastal area west of Highway 1. If it is eventually published, the court ruling could be an important step in establishing the credibility of "tiered" environmental impact reports. The unpublished ruling by the Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose gives Watso...

Clean Water Act: General Permits for Local Development Wins Approval

Oct 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the federal government's decision to issue five broad-ranging "general permits" allowing the filling of wetlands as part of the Anchorage Wetlands Management Plan. The general permits had been challenged by several environmental groups in Alaska, which charged that they covered too diverse a range of activities and would not result in "minimal" disruption of the environment, as the federal government claimed. The five permits, which covered projec...

Court Permits County to Pursue Condemnation

Oct 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

The Fifth District Court of Appeal has concluded that Fresno County did have the right to pursue eminent domain proceedings in order to obtain an easement across private land required to prevent another property from being rendered landlocked by another condemnation proceeding. The case began when the county constructed a wastewater treatment facility on land adjacent to property owned by the Donleavey family. The Donleaveys filed an inverse condemnation action. In a proposed settlement agreement...

Supreme Court: State Supreme Court Will Hear Two Important Cases

Oct 1, 1998

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

The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear two new cases of interest to the planning and development community - the first dealing with water rights and the second dealing with administrative procedures before a Local Agency Formation Commission. In the water rights case, City of Barstow v. Mojave Water Agency (S0971728), the Supreme Court will determine whether a trial judge had the power to sweep aside all existing water-rights doctrines in allocation Mojave River Basin water to cities an...

Lake Tulloch Shores

Oct 1, 1998

Larry Sokoloff, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

Lake Tulloch Shores is one of the few large lakes in California where homes can be built on the water's edge, even into the water. While it sounds like a vacation paradise, it's been a planning nightmare. Until recently, the Calaveras County lake was a place where EIRs weren't done and federal infill permits weren't required. The lake, which is located about an hour's drive east of Stockton, was created in the late 1950s behind a dam built by the San Joaquin and Oakdale Irrigation Districts. As ...

Santa Cruz Boardwalk Expansion Proposed

Oct 1, 1998

Economic development, Larry Sokoloff, Local Watch, Santa Cruz County, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

Expansion plans for Santa Cruz's beach boardwalk amusement park have been on a roller coaster ride for months, with election results in November's city council races expected to offer a public referendum on the city council's recent decision to limit the huge plan.

Santa Barabara EIR Upheld: Need Not Be Acceptable to Applicant, Court Says

Oct 1, 1998

Larry Sokoloff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

Santa Barbara County and its consultants had no duty to prepare an environmental impact report that was acceptable to a developer, an appellate court has ruled. A three-judge panel of the Second Appellate District, Division Six, unanimously turned down a challenge from the developer of Mission Oaks, a 3,877-acre residential project proposed near Buellton. The project called for 31 homes to be built on separate 100-acre parcels, with most of the land to remain in agricultural use for cattle grazi...

State Helps MWD, San Diego Make Deal

Sep 1, 1998

Environment Watch, Larry Sokoloff, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998

A deal permitting the San Diego County Water Authority to move forward with the purchase of 200,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Imperial Valley appears likely to move forward. On August 31, the last day of the session, the legislature appropriated $235 million in state funds to help the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California obtain additional water for itself- a necessary pre-condition that MWD had demanded for the San Diego deal to go through. The $235 million would be used mostl...