Ruling for the Coastal Commission against property owners represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, California's Second Appellate District cited the doctrine of collateral estoppel to find that an easement condition on a coastal development permit, once final, cannot be contested in a second permit application.

A state appellate court has upheld the California Coastal Commission's denial of a development permit for a small mixed-use project in Morro Bay.

The court rejected developer Dan Reddell's arguments that the commission violated his due process and equal protection rights, and that its decision was a regulatory taking of property. Instead, the Second District Court of Appeal ruled that substantial evidence supported the commission's finding that Reddell's project was inconsistent with Morro Bay's local coastal plan (LCP).

News from around the state: A wastewater collection system and treatment plant for the Central Coast town of Los Osos has been approved for a second time, which could end a 21-year-old building moratorium; an appellate court has upheld a 1,200% development fee hike in Manteca despite development agreements; the state has dropped an appeal of a judge's ruling blocking a shift of redevelopment tax increment from local redevelopment agencies to schools.

A state appellate court has reinstated the results of a local ballot initiative that authorize a large development near the San Luis Obispo County airport. A trial court judge had thrown out the initiative on the grounds that it was superceded by the State Aeronautics Act and that the ballot measure amounted to an "adjudicative" rather than a legislative act. The Second District Court of Appeal disagreed, ruling that the aeronautics law did not preclude the initiative and that it was appropriately legislative in nature.

Opponents of a proposed development on the Santa Margarita Ranch outside of San Luis Obispo have sued the county, arguing it violated numerous state laws when it approved the project during a special meeting two days before Christmas. The lawsuit is only the latest in the long-running controversy regarding the fate of the 13,800-acre ranch.

A mobile home park owner in San Luis Obispo County has won a state court order for a new county hearing on a rent increase. The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that Manufactured Home Communities is due a new hearing because it did not have the opportunity to cross-examine tenants who testified against the proposed rent increases at an earlier county hearing.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a mobile home park owner's attempt to invalidate San Luis Obispo County's mobile home rent control ordinance.

A development agreement between San Luis Obispo County and the developer of a subdivision and resort did not amount to an unconstitutional contracting away of the county's police power, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled. The opinion validates development agreements as legitimate planning tools and appears to erase any lingering doubts about the constitutionality of the practice.