Fresno's 2035 General Plan proposal has been moving through packed public meetings toward final approval this month. The city's Planning Commission approved the proposal December 8. The City Council took it up in a packed public discussion hearing November 11. Mayor Ashley Swearengin has personally identified herself with the plan, which includes proposals from canal-side trails to increased infill development. The plan returns to the City Council December 18 for an approval vote.

Ninth Circuit Enjoins Amphitheater Project In Homeless Vets' VA Suit
The Ninth Circuit on December 15 issued a short-term order barring the Veterans' Administration from allowing continued construction of the "Hollywood Canteen Amphitheater" on its West Los Angeles veterans' hospital campus. The amphitheater's builder, the nonprofit Veterans Parks Conservancy (VPC), is one of several groups whose agreements to use parts of the park-like campus were invalidated by Judge James Otero last August in Valentini v. Shinseki.

The December 15 order consolidated four separate appeals of the August decision and sent the matter temporarily back to Otero so he can decide whether to issue an order preserving the status quo on the campus pending the rest of the appeal. In the Valentini case, homeless veterans represented by a strong team of Los Angeles poverty lawyers and pro bono counsel argued that the VA was improperly allowing use of the campus by third parties for purposes including athletic facilities, gardens, and an industrial laundry for hotels. The plaintiffs argued these uses were providing only indirect or attenuated services to veterans, while the VA's priority should be housing for homeless veterans with disabilities. Otero's August order invalidated VPC's agreement for use of the property, but while the case was under appeal the VA authorized VPC, in a new agreement, to continue work on its already-begun construction project. For CP&DR's fuller coverage as of December 1 see http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3634.

Lynch Seawall Case Accepted By State Supreme Court
The state Supreme Court has granted review for the Pacific Legal Foundation's seawall case, Lynch v. Coastal Commission. The property-rights organization has championed two property owners who have sought a permanent rather than temporary permit for a seawall to prevent bluff erosion. See http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3572 for CP&DR's prior coverage of the Fourth District appellate opinion, which backed the Coastal Commission's decision requiring a permit to rebuild the seawall after storm damage, and its refusal to issue seawall permits for any more than 20 years at a time. The Pacific Legal Foundation's celebratory announcement of the review opportunity was picked up by the San Diego U-T and the local Fox News station.

L.A. Issues Earthquake Resilience Plan
Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles released a plan December 8 to strengthen the city's resistance to future earthquakes by strengthening water pipes and other infrastructure, and retrofitting buildings, especially those with soft first stories or non-ductile reinforced concrete. The New York Times' Adam Nagourney wrote an impressed account of the "Resilience By Design" report setting out the plan, which has been directed by celebrity seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones.

National Housing Trust Fund To Be Funded At Last
Six years after its formal creation, the federal National Housing Trust Fund will finally be receiving contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, per an order last week from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Affordable housing groups including the National Community Reinvestment Coalition were cheering the news. Reuters has details.

O'Connor Out As L.A. Metro Board Member
The Los Angeles Metro system's board of directors was rebalanced last week when officials from cities on the Southwest Corridor replaced former board chair Pam O'Connor, of the Santa Monica City Council, with Mayor James Butts of Inglewood. StreetsblogLA has details. The comments section to the article included an argument between John Mirisch, a former Beverly Hills City Council member who the article mentions as a rumored also-ran candidate, and commenters (including one signing as "Fakey McFakename") on issues including whether the article fairly described him as opposing the Westside subway extension. Mirisch insisted he in fact supported the extension but opposed "the routing of a portion of the Purple Line".

Federal Budget Talks Kill California Foothills Easement Proposal
Congressional Republicans have reportedly killed a proposal out of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to create the California Foothills Legacy Area. The project would have bought conservation easements on 200,000 acres of ranchlands in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The Fresno Bee has details. As of December 12 the paper also quoted Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, as saying the federal omnibus appropriations package "ensures no additional federal dollars for California High Speed Rail" and said the package did not include legislative language tentatively negotiated between House Republicans and Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The "Cromnibus", so named because it included a continuing resolution (CR) for Department of Homeland Security programs, passed the House Thursday night and the Senate on Saturday, in negotiations that Roll Call viewed as suggesting the formation of a "new governing coalition" in Congress.

Khosla May Be Defying Order To Open Martins Beach
During the week after a court order to open public access to Martins Beach, the gate remained closed at Vinod Khosla's disputed access road from Highway 1 on the San Mateo County coastside. The San Mateo Daily Journal and San Jose Mercury News reported the Coastal Commission was threatening Khosla with fines of $11,250 per day. The Mercury News noted the Thursday after the ruling was stormy, creating a legitimate reason to close the gate, "but the weather over the previous five days was mild and dry."

CEQA Preemption Case Accepted For Review
A state ruling on federal CEQA preemption has been accepted for review by the state Supreme Court. In the case of Friends of the Eel River v. North Coast Railroad Authority, the First District Court of Appeal upheld a contract for use of railroad tracks against a CEQA challenge to its EIR on the grounds that a federally regulated railroad deal was outside the purview of CEQA. If upheld, the ruling could allow lumber shipping by rail to resume in Willits. Attorneys Nicole Martin and Donald Sobelman of Barg Coffin Lewis & Trapp, LLP posted a detailed commentary last month on reasons why the appellate court's decision, if affirmed, could help advance freight rail expansions throughout the state.

USSTB Says CEQA Review Is Preempted On High-Speed Rail

In another railroad preemption move, the Fresno Bee reports the U.S. Surface Transportation Board ruled 2-1 on December 12 that CEQA review of the High-Speed Rail project's Fresno-Bakersfield route "is categorically pre-empted". The paper counts seven lawsuits that could potentially be blocked by the order -- which will presumably be litigated.

Riverside County Settlement Allows Use Of Post-Redevelopment Funds
Riverside County has reached a settlement with state officials allowing it to use up to $10 million in former redevelopment money on a shopping center rehab project in Jurupa Valley. The Press-Enterprise has details.

Warriors' New Design Less Lavatorial
The Golden State Warriors have released a redesign of their San Francisco arena plan, this time in more symmetrical form to answer critics' comments that the roof resembled a toilet lid. The smart San Francisco real estate blog Socketsite has details and renderings. The design is for a site near the corner of Third and 16th Streets in San Francisco's otherwise too-quiet Mission Bay tech neighborhood, south along the Bay waterfront from the Giants' AT&T Park.

Procedural Tangle On EIR Resolved In Aggregate Mine's Favor
In Friends of the Kings River v. County of Fresno, the Fifth District upheld dismissal of a CEQA petition that had challenged the EIR on the reclamation plan for a proposed new aggregate mine in Fresno County near Sanger and Reedly. The plan discussed how the property would be divided into 40-acre mining cells, each cell dug down 50 feet and the remaining ground restored. Petitioners had argued that the trial court dismissed their case when it was not ripe for review because by the time the court's decision emerged, the plan they were contesting was no longer in effect. Petitioners had filed their court petition against the Board of Supervisors' approval of the EIR while they also had an appeal pending with the State Mining and Geology Board.

While the court appeal was still pending, the mining board granted petitioners' administrative appeal; the county Supervisors responded by approving a revised EIR, and when petitioners took the revised EIR back to the mining board, it approved the revised EIR. The mining board conducted its hearing on the revised EIR November 14, 2013, and on that same date the trial court denied the writ petition on the original EIR. The appellate court found the dispute was "neither unripe nor moot" and rejected several challenges to the substantive adequacy of the EIR.

De Le�n As Pro Tem Ends Government Oversight Research Office
The Sacramento Bee reports that new state Senate president pro tem Kevin de Le�n has eliminated the State Senate's Office of Oversight and Outcomes, a research unit whose reports included two 2010 reports that criticized redevelopment agencies during their last year of existence.

Homeowners' Association Fees Case Goes To Oral Argument In January
The case of Tract 19051 Homeowners Association v. Kemp goes to oral argument in San Francisco before the California Supreme Court on January 7, 2015. The case concerns whether Cal. Civil Code Sec. 1354 entitles prevailing parties to attorney's fees in a dispute with a homeowners' association where the win followed from a showing that the association had not been adequately maintained as a legal entity. The CalAttorneysFees Web site wrote up the case after it was granted review in August 2013. The original Second District opinion, which was unpublished, is at http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/revnppub/B235015.PDF.