Locals officials are agents of the state when they are adopting an SB 10 ordinance, thus allowing them to overrule density caps imposed by voters, judges say.
New legislation would try to give both cities and developers something they want, while putting guardrails on builder's remedy projects. Meanwhile, HCD revoked Portola Valley's housing element approval.
A private gun club leasing land from the City of Ukiah in Mendocino County expanded -- with ministerial review from the city and no review at all from the county. An appellate court has decided that's not okay.
Concluding that the Attorney General's Office is likely to win its case against the recalcitrant city, the judge granted both temporary relief and a preliminary injunction while the case moves forward.
Grant program would focus on commercial-to-residential conversions, community land trusts social housing, and more. Whether the idea will get through Congress is another story -- but it's part of a big Biden effort on housing supply and affordability.
CEQA lawsuit claims county's mitigation measures on land use, agricultural mitigation and other issues are vague, unenforceable and will induce sprawl.
In the latest ruling against a municipality, a Los Angeles judge said La Cañada Flintridge must move forward with a builder's remedy project because -- in his judgment -- the city did not have a compliant housing element when it refused to process the project. It's one of two lawsuits against the city on the same project.
Recent rulings from the high-profile cities of Berkeley and Beverly Hills got a lot of publicity. But less publicized settlement agreements from Davis and Clovis show just how scared cities are getting about housing litigation.
After losing in appellate court and with a trial looming, the Fresno-area city reaches a wide-ranging settlement agreement including upzoning, inclusionary housing, a housing trust fund, and more.
Four lots in Los Osos were already on local water and sewer. San Luis Obispo County approved creating three new lots that already had sewer laterals and water meters. But the Coastal Commission said no and, in an unpublished ruling, an appellate court has agreed.
City agrees to move project forward without required vote, while developer agrees to increase affordable housing from 20% to 25% of project and agree to an EIR.
The City of Berkeley got hammered in court for violating SB 35 and the HAA by denying a project to be built on a parking lot on Native American shellmound property. Now the city has to pay the developer $2.6 million -- plus attorneys fees.
In the latest ruling on this emerging topic, an appellate court shot down the San Diego County board's decision to require an EIR for a recycling plant -- even though county's own staff, zoning administrator, and planning commission all said an exemption was warranted.
