The City of Milpitas has adopted an ambitious specific plan for the heart of town, yet the city's approach to implementing the plan relies heavily on private investors.
A redevelopment agency may sue a landowner to force cleanup of contaminated property within a redevelopment project area, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled. The court further held that the redevelopment agency need not have expended resources on the cleanup before filing a lawsuit.
A state law that requires developers of housing within the coastal zone to provide low- and moderate-income units does not apply in instances where all of the actual dwelling units are built outside the zone.
An outwardly conventional apartment complex in Orange County does not clamor for attention in the same way as an architectural milestone like Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. But it might be that the suburban apartments, easily overlooked, will have a greater long-term impact on average Californians than L.A.'s spectacular new icon.
California's judicial system uses a fast-track approach to bring cases to trial quickly, but the state's plans to repair the aging courthouses in which trials are conducted are on a slow track. It is a case of maintenance deferred, leading to decrepit courtrooms and unsafe, seismically unfit buildings.
A decade of litigation over the status of the northern goshawk has apparently concluded with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the Fish & Wildlife Service's decision not to place the bird on the endangered species list.
This summer, another huge ice shelf broke off the north polar ice cap and began drifting out to sea. The event made world news because it added to the mounting, tangible evidence of a phenomenon that the Bush administration ignores but that California's government cannot afford to dismiss: Climate change.
The connection in people's minds between air pollution and urban development is getting stronger in Fresno. This summer, the City of Fresno settled a lawsuit filed by clean air advocates over the city's general plan. The city agreed to take a number of steps to encourage development that is less automobile-dependent than past projects, and the city committed $1 million to the effort.
Despite a budget deficit so large that it triggered the first gubernatorial recall in California history, the administration of Gov. Gray Davis has shown scant interest in stimulating the economy. But with the chaos in Sacramento - and the fact that elected officials have a smaller and smaller role to play in actually shaping the state's budget - it may be that no California governor can devise an effective economic development strategy. >>read more
The City of San Jose Redevelopment Agency cannot use its power of eminent domain to escape from a contract that gave a company an exclusive right to negotiate a development agreement, the Sixth District Court of Appeal has ruled.
State lawmakers approved few pieces of substantial land use legislation before adjourning for the year in September. Nearly all of the high-profile proposals became two-year bills, meaning they will be revived in some form after the Legislature returns in January.
A federal appeals court has lifted an injunction against a City of Los Angeles billboard inspection fee, finding that the billboard companies that opposed the fee are unlikely to win a First Amendment lawsuit.
