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.

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.

The experiences of two developers — one a large-scale master plan developer and the other a smaller, apartment developer — are snapshots of the uneasy relationship between home building and environmental policy in North San Diego County at a time when newly minted environmental laws are racing to keep pace with rapid home building.