CP&DR - Articles

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 The unpublished ruling by the Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose gives Watso...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...

Proposition 13: Convention Center Financing Dosen't Require 2/3 Vote

Sep 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998

A joint powers authority created to finance the San Diego Convention Center expansion can issue revenue bonds without voter approval, the California Supreme Court has ruled. The $205 million bond issue was challenged in court by Richard Rider, a taxpayer activist who has frequently filed lawsuits against public agencies in San Diego claiming that two-thirds voter approval is required for financing public projects. Most famously, Rider won a state Supreme Court ruling that a sales-tax increase to ...

NEPA: 9th Circuit Rules Aganist Enviros in Two Cases

Sep 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998

In the latest legal skirmishes associated with two ongoing natural resource controversies, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against environmental groups and in favor of the federal Bureau of Land Management. In both cases, the environmental groups sought to use the National Environmental Protection Act as a vehicle to gain legal leverage over BLM actions on the east side of the Cascades, and both included proposed land swaps between BLM and a private land exchange. In one case, t...

Local Ballots Will Contain Many Land-Use Measures; Ventura, San Diego Will Be Hotly Contested Counties

Sep 1, 1998

Ballot Measures, Featured Articles, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998, William Fulton

In a reversal of recent trends, ballot initiatives to restrict growth appear to be on the upswing - especially in Southern California, where few ballot measures have appeared in recent years. The hotbeds of controversy appear to be in Ventura and San Diego counties, which have historically had more "ballot-box zoning" than other parts of Southern California. In Ventura County, slow-growthers have mounted a coordinated November effort to pass urban growth boundaries in six cities as well as a voter ap...

Ballot Measueres: City Clerk Properly Rejected Signatures for Referendum

Sep 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998

The Campbell city clerk acted properly in rejecting portions of a referendum petition it sought to place a major development project on the ballot, the Sixth District Court of Appeal has ruled. The case emerged from the city's decision last December to change the land-use designation on a parcel of land commonly known as the "Winchester Drive-In Site" to permit development of a research park proposed by WTA Technology Park, a developer. The city council voted to change 20 of the 24 acres to busine...

Sacramento County to Buy McClellan

Sep 1, 1998

Economic Development, Morris Newman, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998

McClellan Air Force Base near Sacramento appears likely to make a strong transition to private industrial use. Sacramento County has decided to purchase some 2,400 acres - about two-thirds of the base - for $90 million, or almost $40,000 per acre. At the same time, Lockheed Martin Corporation has submitted a bid for a giant Air Force contract that would employ thousands of people on the industrial part of the property that the county plans to buy. McClellan is scheduled to close in 2001. The coun...

Feds Name California Brownfields Pilot Projects

Sep 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Economic Development, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998

The cities of East Palo Alto and Los Angeles are among 16 cities nationally that have been named Brownfields Showcase Communities. At least 15 federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, took part in selecting the projects. The designation recognizes problem-solving on the part of local government, and entitles the projects to additional federal funding and/or in-lieu services. In addition to funding and in-lieu services, the desig...