Legal Digest

In a major victory for opponents of big-box retail development, the Fifth District Court of Appeal has upheld a City of Turlock ordinance that prohibits a store of more than 100,000 square feet from selling groceries. >>read more

A City of Hanford zoning ordinance that permitted furniture sales only in large department stores has been thrown out as unconstitutional by the Fifth District Court of Appeal. >>read more

While a developer argues the private agreement impinges on city's police powers, the settlement that Rohnert Park signed to resolve a lawsuit over the city's general plan did not illegally abridge the city's police power, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled. >>read more

A state appeals court has provided water quality regulators with two significant victories, at least one of which could affect land use and development. >>read more

A lawsuit over an annual fire assessment on property owners in the Oakland hills has been revived by an appellate court. Overturning a Superior Court decision, the First District Court of Appeal ruled that the lawsuit should go forward because the City of Oakland did not provide for an adequate administrative appeal of the tax. >>read more

A Santa Barbara County property owner's takings claim has received new life, thanks to a Second District Court of Appeal ruling. The appellate panel overturned a lower court that had ruled the property owner filed the claim too soon. >>read more

As the Sierra Club Contends San Bernardino County Should Study Transportation Sales Tax Impacts the question of whether a transportation agency must perform an environmental review before placing a sales tax measure on the ballot remains unresolved. >>read more

A turf battle between two local agency formation commissions has concluded with an appellate court ruling that a commission from one county has jurisdiction to determine a sanitary district's service area in another county. >>read more

A state appellate court has overturned a trial court judge's decision to impose a mobile home park rent increase in the City of Carson. Rather than impose the rate hike, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs should have sent the matter back to the city's Mobilehome Park Rental Review Board, the Second District Court of Appeal ruled. >>read more

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