On September 30, 2018, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 2923, which gives the Bay Area Rapid Transit District land use authority for transit-oriented development on the land it already owns near existing and planned stations. The
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 8
U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Important Martin’s Beach Public Access Case
On October 1, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Martins Beach 1, LLC v. Surfrider Foundation (Docket No. 17-119), a high-profile property rights case involving Martin’s Beach in the County of San Mateo.…
City’s Mishandling of CEQA and Resulting Construction Delay Does Not Create Takings Liability
In 2005, in Lingle v. Chevron U.S.A. Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overruled the first prong of a regulatory takings test established 25 years earlier, in Agins v. City of Tiburon. In Agins, the Court held that a regulation…
Court Rejects Residents’ Takings Lawsuits for Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes is the site of the ancient Portuguese Bend and Abalone Cove landslides, both of which remain active. In 1978, in response to movement of the Abalone Cove landslide, the City adopted an “urgency ordinance”…
California Supreme Court Confirms That Referendum Petition Can Challenge Zoning Intended to be Made Consistent with General Plan
On August 23, 2018, the California Supreme Court held, in City of Morgan Hill v. Bushey, __ Cal.4th __ (2018) (Case No. S243042), that a referendum petition to challenge a zoning ordinance amendment that would bring the ordinance into compliance…
House of Representatives Again Passes Private Property Rights Protection Act
On July 23, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2017 (H.R. 1689). Sponsored by Wisconsin Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. and California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the Act intends to address Kelo…
California Appellate Court Rules in Favor of Defunct National Conference of Black Mayors and Controversial Former Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson in Novel Public Records Act Attorney Fee Litigation
On July 25, 2018, the Third District Court of Appeal published Nat’l Conference of Black Mayors v. Chico Community Publishing, Inc. , __ Cal.App.5th __ (2018) (Case No. C083956), a case of first impression addressing whether the Public Records Act…
California Appellate Court Upholds Settlement Agreement for $100M Malibu Beach Restoration Project
On June 12, 2018, in County of Ventura v. City of Moorpark and Broad Beach Geologic Hazard Abatement District, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2018) (Case No. B282466), the Second District Court of Appeal published a decision addressing whether the California Environmental…
Court Holds that HOA’s Short-Term Rental Regulations Constitute “Development” Under the California Coastal Act
The harsh effects on property rights resulting from the California Coastal Act’s broad definition of “development” are on display again following the Second District Court of Appeal’s March 27, 2018 opinion, in Greenfield v. Mandalay Shores Community Association, __ Cal.App.5th…
Attorney General Confirms that Disposition of Real Property Under Long Range Property Management Plan is an Administrative Act not Subject to Referendum
On April 27, 2018, the California Attorney General published an opinion (No. 17-702) concluding that a City of Hollister resolution approving the execution of an agreement to sell real property for development, pursuant to an approved plan for disposing a…