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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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May 21, 2015

Court Rejects Another Attempt to Stop New Kings Arena

Opponents of the Sacramento Arena project took another shot at halting the new Kings arena project, challenging the city's certification of the project EIR on a variety of grounds.

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May 21, 2015

Mello-Roos Financing May Be Used to Acquire a Private Water Utility Through Eminent Domain.

An agency may acquire the assets of a private utility through condemnation using Mello-Roos bond financing, including intangible property incidental to the real or tangible property being acquired.

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May 20, 2015

Failure to Challenge Affordable Housing Condition Barred Subsequent Claim of Invalidity of Enabling Ordinance under Costa-Hawkins Act

While acknowledging that the City's affordable housing ordinance was no longer enforceable under the Costa-Hawkins Act, an appellate court dismissed a challenge to a permit condition requiring compliance with the ordinance because the owner failed to seek timely review of the permit condition through administrative mandamus.

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May 14, 2015

California Department of Fish and Wildlife's EIR for Fish-Stocking and Hatchery Program Upheld

A court of appeal has held that the first-ever environmental impact report for the state's fish hatchery and stocking programs complies with CEQA, but also found that three of the EIR's mitigation measures constituted "underground regulations" in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. Center for Biological Diversity v.

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May 13, 2015

Second District Court of Appeal Invalidates Approval of Elder Care Facility, Citing Lack of Evidence to Support Zoning Determination

A developer relying on financial hardship to obtain approval of an elder care facility exceeding the square footage permitted in a residential zone must present evidence of such financial hardship to sustain the required finding. Simply averring that a smaller project would not achieve economies of scale needed to provide adequate support services is inadequate.

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May 11, 2015

Court of Appeal Sinks Challenge to TMDL for Lake Bed Sediment

A Court of Appeal has upheld the Regional Board's adoption of the total maximum daily load (TMDL) for concentration of pollutants in the sediment in McGrath Lake, rejecting the claim that TMDLs may not be stated in terms of concentrations of pollutants in lake bed sediments.

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May 9, 2015

Appellate Court Reaffirms Broad Discretion of Trial Courts to Determine Appropriate Attorneys’ Fees

The Fourth Appellate District upheld the trial court's award of less than 10% of the fees requested by the prevailing petitioner in a CEQA case, finding no abuse of the broad discretion accorded trial courts in awarding fees.

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March 13, 2015

California Supreme Court Grants Review of Decision Invalidating SANDAG Regional Transportation Plan

The California Supreme Court has agreed to review the appellate court decision Cleveland National Forest Foundation v.

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March 5, 2015

Council Member Barred From Considering Own Appeal

In Woody's Group, Inc. v.

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March 3, 2015

California Supreme Court Upholds Most Commonly Used CEQA Categorical Exemptions

The California Supreme Court has issued its long-awaited decision in Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley, No. S201116 (March 2, 2015).

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February 9, 2015 CEQA

CEQA Year in Review 2014

A Summary of Published Appellate Opinions Under CEQA

By Stephen Kostka, Julie Jones, Barbara Schussman, Alan Murphy, Ned Washburn, Laura Zagar, Kathryn Bilder, Christopher Chou and Marie Cooper

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January 30, 2015

25th Annual Briefing on Land Use and Development Law -- Materials Available

Perkins Coie attorneys -- most of whom contribute regularly to this report -- recently presented the 25th Annual Land Use & Development Law Breakfast Briefing in Palo Alto, San Francisco and Walnut Creek. The presentation focused on 2014 developments and trends in land use, affordable housing, school facilities financing, CEQA, real estate and environmental and resources Law.&

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January 26, 2015

U.S. Supreme Court Tells Cities to Explain a Cell Tower Denial in Timely Fashion, Even if in a Separate Document

The tension between demand for high-quality, ubiquitous cell phone service and opposition to cell towers in residential neighborhoods has resulted in significant disputes between wireless carriers and municipalities over siting of such towers. Typically, the fight begins and ends at a city council. Recently, however, one such dispute resulted in a U.S.

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January 5, 2015

California Supreme Court Poised To Decide Key CEQA Questions: The Court’s Lineup For 2015

The California Supreme Court's involvement in CEQA cases has been relatively limited since the statute's enactment in 1970, with the court taking review of at most one or two appellate court decisions a year. The last two years have, however, seen a dramatic shift in this trend, with the result that the court now has nine pending cases on its docket. The pending cases span a broad rang

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December 29, 2014

Federal Court Invalidates San Francisco Tenant Relocation Requirements

The Northern District of California has struck down part of San Francisco's rent control ordinance as an unconstitutional taking under the Fifth Amendment in Levin v.