In November 1986, California Planning & Development Report was born as a four-page "sample." We haven't missed a month since. >>read more

Twenty years ago this fall, the population of California stood at slightly north of 27 million people - an alarming increase of 4 million since the 1980 Census. Many people were wondering how the state would be able to accommodate such a huge population. >>read more

The Governor signs some land use legislation, the House passes bill in favor of property owners, and a Superior Court Judge throws out environmentalist's case against windmills. Glendora says no to new housing development and a golf course while El Dorado County reaches a compromise to allow the construction of an Indian casino. >>read more

Looking back at the environmental issues that grabbed headlines 20 years ago, it's tempting to conclude that nothing at all has changed. >>read more

A federal court has ordered Sutter County to grant a conditional use permit for a Sikh temple. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the county violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) when the county rejected two use permit applications for the temple. >>read more

A water credit transfer approved for a developer by the City of Monterey and the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District has been struck down by an appellate court, which ruled that the city's and the district's reliance on an exemption from environmental review was faulty. >>read more

Back in the early 1990s, regionalism was the hot planning topic. Championed by then-Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, regionalism sought to organize a range of planning functions traditionally managed at the state and local levels into newly defined "regions" that would better reflect actual human activity and social function. >>read more

Thesis: Cities are dynamic places, where different forces constantly push against each other. Among those many forces are the desires of local residents to maintain a "sense of place," or in some cases create that sense de novo in locations where it does not already exist. >>read more

Several pieces of land use legislation have been vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, including two bills aimed at affordable housing and a bill that would have decreased local discretion over the siting of emergency shelters and group homes. Meanwhile, state lawmakers and lobbyists are already starting to prepare housing bills for the 2007 legislative session. >>read more

After five years of planning, dozens of public meetings and a couple advisory elections, Humboldt County has abandoned a plan to establish redevelopment project areas in rural communities spread around the county. >>read more