For decades developers and landowners have considered San Francisco as a City that is unfriendly to property rights. From the City’s Hotel Conversion Ordinance, which severely restricts the conversion of hotels from residential to tourist use, to the Community Opportunity
Land Use Developments
The Land Use Developments blog, published by Miller Starr Regalia, focuses on legal issues surrounding real estate development and land use in California. It covers topics such as housing project approvals, challenges under the Housing Accountability Act, California Environmental Quality Act litigation, zoning and planning law compliance, and local government permitting processes. The blog discusses significant cases involving affordable housing projects, legislative updates affecting land use and housing development, and strategies to navigate regulatory and litigation challenges in real estate development. It also addresses the impact of local opposition groups and legal mechanisms to promote housing production.
Latest from Land Use Developments - Page 2
California Enacts New Housing Legislation to Increase Supply and Address Housing Crisis
On September 16, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed several new key housing bills, all of which take effect January 1, 2022, to increase the supply of new housing in California and address the state’s ongoing housing supply crisis. In so…
California Poised to Enact New Housing Production Laws Despite NIMBY Opposition
Despite hyperbolic and misleading criticism from various NIMBY groups, California is one step closer to important new state-level land use and housing reform. Contrary to bald statements that these bills would “crush” single-family zoning or “end homeownership” in California, these…
Supreme Court Issues Another Important Property Rights Decision
On June 28, 2021, the Supreme Court issued Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco, 594 U.S. ____ (2021), a unanimous per curiam opinion vacating a ruling by the Ninth Circuit in favor of the City and County…
Supreme Court Issues Major Property Rights Decision in Favor of Landowners, Confirming that Government-Sanctioned Physical Invasions of Private Property are Categorically Compensable Under the Takings Clause
In a 6-3 opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, __ U.S. __ (2021) (Case No. 20-107), the Supreme Court issued a major property rights decision in favor of landowners in a case addressing California…
County’s Initiative-Enacted General Plan Traffic Mitigation Policies Are Unconstitutional Exactions
On May 4, 2021, in Alliance for Responsible Planning v. Taylor (County of El Dorado), __ Cal.App.5th __ (2021) (Case No. C085712), the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court decision invalidating as a violation of the unconstitutional…
Landowner Prevails in Short-Term Vacation Rental Lawsuit Against Santa Barbara
On May 4, 2021, the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court decision, in Kracke v. City of Santa Barbara, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2021) (Case No. B300528), enjoining the City of Santa Barbara’s enforcement of a short-term vacation…
Developer Achieves Complete Victory in SB 35 Decision for New Mixed-Use Development in Berkeley
In Ruegg & Ellsworth v. City of Berkeley, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2021) (Case No. A159218), the first published appellate decision addressing Senate Bill 35, the First District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court decision in favor of the City…
Santa Barbara Liable for Taking Private Property When its Permit Denial Made Clear no Development Would be Allowed
In a case that exists only because of the choices a city made in both application decision-making and litigation, the Second District Court of Appeal held, in Felkay v. City of Santa Barbara, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2021), that multiple applications…
Supreme Court Wrestles with Line Drawing in an Important Property Rights Case Addressing Physical Taking Rules in the Context of Labor Union Organizing Laws
During California’s strawberry harvesting season in the summer of 2015, union activists entered a nursery’s property under the authority granted by a California regulation that allows union organizers to enter the private property of agriculture businesses for three hours at…