Abbott & Kindermann Land Use Law Blog : California Land Use, Environmental & Real Estate Lawyer & Attorney : Abbott & Kindermann Law Firm : Sacramento, CA

By William W. Abbott

As a black-mark on the history of progressive thought in California, the voters, in 1950, enacted Article XXXIV as part of the California Constitution. It had the effect of requiring voter approval of low rent housing projects. Over time, the legislature had codified various interpretations, excluding from the voter approval process, certain types of affordable projects. On a parallel path, the legislature has modified the redevelopment law to ensure that there are minimum expenditures for affordable housing. After all, how many automalls, big box retailers and movie theaters does California really need to fund through the redevelopment process?

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 By Leslie Z. Walker

The City of Richmond (“City”) and Chevron Products Company (“Chevron”) gave the First District Court of Appeals the opportunity to deliver the first ever appellate court decision on an Environmental Impact Report’s (“EIR”) treatment of greenhouse gas emissions (“GHG”). On April 26, 2010, the Appellate Court found in Communities for a Better Environment v. City of Richmond, (April 26, 2010, A125618) __Cal.App.4th__ the EIR prepared for the construction of an Energy and Hydrogen Renewal Project (“Project”) inadequate in its project description and mitigation of GHG. The factors that likely influenced the appellate court’s decision included: the deal struck between the applicant and the City whereby Chevron would pay the City $61 million dollars to fund civic improvement and the City would fast track the additional permits required for the project; the fact that the project as described in its Security and Exchange Commission documentation, made under oath, contradicted the Project description in the EIR; the City’s delay in concluding the Project’s GHG emissions would create a significant impact on the environment, and the plan for mitigating this contribution would not be developed until up to one year after the issuance of the conditional use permit for the Project.

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