CP&DR

Classroom Construction: The Good Ol' Days Are Gone

Dec 1, 1999

Larry Sokoloff, Public Development, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999

When California's first "space-saver" school opens next fall in Santa Ana, it will be an immediate orphan. The program that gave birth to the school no longer exists. Instead, the state and school officials are pursuing different strategies to provide classroom space in growing urban districts, as evidenced by innovative new schools in Pomona and Long Beach. The state space-saver program, launched with great fanfare during the early 1990s, sought to solve the problems of growing urban district...

Ruling Could Slow Brownfield Reuse

Dec 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999

In a decision that could have implications for the cleanup of polluted industrial sites, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled that an oil company's insurer has no responsibility to pay for state-mandated remediation. In a 2-1 ruling, the court held that the insurer's promise to defend a "suit" did not force the insurer to defend an administrative proceeding. Furthermore, the court said, the insurer must pay only court-ordered damages, and not fines coerced by an administr...

Logging Rules Overhaul Angers Industry and Its Environmentalists

Dec 1, 1999

Environment Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999

From the viewpoint of the timber industry, the state Board of Forestry is working on a package of rules that would significantly reduce timber harvests on private property. From environmentalists' standpoint, the board is laboring over rules that do not go nearly far enough toward protecting water courses and endangered salmon from the effects of logging. The two sides agree on one thing — state forestry regulators do not have adequate data and analysis to make new rules. "Our concern is t...

November 1999 Land-Use Election Results

Dec 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Elections, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999

Alameda County City of Livermore Voters rejected the Citizens Alliance for Public Planning (CAPP) initiative that would have required an election for a development of more than 20 units. Measure B: No, 61.5% City of Pleasanton Voters defeated the CAPP initiative that would have mandated an election for a development with at least 10 units. Measure D: No, 56.4% City of Newark Voters defeated an initiative that would have changed the general plan designation of 560...

Slow-Growth County Takes On Housing Officials : Santa Cruz Supervisors Reject Negotiated Housing Element

Dec 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999, William Fulton

Despite five years of negotiation with state housing officials, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors has rejected a proposed housing element that would permit the county to reach its affordable housing goals largely through the unprecedented use of "granny flat" policies. At its core, the dispute between the notoriously slow-growth county and the state is a stark example of two competing philosophies about affordable housing. Within the context of longstanding growth restrictions, count...

Clean Air Act: Environmentalists Who Filed Lawsuit Lose Appeal For Fees

Dec 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999

An environmental group that sued a company over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act has been denied attorneys' fees by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The unanimous three-judge panel — which included retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White, sitting by assignment — said that in cases where the government eventually does take action, such as this one, a private party is not entitled to receive its court costs. In November 1995, The Montana Coalition for Health, Environmen...

New Wave of Coastal Planning Comes Ashore

Dec 1, 1999

Stephen Svete, Trends, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999

Like a powerful winter swell, political action related to California's treasured coastline is generating waves in halls of local government, the capitol and even courtrooms these days. Political, environmental, and economic development interests are combining forces to create some of the most intensive changes to coastal planning since the passage of the Coastal Act in 1972. Even cities that are many miles inland could feel the effects of this beach-protection movement. Perhaps t...

Pending Litigation: Developer Attacks Referendum Over Subdivision Agreement

Dec 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999

Less than a week after voters decided nearly 20 growth-related ballot measures, an attorney for a developer who lost an election last January made its case to the Second District Court of Appeal. The lawyer for Costa Mesa-based Messenger Development argued that a referendum over a 3,200-home development in the City of Moorpark was illegal. During a January special election, Moorpark voters overturned their City Council's approval of Hidden Creek Ranch, a subdivision proposed inside Moorpark'...

Growth-Control Initiatives Receive Mixed Reception In Off-Year Election: Voters Defeat East Bay CAPP, But Development Fight Cont

Dec 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999

In an off-year election that surprised many observers, slow-growth advocates lost battles in some surprising places, but they also claimed victories in some pro-growth cities. Most importantly, voters in the East Bay cities of San Ramon, Pleasanton and Livermore rejected the Citizens Alliance for Public Planning initiatives that would have put on future ballots all but the tiniest of developments. And, in the first test of a Ventura County SOAR growth restriction, the electorate approved rezoni...

Native Americans Agree To Follow County Rules

Dec 1, 1999

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999

"I don't have to talk to you," the developer says to the public official. "I have the right to build whatever I want, wherever I want it." How many developers, exhausted or hamstrung by local government, have longed to say those words? And how can local government respond, when a developer actually does say those words to them — with the full support of federal law? As it turns out, at least one group of developers in California actually can say those words, and back them up: Na...