March 2013

On March 5, 2013, the voters of Calistoga approved Measure C, resulting in another victory for the Project. The City of Calistoga and its visitors will now be able to enjoy a new luxury resort just as the City Council intended. Truly, this was a rare referendum victory for the development community in California.

By William W. Abbott

Schmeer v. County of Los Angeles (February 2, 2013, B240592) ___Cal.App.4th ___. The County of Los Angeles enacted an ordinance prohibiting retail stores from providing plastic carryout bags and requiring the stores to charge customers 10 cents for each paper bag provided. Among other provisions, the ordinance provided that the money received by the store for recyclable paper carryout bags must be retained by the store and used only for (1) the costs of compliance with the ordinance; (2) the actual costs of providing recyclable paper bags; or (3) the costs of educational materials or other costs of promoting the use of reusable bags.Continue Reading 10 Cent Per Bag Charge Included as Part of An Ordinance Encouraging Use of Recyclable Grocery Bags Was Not Subject to Proposition 26

By Glen C. Hansen

Lost Tree Village Corp. v. United States, ___ F.3d ___, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 690 (Fed.Cir. 2013). Between 1968 and 1974, Lost Tree Village Corporation (“Lost Tree”) purchased approximately 2,750 acres of property on Florida’s mid-Atlantic coast, which included a barrier island on the Atlantic Ocean. That property included 4.99 acres now known as Plat 57, which is part of the entire peninsula known as the Island of John’s Island. From 1969 through the mid-1990s, Lost Tree developed approximately 1,300 acres it purchased into the upscale gated residential community of John’s Island. The development was made in a piecemeal manner, and not as a master-planned community.Continue Reading US Army Corps Denies A §404 Permit: Can A Takings Claim Be Based On Consideration Of The Economic Affect On the Wetlands Parcel Only?