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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 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

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December 17, 2015

CEQA Requires An Analysis Of The Project’s Impacts On The Environment, Not The Environment’s Impacts On The Project; California Supreme Court Sets Clear Limits On CEQA's Reach

CEQA generally does not require that public agencies analyze the impact existing environmental conditions might have on a project's future users or residents, according to the California Supreme Court's decision in California Building Industry Association v Bay Area Air Quality Management District (S213478, December 17, 2015).

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December 17, 2015

Court Rebuffs CEQA Challenge to Subway Tunnel Under Beverly Hills High

Beverly Hills and its school district have failed to persuade the court of appeal to block construction of a subway line beneath Beverly Hills High School. Beverly Hills Unified School District v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 241 Cal. App. 4th 627 (2015).

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December 4, 2015

Complex New Requirements for CEQA Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Set by Supreme Court

Newhall Ranch, a proposed mega-development in Los Angeles County, can't seem to catch a break: besieged by setbacks since Newhall Land first filed an application to develop the land in 1994, the project has been the subject of over twenty-one public hearings and several law suits over its more than twenty year history.

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October 20, 2015

Historical Level Of Use May Serve As CEQA Baseline For Replacement Of Vacant Building

The California Court of Appeal's Fourth Appellate District's recent decision, North County Advocates v. City of Carlsbad is a potentially major decision on the issue of using historical levels of operations as the baseline for gauging the environmental impacts of a proposed project under CEQA.

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October 14, 2015

Losing Plaintiff Cannot Recover Legal Fees

Commenting that "we have not found a threat of victory in this record," the court of appeal ruled against a citizens' group that brought a motion for attorneys' fees after losing a CEQA challenge in the trial court.