NAVIGATING RECENT LEGISLATION ON SECOND UNITS, LOT SPLITS AND ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS IN ADDRESSING CALIFORNIA’S HOUSING CRISIS
Continue Reading NAVIGATING RECENT LEGISLATION ON SECOND UNITS, LOT SPLITS AND ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS IN ADDRESSING CALIFORNIA’S HOUSING CRISIS
Planning
The Second Appellate District Backs City Infill Exemption For Senior-Living Facility in Urban Los Angeles
By William W. Abbott, Patrick L. Enright & Garrett Bergthold on
The Second Appellate District Backs City Infill Exemption For Senior-Living Facility in Urban Los Angeles…
Continue Reading The Second Appellate District Backs City Infill Exemption For Senior-Living Facility in Urban Los Angeles
How Much Is Enough? The Second Appellate District Rules Against Appellant For Failure To Exhaust Administrative Remedies In CEQA Appeal.
Appellate Court Gives Partial Credit To Regents On LRDP And Project EIR; however, Overall EIR Assignment Is Incomplete. Rowdy Students Partly To Blame.
In Make UC A Good Neighbor v. Regents of University of California (2023) 88 Cal.App.5th 656, the First Appellate District grappled with a university EIR that served two purposes: a long range development plan (“LRDP”) and a specific campus housing project. The LRDP serves as a master plan document for higher education facilities in…
CITY CORRECTLY APPPLIES SEVEN-YEAR-OLD DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS WHEN APPROVING A RESIDENTIAL PROJECT
By Abbott & Kindermann, Inc. & Patrick L. Enright on
Lafayette v. City of Lafayette (2022) 2022 Cal.App.LEXIS 979
A citizens’ group (Save Lafayette) petitioned for a Writ of Mandate, claiming that the project conflicts with the City’s General Plan as it existed when the project was revived in 2018. The trial court denied the petition and the appellate court ruled that despite the lengthy…
The Voters Speak: Sometimes That Is
By William W. Abbott on
Posted in Local Government, Planning, Zoning, & Development
San Bruno Committee for Economic Justice v. City of San Bruno 2017 Cal.App. LEXIS 807
California land use nerds know well the origin of the right of initiative and referendum. A function of the national reform movement at the beginning of the twentieth century, California voters took matters into their own hands and inserted the…
A Cautionary Tale About Development Agreements: The Panoche Valley Utility-Scale Solar Project
By Glen C. Hansen on
PRIVATE LAND USE SETTLEMENTS: The potential fallout when a private side settlement agreement fails to settle your legal woes.
In 2010, the County of San Benito granted a conditional use permit for a solar project to the Panoche Valley Solar, LLC. The project was a 3,200 acre, 399-megawatt solar electric generation facility involving up to…
The Constitutionality of Legislative Exactions Is Explained In Recent Journal Article Published By Abbott & Kindermann Inc.’s Senior Counsel.
In 2016, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued this warning about legislative exactions: “Until we decide this issue, property owners and local governments are left uncertain about what legal standard governs legislative ordinances and whether cities can legislatively impose exactions that would not pass muster if done administratively.” He stated there are “compelling reasons…
Hold That Text!! Public Officials’ Communications About Public Matters On Private Accounts are Subject to Disclosure Under the California Public Records Act
Posted on
Posted in Local Government
By Daniel S. Cucchi
City of San Jose v. Superior Court (March 2, 2017, S218066) ___ Cal.5th ___.
Citing the need to broaden the definition of “public records” to address the “evolving methods of electronic communication,” a unanimous California Supreme Court reversed the Sixth District Court of Appeal, holding that communications related to the “conduct…
Last Minute Memorandum of Understanding Undermines Town’s Adoption of Resolutions Calling for Special Election
Posted on
Posted in Local Government
By Daniel S. Cucchi
Hernandez v. Town of Apple Valley (2017) 7 Cal.App.5th 194
In 2011, the Town of Apple Valley (the “Town”) circulated a local initiative called the “Wal-Mart Initiative Measure,” or in some cases the “Wal-Mart Supercenter Ballot Initiative,” which was subsequently declared null and void. Two years later, the Town noticed a…