The state Supreme Court has been extraordinarily active in the field of land use during recent weeks. The court has accepted for review an important case involving the environmental impact report for the Cal-Fed Bay-Delta Project. The court also took a case involving redevelopment in the City of Stockton. >>read more
Cities may not use aesthetic considerations to regulate the placement of telecommunications antennas, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. >>read more
A San Diego historical society's lawsuit over a housing development on a site the society considered historical has been dismissed by the Fourth District Court of Appeal. The appellate panel upheld a lower court, which dismissed the case because the historical society had neither submitted the administrative record nor filed an opening brief. >>read more
A proposed hotel that is consistent with a redevelopment plan, which itself has been the subject of a program environmental impact report, does not require a new environmental study, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled. >>read more
The Pleasant Hill Redevelopment Agency's subsidies for a housing project did not make the project a "public work" that required the payment of prevailing wages to workers, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled. >>read more
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dealt another blow to housing developers who sued the City of Fresno, an individual city councilman and twelve citizens because the city refused to approve tax-exempt bonds for an apartment project. >>read more
Proposed alterations to the inside of a private residence are not subject to California Environmental Quality Act review, even if the alterations would affect a historic structure, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled. >>read more
The First District Court of Appeal has rejected a property owner's claim that an Alameda County ballot measure rendered any application for development futile and, therefore, effected an unconstitutional taking. >>read more
A nonprofit corporation created by the City of San Diego to carry out downtown redevelopment may not meet in closed session with legal counsel for the city's redevelopment agency, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled. >>read more
A 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the Army Corps of Engineers' regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act does not limit the Corps' jurisdiction over wetlands adjacent to "waters of the United States," the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. >>read more
Southern California "lifestyle" center developer Rick Caruso won two recent rounds against the owners of traditional shopping malls. The rulings, one published and the other unpublished, both came from the Second District Court of Appeal. >>read more
An attempt to certify the validity of parcels in Ventura County created during the 1940s has been rejected by the Second District Court of Appeal. The court found that the land in question was subdivided illegally during the 1940s, and the county has no obligation to recognize the subdivision now. >>read more
A water district may enter into a reimbursement agreement with a developer for the construction of oversized infrastructure to support anticipated growth, the state Attorney General's Office has concluded. >>read more
In an unusual case from the wilds of Plumas County, the Third District Court of Appeal has rejected the claims of a property owner who argued that a county ordinance allowing a neighbor's livestock to graze on his land amounted to an unconstitutional taking. >>read more
