Court also concludes the requirement calling for all roads to be built before any private development is constructed runs afoul of the Nollan/Dolan doctrine. >>read more

Lower court ruling invalidating initiative is overturned >>read more

Plumas enviros may be suspicious of the county's general plan policies, but that's not enough to win. >>read more

Formerly bankrupt city hopes downtown will lead the way back. >>read more

Referendum that repeals zoning ordinance cannot be knocked off the ballot of a city has the ability to quickly reconcile the inconsistency. >>read more

Action comes after brawl between city and anti-growth groups. >>read more

Repealing a zoning ordinances doesn't create an inconsistency with the general plan because it "doesn't enact anything". >>read more

In the latest urban decay case, an appellate court reinforces an earlier ruling to say that substantial evidence must involved more than merely an expert's "conjecture" >>read more

City of Orange never incorporated old land use designation into new general plan -- and referendum killing housing project stands. >>read more

If NIMBYs are, proverbially, planners' worst enemies, then planners are sometimes their own second-worst enemies.  

Monday morning I attended one of a dozen or so workshops and listening sessions, this one in Los Angeles, put on by the Governor's Office of Planning and Research to publicize and solicit input into the new draft General Plan Guidelines. It's a momentous occasion for planners in California. Legislative, demographic, and cultural forces have forged a different world in the 12 years since OPR last updated the guidelines. 

Cities that update their general plans, usually to the tune of hundreds of pages, need all the help they can get. That's why it's so important for OPR to clearly explain what it has in mind and to hear what planners and citizens need to make the magic happen.  

Some citizens, though, see nothing magical about, well, anything that planners do. >>read more