by William Fulton

Four new court cases shed light onto the California Environmental Quality Act as well as land-use designations in general plans. 

The affluent San Gabriel Valley city has asserted that late passage of its housing element might protect the city from the builder's remedy, even without HCD approval (which could come soon). But a pending project may be permitted to move forward.

California Supreme Court concludes that localities may regulate the location of oil drilling, but the allowable methods must be determined by the Department of Conservation.

Because 40 rent-stabilized apartments would be eliminated by construction of a new hotel, an appellate court ruled that the city cannot ignore the goals and policies in its own housing element.

In an unpublished ruling, an appellate court concluded that cities challenging RHNA targets can't sue the state. Previous rulings only said that cities couldn't sue their council of governments.

Their project was denied even though they asserted the builder's remedy. The lawsuit sets up a legal battle over whether cities can get out from under the builder's remedy by self-certifying their housing element. 

In a case that could have significant implications for the application of the builder's remedy, an L.A. County judge said that La Canada-Flintridge's self-certification of its 2022 housing element may not be enough to get out from under the builder's remedy requirement. He implied that HCD approval is also required. 

In a case from South Lake Tahoe, an appellate court ruled that the city has the right to eliminate all short-term rental permits in residential zones -- but not to give favorable treatment to local residents.

An appellate court concluded that San Diego staff emails constituted a "smoking gun" that the city had not considered a proposed increase in the height limit in the Midway area's programmatic EIR.

In a new case from Oakland, an appellate court ruled that the city can impose new fees on an old project despite signing an agreement that seemed to lock the fees in.

One camp says CEQA litigation stifles housing production and reinforces the status quo. The other camps says CEQA litigation isn't all that frequent and leads to better projects. But what if they're both right?

Koll Center Developer Can Use Old EIR: Kennedy Commission Beats Huntington Beach Again

At least that's what an appellate court ruled in a case from Pomona that was brought, ironically, by a prospective cannabis merchant who argued otherwise.

Dueling environmental groups disagreed over how much the university should thin non-native trees to reduce fire hazard. They both sued -- and they both lost.