CP&DR

EIR For Russian River Water Plan Struck Down

Jul 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 07 Jul 2003

The Sonoma County Water Agency's environmental impact report for a project to increase the agency's withdrawals from the Russian River has been thrown out by the First District Court of Appeal. The EIR's analysis of cumulative impacts and project alternatives, and the document's description of the environmental setting were all inadequate, the court ruled.

City Crackdown On Long-Term Motel Rentals Is Ruled Constitutional

Jul 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 07 Jul 2003

The City of Buena Park has successfully defended a lawsuit against city ordinances that prohibit long-term occupancy of motel rooms. The Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that the ordinances were not unconstitutional takings and did not deprive the motel owners of equal protection.

Hearing Delay Causes Coastal Commission To Lose Jurisdiction Over Project

Jul 1, 2003

Coastal development, CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, San Diego County, Vol. 18 No. 07 Jul 2003

The California Coastal Commission lost its jurisdiction over development of a proposed elementary school in Encinitas because the Commission did not determine within 49 days whether a "substantial issue" existed, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled. The ruling appears to knock down a practice in which the Commission within 49 days of receiving an appeal sets a later hearing date without addressing any of the issues.

Millbrae Zoning Initiative Cleared For Ballot

Jun 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 06 Jun 2003

A city clerk did not have authority to throw out a zoning initiative petition based on evidence she received that the petition had been improperly circulated, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled. The city clerk's role was ministerial, and she did not have the authority to consider extrinsic evidence about how the initiative's backers circulated the measure, the court held.

Redevelopment Agency Demand For Supplemental EIR Upheld

Jun 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 06 Jun 2003

The Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency was correct to require a supplemental environmental impact report (SEIR) for a billboard proposed within a redevelopment project area, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled.

Court Limits Coastal Commission Jurisdiction To Coastal Zone

Jun 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 06 Jun 2003

The California Coastal Commission does not have authority to consider environmental impacts to areas inside the coastal zone caused by development outside the coast zone, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled. The decision is the most definitive to date on the Commission's authority when a project straddles the coastal zone boundary.

Madera County EIR's Approach To Species Upheld

Jun 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 06 Jun 2003

An environmental impact report for a dairy in Madera County has survived a challenge from an organization that fights dairy expansion in the Central Valley. The Fifth District Court of Appeal rejected arguments that the EIR's handling of endangered species issues, project alternatives and cumulative groundwater impacts was inadequate.

SoCal Developer's Constitutional Challenge of ESA Fails

Jun 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 06 Jun 2003

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has turned back a San Diego developer's broad attack on the Endangered Species Act as an unconstitutional exercise of federal power. Rancho Viejo LLC argued that the federal government had exceeded the authority granted to it by the constitution's Commerce Clause, and the developer pointed to two recent Supreme Court decisions striking down laws because they exceeded Congress's authority under the clause.

Would-Be Developer's Lawsuit Against SD Port District Is Ruled A SLAPP

May 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 05 May 2003

A developer's lawsuit that claimed the San Diego Unified Port District and one of its commissioners conspired to kill the developer's proposed waterfront project has been thrown out as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP).

Special Master's Termination From Union City Redevelopment Project Upheld

May 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 05 May 2003

A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's decision to remove a special master who had been appointed to oversee redevelopment of an industrial site in Union City. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also upheld a court order capping the former special master's compensation and ordering him to repay $113,000.

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