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By Janell M. Bogue

You wouldn’t think that a simple, wooden fence would create enough controversy to fuel an extensive administrative process, a trial court case, and an appeal to the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District. However, in the case of Committee to Save the Hollywoodland Specific Plan and Hollywood Heritage v. City of Los Angeles (2008) 2008 Cal.App.Lexis 501, that is exactly what happened.
Continue Reading Good Fences Make Good Neighbors but Bad Fences Make Appellate Opinions

By William W. Abbott

The case of Brewer v. Murphy (Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District, Case No. F051700) involved three riparian owners and a dispute over a spring box and pipeline. The riparian owners are listed here in order from the lower riparian to the upper riparian: Brewer, Hagg and Murphy/Klein. In 1979, Brewer acquired property in eastern Fresno County. The source of water was a spring box on property owned by Murphy/Klein’s predecessor, located roughly one mile away. When Murphy (and later Klein, who acquired a part interest from Murphy) took title, neither was actually aware of the spring box or pipeline.
Continue Reading Open Hostility: Validating Prescriptive Easements

By Janell M. Bogue

In the case of Citizens for Responsible and Open Government v. City of Grand Terrace (February 21, 2008) 2008 Cal.App.Lexis 359 the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District held that a mitigated negative declaration (“MND”) approved for a senior residential project was inadequate under CEQA. In doing so, the court discussed density calculations and the weighing of evidence under the fair argument test.
Continue Reading Court of Appeal Applies Fair Argument Test in Appeal of Senior Housing Project

By Cori Badgley

In 2004, a jury awarded Adam Bros. Farming, Inc. (“ABFI”) over $5 million in civil damages. The trial court assessed these damages against individual County officials as well as the County of Santa Barbara (“County”). On March 4, 2008, the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District overturned the award of damages in an unpublished opinion, Adam Bros. Farming, Inc. v. County of Santa Barbara (Docket No. B180880, 2008). The appellate court held that Adam Bros. Farming, Inc. lacked standing to bring its constitutional claims and the claims were barred by the statute of limitations. Therefore, the civil damages had to be overturned.
Continue Reading $5 Million Judgment Against Santa Barbara County Overturned by Appellate Court

By Leslie Z. Walker

In February of 2008, the state Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District held in Douda v. Cali-fornia Coastal Commission (2008) 159 Cal.App.4th 1181, that the Commission, when issuing a coastal development permit, may designate environmentally sensitive habitat area if a local coastal plan (“LCP”) for the area has not been certified.
Continue Reading Coastal Commission May Designate Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area

By Rob Hofmann

The California Coastal Commission lacks the statutory authority required to declare a property an ‘environmentally sensitive habitat area’ when it hears an appeal from a local government’s grant of a coastal development permit to develop the property. Such action infringes upon powers that the Legislature expressly allocated to local government. Security National Guaranty v. California Coastal Commission (2008) Cal. App. LEXIS 131, January 25, 2008.
Continue Reading Coastal Commission Out of Bounds with ESHA Determination

By Joel Ellinwood, AICP

The Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District, continues this year’s deluge of land use and environmental law decisions by revisiting the first principles of planning and zoning law in Neighbors in Support of Appropriate Land Use v. Tuolumne County, filed and certified for publication on December 7, 2007. The court held that a development agreement between the property owner and the County to authorize a use otherwise prohibited in the same zoning district throughout the County violates the uniformity requirement of Government Code section 65852 and is invalid.
Continue Reading If the Zoning Isn’t Uniform, the Court Won’t Salute

By Janell M. Bogue

A California appellate court recently addressed the approval of yet another Wal-Mart Superstore, this time in the City of Stockton (“City”). In Stockton Citizens for Sensible Planning v. City of Stockton (November 28, 2007) 2007 Cal.App.LEXIS 1960, the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District directed the trial court to set aside the approvals for a 200,000 plus square foot Wal-Mart, which would have been located in Spanos Park West (“Park”). The court held that a letter from the City’s Community Development Director (“Director”) was not an approval by a public agency. Since there was no approval by a public agency, the notice of exemption (“NOE”) was not valid and the short 35-day statute of limitations could not apply.
Continue Reading Invalid Approval Based on Lack of Legal Authority Leads to Invalid Notice of Exemption and Long Statute of Limitations for Challenged Wal-Mart

By Janell M. Bogue

The California Supreme Court’s decision in Vineyard Area Citizens for Responsible Growth, Inc. v. City of Rancho Cordova addressed the sufficiency of future water supplies for a long-term, large scale development. In the case of Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment v. County of Los Angeles, the Second Appellate District determined that an EIR for a long-term project met the requirements discussed in the Vineyard case.
Continue Reading Paper Water Revisited: Second Appellate District Applies the Principles of Vineyard

In the recent case City of Los Angeles v. County of Kern (August 10, 2007) 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62323, the United States District Court for the Central District of California held that an initiative ordinance in Kern County approved by the voters which had the effect of banning the land application of biosolids was unconstitutional.
Continue Reading The Sludge is Here to Stay: City of Los Angeles v. County of Kern