The First District Court of Appeal overturned the City of San Francisco’s decision that Saint Ignatius High School’s project to install four permanent 90-foot-tall athletic field lights was exempt from CEQA. Saint Ignatius...more
The state was required to reimburse municipalities for the cost of state-mandated trash receptacles at transit stops because local governments lacked authority under Proposition 218 to impose fees either on transit agencies...more
An anti-SLAPP motion was properly denied because the claims for damages arose from breach of contract and tort actions, not from any protected First Amendment activity. Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, LLC v City of...more
The Sixth District Court of Appeal held that a medical marijuana dispensary could recover its marijuana plants seized by law enforcement, finding that violation of the ordinance did not render medical marijuana plants...more
An action for breach of a statutory development agreement should be reviewed as a breach-of-contract case, not as an administrative law proceeding in which the court gives deference to the City’s findings. Oakland Bulk &...more
On March 18, 2020, we authored an update regarding housing construction under the shelter-in-place orders jointly issued by six Bay Area counties—Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa...more
4/9/2020
/ City of Los Angeles ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Project ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hospitals ,
Local Ordinance ,
Municipalities ,
Operators of Essential Services ,
Real Estate Development ,
San Francisco ,
Shelter-In-Place ,
State and Local Government ,
State of Emergency
The statewide concerns underlying the affordable housing provisions of the Surplus Lands Act superseded municipal home rule authority on the same subject and hence required charter cities to comply with the affordable housing...more
1/10/2020
/ Affordable Housing ,
Housing Market ,
Local Ordinance ,
Low Income Housing ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Municipalities ,
Preemption ,
Real Estate Development ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Constitutions ,
Urban Planning & Development
The City of Sacramento did not violate constitutional law or implied-in-law zoning contract when it approved a project with characteristics that deviated from the City’s zoning ordinance. Sacramentans for Fair Planning v....more
A court could properly direct a city council to correct internal inconsistencies in its general plan resulting from adoption of an initiative. Denham, LLC v. City of Richmond, 41 Cal. App. 5th 340 (2019).
The Richmond City...more
1/10/2020
/ Appeals ,
City Councils ,
General Plan ,
Land Developers ,
Land Use Restrictions ,
Local Ordinance ,
Petition for Writ of Mandate ,
Remedies ,
State and Local Government ,
Urban Planning & Development ,
Zoning Laws