In a low-profile but important new decision, San Luis Obispo Local Agency Formation Commission v. City of Pismo Beach, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2021) (Case No. B296968), the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court decision and held that
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 3
Supreme Court Again Declines to Hear Major Property Rights Case, Leaving in Place Hopelessly Muddled Takings Doctrine
As former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens famously explained, more than 30 years ago, about the Supreme Court’s takings cases:
“Even the wisest of lawyers would have to acknowledge great uncertainty about the scope of this Court’s takings…
Landowner’s Efforts to Void and Redraw Subdivision Map Fails Under Laches Doctrine
The often invoked but rarely successful laches doctrine is an equitable defense when a party unreasonably delays enforcing a right and when granting the relief sought would prejudice the adverse party. A petition for “exclusion” is an equitable process under…
Proposed California Budget Would Create Housing Accountability Unit and Add New Targeted CEQA Exemptions Focused on Housing
On January 8, 2021 California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed an expansive state budget that includes $1.75 billion to purchase additional motels, develop short-term community mental health facilities, and purchase and preserve housing dedicated to seniors, $500 million in low income…
Court Upholds Coastal Commission Cease and Deist Order Directing Homeowners to Remove Seawall Protecting $25 Million Home and Pay $1 Million Administrative Penalty
On December 18, 2020, the Fourth District Court of Appeal published 11 Lagunita, LLC v. California Coastal Commission, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2020) (Case No. G058436), a case involving a Coastal Development Permit issued by the California Coastal Commission in 2015…
City “Apartment Rent Ordinance” Survives Constitutional Challenge by Landlords
In a concise December 7, 2020 opinion, Hotop v. City of San Jose, __ F.3d __ (2020) (Case No. 18-16995), a 3-0 panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s dismissal of an action alleging that…
Supreme Court Decides to Hear Important Property Rights Case Addressing Whether Time-Limited Easements Are a Physical Taking Under Per Se Rules
On November 13, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order granting certiorari in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid. The question presented in the successful cert petition is “whether the uncompensated appropriation of an easement that is limited in time…
School District Not Required to Evaluate Impact of Private University Housing Project Before Imposing Impact Fees
On November 5, 2020, in AMCAL Chico LLC v. Chico Unified School District, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2020) (Case No. C087700), a case involving the Chico Unified School District’s imposition of school impact fees on a dormitory complex to house unmarried…
Ninth Circuit to Supreme Court: Pound Sand
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has federal appellate jurisdiction over a major portion of the western U.S., has something of a reputation as the most overturned federal appeals court circuit. While the truth of that is a mixed…
What Might Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett Mean to Property Rights?
Judge Amy Coney Barrett was nominated, for a reason, to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as an Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice. As other commenters have noted, a Justice Barrett is expected to move the Court to the…