Three bills that would have established "green" building standards for housing, commercial structures and state government buildings were vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor also vetoed a controversial planning bill that would have limited cities' ability to satisfy regional fair-share mandates with non-residentially zoned properties.

A water supply analysis for a proposed development in the Santa Clarita Valley has passed a California Environmental Quality Act test laid out earlier this year by the state Supreme Court. The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that the EIR for the West Creek project adequately addresses the likely availability of long-term water sources and the mitigation of a toxic pollutant in local wells.

Regional planning strategies are not necessarily compatible with local desires, especially when satisfying regional needs means putting a bunch more cars on already overburdened streets.

In a decision deferential to city officials, an appellate court has upheld the City of Vacaville's approval of an 860-acre project as compatible with the general plan. The decision also provides the first published ruling on the recently amended state density bonus law, which the court applies very broadly.

What a difference a year can make.

During the final days of the 2006 legislative session, a package of bills intended to force better coordination between flood control and land use planning in the Central Valley and Bay Delta region died amid a deluge of acrimony. This year, however, state lawmakers approved six bills similar to measures that failed last year.

Only weeks after one round of relatively noncontroversial updates to the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines officially took effect, the Governor's Office of Planning and Research has been charged with a far more ambitious task: amending the Guidelines to account for global warming.

The fight over fair-share allocations of needed housing within the Southern California Association of Governments region is on. At least two cities have filed lawsuits and numerous others are reportedly considering their legal and political options.

With the politicking already under way, another confusing campaign over eminent domain restrictions is likely to confront voters next year.

Stanislaus County supervisors and developers have beaten farmland preservation advocates to the punch. Supervisors adopted a developer-written growth plan for the unincorporated community of Salida six months before voters are scheduled to decide on a slow growth/farmland protection initiative that actually was written first.

Concluding that Fontana has dodged its affordable housing obligations since 1987, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has blocked the Fontana Redevelopment Agency from issuing $40 million in tax allocation bonds because the agency has exceeded its debt limit. The court also declined to "validate" a settlement between Fontana and the state Department of Housing and Community Development concerning a $67 million shortfall in affordable housing funds, and the court makes clear that Fontana has been avoiding is affordable housing obligations since 1987.