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California Land Use & Development Law Report

California Land Use & Development Law Report offers insights into legal issues relating to development and use of land and federal, state and local permitting and approval processes.

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July 1, 2016

Quieting title to groundwater rights does not necessarily require quantification of prescriptive losses

The Sixth District Court of Appeal has ruled that a judgment quieting title to overlying rights to groundwater in times of basin surplus does not require quantification of the specific amount of prescriptive rights that may previously have been established against each overlying landowner.

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June 23, 2016

Indian Gaming Act and NEPA Irreconcilable, Ninth Circuit Rules

The Ninth Circuit has held that the National Indian Gaming Commission's approval of a tribal gaming ordinance does not require review under the National Environmental Policy Act because there is an irreconcilable conflict between NEPA and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

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June 13, 2016

Fish and Wildlife Service Reissues 30-Year Eagle Take Rule

As we previously reported, in August 2015, a U.S. District Court in San Francisco nullified the U.S.

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June 1, 2016

County Board May Not Take Actions That Implement Essential Feature of a Referended Ordinance

When a referendum petition is presented against an ordinance and the board of supervisors decides to "entirely repeal the ordinance" rather than present it to the voters, the board must revoke the challenged ordinance in its entirety and may not take additional action that has the practical effect of implementing the essential feature of the ordinance.

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June 1, 2016

Wetlands Jurisdictional Determinations are Final Agency Actions Subject to Immediate Judicial Review

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a wetlands jurisdictional determination by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Clean Water Act is a final agency action subject to judicial review. Hawkes Co., Inc. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 578 U.S.

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May 27, 2016

Court Blocks Implementation of Level 3 School Fees

A Sacramento Superior Court judge has issued a temporary restraining order barring the State Allocation Board from formally notifying the California Senate and Assembly that state funds for new school facility construction are no longer available.

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May 26, 2016

State Allocation Board Approves Level 3 Fees -- CBIA Seeks Injunction

In a move that could result in doubling developer fees overnight in more than 200 school districts, the State Allocation Board last night voted to formally notify the California Senate and Assembly that state funds for new school facility construction are no longer available.

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May 25, 2016

Ordinance Prohibiting Mobile Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Was Not a “Project” Under CEQA

A California Court of Appeal has held that a city ordinance prohibiting mobile medical marijuana dispensaries within city boundaries did not constitute a "project" under the California Environmental Quality Act.

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April 5, 2016

Wetland Jurisdictional Determinations: Reviewable or Not?

Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. (Supreme Court Case No. 15-290), which poses the question of whether a determination by the Army Corps that a property contains "waters of the United States" under the Clean Water Act is a final agency action that may be challenged in court.

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April 4, 2016

Ninth Circuit Rules Navy Satisfied NEPA in Considering Potential Terrorist Threat to San Diego Facility

The Ninth Circuit has rejected a claim, under the National Environmental Policy Act, that the Navy did not adequately consider the environmental consequences of a potential terrorist threat to the redevelopment of a military complex near downtown San Diego. The opinion upheld the Navy's Environmental Assessment for the complex, which concluded that the project would not create the potential

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March 30, 2016

Inadvertent Disclosure of Documents Under the Public Records Act Does Not Waive the Attorney-Client Privilege

The California Supreme Court has resolved a significant split among California appellate courts regarding whether inadvertent disclosure of documents in response to a Public Records Act request results in waiver of the attorney-client privilege pursuant to section 6254.5 of the Act.

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February 29, 2016

Assessing traffic impacts under CEQA

In enacting CEQA, the Legislature established a policy to "provide the people of this state with clean air and water, enjoyment of aesthetic, natural, scenic and historical environmental qualities, and freedom from excessive noise." The Legislature did not mention freedom from intersection congestion.

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February 1, 2016

Governor’s Office Moves One Step Closer to Eliminating Automobile Delay as a Significant CEQA Impact

On January 20, 2016, the Governor's Office of Planning and Research released a revised draft of proposed new CEQA Guidelines to replace automobile congestion-based thresholds for evaluating transportation impacts with thresholds that emphasize proximity to transit and a reduction in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on a per capita or per employee basis. SB 743, passed by the Legislature in 2013, requ

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January 13, 2016

Agency’s CEQA Analysis Must Consider the Project’s Long-Term Impacts

The Third Appellate District's opinion in North Coast Rivers Alliance v. A.G.

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December 30, 2015 CEQA

CEQA YEAR IN REVIEW 2015

A Summary of Published Appellate Opinions Under the California Environmental Quality Act