CP&DR

L.A. General Plan Process Nearly Survives Challenge: Neighborhood Activists Win Narrow Victory on Transportation Issues

Nov 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 11 Nov 2000

The City of Los Angeles's general plan framework and accompanying environmental impact report have survived most aspects of a legal challenge. The Second District Court of Appeal found the EIR acceptable but rejected the city's findings regarding traffic impacts, remanding the case to the trial court. The unanimous three-judge appellate panel upheld the EIR's discussion of alternatives, water resources analysis and housing policies. Assistant City Attorney Susan Pfann said city officials we...

Proposition 218: San Diego Rental Tax Case Accepted, But Review Deferred

Nov 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 11 Nov 2000

The California Supreme Court has voted to review a business tax case from San Diego. However, the state's high court deferred action on Teyssier v. City of San Diego until the court decides a similar case from Los Angeles. In June, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that San Diego's tax on rental residences was not subject to Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act of 1996 (see CP&DR Legal Digest, August 2000). The city assessed a rental unit business tax on all residential pr...

Ninth Circuit Won't Rehear Tahoe Basin Case; Sharp Dissent Issued

Nov 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 11 Nov 2000

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will not reconsider a takings case involving a building moratorium in the Tahoe Basin. However, five Ninth Circuit judges did vote to hear the case of Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc., v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 216, F3d., 764. (9th Cir. 2000), and Judge Alex Kozinski issued a blistering dissent in which he accused the three-judge panel that decided the case of ignoring takings precedent. "The panel does not like the Supreme Court's Takings Claus...

Environmental Study Needed During Design Review, Court Rules

Oct 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 10 Oct 2000

The California Environmental Quality Act does not apply to a city's design review process, the Third District Court of Appeal has held. In a case involving a Border's bookstore in the City of Davis, the court also ruled that the identity of a particular tenant in a retail project that has already undergone CEQA review does not compel further study. And the court held that the city's design review process does not extend to approval of particular tenants. The partially published appellate cour...

Constitutionality of ERAF Tax Shift Upheld By Court

Oct 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 10 Oct 2000

The shift of $200 million per year away from redevelopment agencies to school districts as part of the state's property tax reallocation beginning in 1992 did not constitute a "reimbursable state mandate," the Third District Court of Appeal has ruled. The ruling clarifies a question that first emerged when redevelopment agencies reluctantly agreed to the shift of funds in 1992. The City of El Monte had filed a test claim on the issue with the Commission on State Mandates. However, the city l...

Zoning: Hotels Win Two rounds Against San Francisco Over Tourist Use

Oct 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 10 Oct 2000

The City of San Francisco has been dealt setbacks in two cases in which the city attempted to argue that two hotels were not "grandfathered" as tourist hotels and therefore are subject to the city's hotel conversion ordinance because of alleged conversion from residential to tourist use. The two cases appear to have interconnected issues that may need to be resolved later. In the first case, one First District appellate panel concluded that the hotel needed to prove "actual tourist use...

Coastal Commission: Pristine or Degraded, Wetlands in Coastal Zone Receive Protection

Oct 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 10 Oct 2000

Building on an earlier case, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has expanded protection of low-quality coastal wetlands. Overturning a trial judge, the court ruled that all wetlands in California's coastal zone — even those not located in "environmentally sensitive habitat areas," (ESHAs) — should receive the same level of legal protection whether they are pristine or degraded. Last year, the same court ruled that coastal wetlands' quality could not be taken into account in determining wh...

Lack of Groundwater Analysis Dooms Dump EIR: Ruling Is Only Part of Huge controversy Over Rail Cycle

Oct 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 10 Oct 2000

The Fourth District Court of Appeal has thrown out an environmental impact report for a proposed San Bernardino County landfill because the EIR did not estimate the volume of groundwater underlying the site. Because the landfill could threaten the groundwater resource, decision-makers needed to know how large the resource is before determining whether the landfill was an acceptable risk, the unanimous three-judge panel held. Although the court threw out the EIR for lacking groundwater information, t...

NEPA: Divided Panel Offers Different Takes on EIS for Hawaii Airport Project

Sep 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 09 Sep 2000

A sharply divided three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an environmental impact statement prepared for expansion of the Kahului Airport in Maui, Hawaii. The court majority ruled that the Federal Aviation Administration had taken the "hard look" at the project's impact on native habitat required by the National Environmental Policy Act, while a dissenting judge called the FAA's study inadequate and deceptive. The FAA and the Hawaii Department of Transportation proposed repa...

San Francisco Hotel Owners Advance Takings Case: Appellate Court Allows Lawsuit, Establishes High Standard for City

Sep 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 09 Sep 2000

Property rights advocates won a potentially far-reaching victory with a First District Court of Appeals ruling regarding San Francisco's hotel conversion ordinance. In a takings lawsuit filed by a hotel owner, the court held that the "heightened scrutiny" test applies to the San Francisco law, meaning there must be a close relationship between the exaction and the project's impact. The court ruled that the lawsuit filed by owners of the San Remo Hotel should proceed in trial court. The hotel owners ar...

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