CP&DR - Articles

Housing Plans Still in Trouble San Diego County, Cities

Jun 1, 1999

Larry Sokoloff, Local Watch, Vol. 14 No. 06 Jun 1999

A pilot program is underway in San Diego County to self-certify the county's housing element, as well as the housing elements for each of its 18 cities. But despite San Diego's receiving the autonomy desired by many local jurisdictions, the allocation of low-income units continues to hamper the planning process. The state-approved program was designed to give local governments more flexibility in meeting affordable housing goals and avoiding oversight by the state Department of Housing and Com...

Jury Trial OK for Takings Case: Supreme Court Upholds Jury's $1.45 Million Award to Builder

Jun 1, 1999

Kenneth Jost, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 06 Jun 1999

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court gave property owners the right to jury trials in federal court in regulatory takings cases brought against state or local governments under the federal civil rights law. The 5-4 ruling handed down in late May upheld a $1.45 million jury award won by a developer against the city of Monterey for blocking a planned oceanfront residential development during the 1980s. The division in the case was mostly along normal conservative-liberal ideological lines...

Proposition 218: Business Improvement District Levies Not Subject to Vote

Jun 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 06 Jun 1999

Business Improvement Districts created by cities under the Parking and Business Improvement Area Law of 1989 are not subject to the voting requirements of Proposition 218, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled. The unanimous three-judge panel said that Proposition 218 has no effect on cities' ability to levy assessments under the 1989 law (Streets & Highways Code §§ 36500-36551). The court concluded that San Diego's Pacific Beach Business Improvement District did not impose an "assessment" with...

Local Government: City May Halt Water Hookups For Unicorporated Area

Jun 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 06 Jun 1999

A city has no obligation to provide new water service to development in unincorporated areas, and a city may use its utilities as growth-management tools, the First District Court of Appeals has ruled. The unanimous three-judge panel said that Crescent City did not act unreasonably when the City Council decided to prohibit new water utility connections outside the city limits. The appellate panel overturned the ruling of Del Norte County Superior Court Judge George L. Nelson. He had charact...

Revenue Neutrality Does Not Prevent Incorporations

May 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 05 May 1999

As the debate over revenue-neutrality continues at the state Capitol and in local board chambers, something strange is happening. New cities are incorporating anyway. There is no tidal wave of incorporations, but the City of Laguna Woods in Orange County started business March 24, and the Contra Costa County community of Oakley will become a city on July 1. Also, leaders of Elk Grove incorporation appear near an agreement with Sacramento County officials, who bitterly fought the 1997 incorporation of ...

Constitutional Law: Federal Courts Upholds State Limits on Referenda

May 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 05 May 1999

Citizens have no right under the federal constitution to seek a voter referendum of a city's land sale, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. In a case from Arizona, the federal appellate court dismissed arguments that the Tenth Amendment establishes the right to a referendum. The state constitution sets the rules for referenda, the court determined. "It is the power of the federal government which is constrained by the Tenth Amendment, not the power of the states," the court...

Property Taxes: Super Williamson Act Constitutional, AG Says

May 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 05 May 1999

A 1998 law that takes Williamson Act property taxes breaks for agricultural land one step further is constitutional, according to a state attorney general's opinion. The opinion, written by Deputy Attorney General Gregory L. Gonot, (Attorney General's opinion No. 98-1106, filed March 10, 1999) concludes the "Super Williamson Act" approved by the Legislature does not violate state constitutional requirements that all property be taxable at the same percentage of fair market value. Farm interests said t...

Public Agency Must Pay for Value of Aggregate

May 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 05 May 1999

When taking real estate by eminent domain, a public agency must pay the landowner for the value of unmined aggregate on the property, the Second District Court of Appeals has ruled. The unanimous three-judge panel ordered the Ventura County Flood Control District to pay owners of 67 acres $2.6 million to compensate for the owners' loss of the aggregate resource. The value of mineral deposits, including sand, clay and gravel, is an element in determining fair market value, which the public agency is re...

Court Rejects Local Costal Plan: State Costal Act Prohibits Building on ESHA, Wetlands

May 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 05 May 1999

The Coastal Act does not allow destruction of a designated environmentally sensitive habitat area simply because the destruction is mitigated off-site, the Fourth District Court of Appeals has ruled. The court also determined that residential development of wetlands and removing a pond to build a road were not permissible under the Coastal Act. The decision stems from the 25-year controversy over Bolsa Chica, a 1,588-acre area of wetlands and coastal mesas near Huntington Beach where developers have s...

Lawmakers return to Public Bonds; Bills to Link Water, Planning Stalled by Builders, Wet Winter

May 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 05 May 1999

General obligations bonds to rehabilitate California's crumbling infrastructure and build new public facilities are rising toward the top of the state Legislature's agenda now that Gov. Davis' education reform package is complete. The bonds, which could start hitting the ballot as soon as next March, would pay for everything from roads and water systems, to parks, libraries and homes. Lawmakers have introduced $30 billion worth of general obligation bond proposals. Some of the proposals compete with o...

Regulators Cast a Huge Net For Rare Butterfly

May 1, 1999

Environment Watch, Larry Sokoloff, Vol. 14 No. 05 May 1999

The Quino Checkerspot Butterfly is the latest endangered species to cause confusion and controversy in Southern California, joining such famed animals as the Stephens kangaroo rat, the California gnatcatcher and the Delhi sands flower loving fly. The butterfly was at first thought to live only in a few regions of Riverside and San Diego counties, where colonies have been found. But the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service issued a map in January showing potential Quino Checkerspot habitat in parts o...

The Difficult Birth of a Transit Village

May 1, 1999

Morris Newman, Places, Public Transit, TOD, Vol. 14 No. 05 May 1999

FRUITVALE: THE DIFFICULT BIRTH OF THE TRANSIT VILLAGE One of the ongoing issues of modern architecture ï¿½ and one of the story lines that keeps modern architecture interesting after so many false starts and blind alleys ï¿½ has been the struggle to arrive at a consensus on what exactly is the "right" form for new types of buildings. Imagine the situation of architect and urban planner a century ago. They had never dreamed of a gas station, a drive-in restaurant or a multiplex theater. Here is Henry v...

Lancaster, Palmdale Stall New Departments

May 1, 1999

Local Watch, Vol. 14 No. 05 May 1999, William Fulton

Concerned about an apparent increase in interest from apartment developers, the Antelope Valley cities of Lancaster and Palmdale are both moving toward moratoria on multi-family units. Their moves appear to be part of a growing trend among exurban communities to reassess their policies on multi-family construction. In Lancaster, where the City Council adopted a moratorium in January, officials say they will use the moratorium period to examine whether Lancaster has an over-supply of apartment units or...

MIll Reuse Program Offers Rural Towns Another Chance

May 1, 1999

Economic Development, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 05 May 1999

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Brownfields redevelopment program is geared toward inner cities, but state officials would like to bring Brownfields aid to rural areas where timber mills have closed. For more than 100 years, timber companies erected sawmills all over northern and central California. However, as nature and government regulators restricted the timber supply, many of those sawmills closed, leaving a huge hole in the economy of the rural towns that grew up around the m...