Fairfax County government recently announced a new multiyear planning initiative to modernize the Virginia county's Policy Plan, a key component of its Comprehensive Plan. This effort, called "Plan Forward," will focus on...more
The month of September was a bad month for the City of Minneapolis’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan (2040 Comp Plan). On September 5, 2023, Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District (Hennepin County) released a decision temporarily...more
California housing law requires every city and county in the state to update the Housing Element of that jurisdiction's General Plan every eight years. Among other things, each updated Housing Element must plan for the...more
In a decision partially published on November 30, 2022, Save Lafayette v. City of Lafayette, the First Appellate District Court of Appeal upheld the City of Lafayette’s approval of the Terraces of Lafayette (the “Project”), a...more
As DC continues to explore ways to incentivize office-to-residential conversions and revitalize downtown, the Zoning Commission recently dismissed a pending text amendment that would have removed the exemption for...more
As the Jan. 21, 2023, statutory deadline to submit compliant housing elements for the 6th Regional Housing Need Assessment (RHNA) Cycle looms over Bay Area governments, all eyes are on the penalties associated with missing...more
Holland & Knight Partner Jennifer L. Hernandez, leader of the firm's West Coast Land Use and Environmental Group, recently authored an industry report for the Center for Jobs & The Economy, whose mission is to identify and...more
As part of its efforts to implement changes outlined in the 2021 Comprehensive Plan Update, the District of Columbia Office of Planning (OP) has undertaken multiple initiatives. These are at various stages in the planning...more
Recent decisions from two court cases – Schreiber v. City of Los Angeles1 and Bankers Hill 150 v. City of San Diego2 – make California's Density Bonus Law a powerful tool not just for accessing increased density, but also for...more
As Holland & Knight has previously reported, California courts have consistently enforced state housing laws that preempt land use and planning decisions by local governments. (See previous Holland & Knight alerts, "Court of...more
The San Francisco Planning Department is updating the City’s General Plan, and Department staff held a two-week series of online workshops on the proposed General Plan updates beginning Monday, March 15th. All development...more
The “4-Plex Bill” Meant to Address the Housing Crisis Couldn’t Muster Enough Support - Much to the relief of local land-use control advocates and cities throughout California, Senate Bill 50 failed to pass the state Senate...more
Part 4: New California Housing Laws - As part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pledge to create 3.5 million new housing units by 2025, he signed Senate Bill 330 on Oct. 9. The new law makes numerous changes to the Permit...more
The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) issued its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) Determination to the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) on Aug. 22, 2019, concluding...more
Land Use and Development Case Summaries (short form) - 1. PLANNING AND ZONING - CENTER FOR COMMUNITY ACTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE V. CITY OF MORENO VALLEY, 26 Cal. App. 5th 689 (2018) - Based on the language and...more
Following more than six years of planning and public outreach, the City initiated the formal approval process for the Central SoMa Plan (Plan) at the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission on February 27 and March 1,...more
The California Legislature just sent another “stop me before I vote again” bill to the Governor. Assembly Bill 890 proposes to limit severely the scope of voter-sponsored, pro-development land use initiatives. The Governor...more