CP&DR

Court Upholds 9-Year-Old Neg Dec As Adequate Study

Oct 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected a takings claim and request for a jury trial filed by a property owner in Washington who disputed a zoning decision made under that state's Growth Management Act of 1990. It was the Ninth Circuit's first takings decision since the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold a takings decision and jury award of damages in May. In City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey Ltd., 119 S. Ct. 1624, the high court broke new ground by allowing an aggrieved...

State Treasurer Wants to Influence Growth Patterms: Policies for Housing Tax Credits, Infrastructure Financing Are Tools

Oct 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999, William Fulton

Four months after making a sweeping proposal to re-orient the state's infrastructure investments around "smart growth" principles, State Treasurer Phil Angelides — a former "New Urbanist" developer -— is moving forward with at least three different proposals to change the selection criteria in state bond and tax credit financing programs. "It's a new way of thinking for the state and the public finance community," Angelides said. "But it's not irresponsible and it is creditworthy." Angelides has al...

A Foreign Concept for Planners to Consider

Oct 1, 1999

Stephen Svete, Trends, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

It's no surprise that Ephrain Corona didn't have time to talk when I called. The immigrant owner of a five-store Mexican roasted chicken chain based in Oxnard was too busy growing his business. What Corona undoubtedly realizes is that the time is ripe to cash in on California's fastest growing consumer segment: foreign immigrants. Joining this growing group of entrepreneurs are a few developers and a handful of planning departments – mainly redevelopment agencies – all of whom may have found the...

Public Transit Advances in Congested Bay Area

Oct 1, 1999

BART, Larry Sokoloff, Public Development, Public Transit, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

Silicon Valley's job boom has underscored gaps in the transit systems in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has renewed calls to extend BART, the costly regional transit system that was once supposed to ring San Francisco Bay. But while construction continues on a $1.5 billion extension of BART from northern San Mateo County to San Francisco International Airport, other plans to extend BART have received mixed receptions. A ballot initiative to extend BART south of the airport through S...

Sonoma Voters Reject Resort

Oct 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Local Watch, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

An initiative to prevent hotel and resort development on 60 acres of city-owned land in Sonoma passed with 77 percent of the vote during a Sept. 21 special election that attracted 59% of registered voters. A Mexican investor had proposed an upscale, 100-room resort for the hillside above Sonoma Plaza. Project opponents said they wanted to preserve open space and a scenic view.

Takings Case Doesn't Get Jury Trial: Del Monte Dunes Precedent Not Applicable in All Cases

Oct 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected a takings claim and request for a jury trial filed by a property owner in Washington who disputed a zoning decision made under that state's Growth Management Act of 1990. It was the Ninth Circuit's first takings decision since the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold a takings decision and jury award of damages in May. In City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey Ltd., 119 S. Ct. 1624, the high court broke new ground by allowing an aggrieved...

CERCLA: Lawsuit Over Ft. Ord Cleanup Gets Light to Proceed

Oct 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

The federal Superfund law allows citizens to file lawsuits challenging remedial cleanup of hazardous material at a former military base, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The September ruling permits a federal lawsuit to move forward against the Army over burial of hazardous materials at the former Fort Ord Army base in Monterey. Environmentalists charge that the Army's plan to bury contaminated soil in an on-site landfill is subject to review under the California Environmental Quality...

Lawmakers Pass Few Significant Land-Ue Bills : Davis Vetoes Attempt to Halt Spread of Big-Box Retailers

Oct 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

Although Democrats took control of state government this year for the first time since the early 1980s, the legislative session did not produce a batch of liberal bills. In fact, with regards to land use, environmental regulation and local government finance, the session may have been most remarkable for what lawmakers did not do. The Legislature approved no major changes to the California Environmental Quality Act. Transportation and affordable housing bonds died. Proposals to reduce the v...

Roy Rodgers Meets Marks-Roos in Murrieta

Oct 1, 1999

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

I need to start this column with some personal disclosures: I have never shot fish in a barrel. I deny ever having stolen candy from a baby. (Actually, it depends on how you define "stolen.") And I have never rolled off a log, at least not as an adult. So, I don't really know how easy all these things are. But then again, none of them could be easier than finding the flaws in the City of Murrieta's plan to provide about $115 million in bond financing for the RogersDale theme park to be built in the R...

Wal-Mart Takes Its Case to Eureka Voters--And Loses

Oct 1, 1999

Local Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

Voters in Eureka have handed a setback to the Bentonville, Arkansas-based denizens of gray big boxes. In a late August election, Eureka voters rejected rezoning to allow a Wal-Mart near the waterfront. The election polarized the city, but officials pledged that economic development efforts would continue with or without Wal-Mart. The loss in the Humboldt County seat was a rare defeat for Wal-Mart — but probably not surprising considering that it occurred in an independent-minded North Coast...