This case involved the City of Santa Rosa’s approval of a CUP to convert a shuttered hospital center to a homeless youth and transitional housing center with about 50 to 60 beds. The center was sponsored and funded by a non-profit organization, which would also provide counseling and health services and recreational activities at the […]
City of Los Angeles voters approved measure HHH in 2016 to facilitate the construction of 10,000 units of permanent supporting housing to address the City’s homeless crises. The City Council followed-up in April 2018 by passing an ordinance which eliminates CEQA review for housing projects up to 120 units and that meet zoning requirements. The […]
For seven years, a handful of homebuilders offered solar as an optional item to buyers willing to pay extra to go green. Now, California is on the verge of making solar standard on virtually every new home built in the Golden State. The California Energy Commission is scheduled to vote Wednesday, May 9, on new […]
Popular Science, a popular quarterly magazine, published an article on April 4, 2018 calling out California for saying that everything causes cancer. In California Proposition 65 requires business with 10 or more employees to provide reasonable warnings about the use of any chemicals the state has decided “could cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive […]
Beverly Hills High School will soon begin to dismantle the iconic oil derrick next to its football field that has pumped crude oil for decades. Statewide, California oil production has been declining since 1986, when production peaked at 1.1 million barrels per day. In 2016, production was less than half that. Over the past 35 […]
Some of our recent blog posts have followed the progress of SB 827, a bill intended to address the State housing shortage. The bill limits local zoning restrictions for housing units located in qualifying transit areas. The bill was sponsored by California YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard) and supported by some in the building industry. […]
April 13, 2018 | Category:
California,
CEQA,
Land Use,
News | Tags:
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california land use,
CEQA,
Housing,
land use,
Land Use Law,
LegislationThe sponsor of California State Senate Bill 827, Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) amended the proposed bill ahead of its first legislative committee debate. SB 827 has potentially significant land use implications and was previously summarized on this blog. To recap, the bill is an aggressive attempt to address the housing shortfall in California by overriding […]
March 31, 2018 | Category:
California,
CEQA,
Land Use,
Lawsuit | Tags:
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california land use,
CEQA,
court case,
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Mitigated Negative Declaration,
MNDThe Second District Court of Appeal upheld an infill project approved by the City of Covina in the case Covina Residents for Responsible Development v. City of Covina (Cal. Ct. App., Feb. 28, 2018, No. B279590). The project at issue involved a 58-unit, mixed use, infill project located about a quarter-mile from a commuter rail […]
The City of Santa Barbara has been awarded a $10 million grant by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to offset the $72 million cost of reactivating the Charles E. Meyer Desalination Plant. The plant came back online to supply water to city customers in May 2017. It provides an important source of drought-proof […]
Despite a bad start to the rainy season in California, the recent storms across the state have helped ease fears of insufficient water for the coming growing and recreation season. The significant fires of the past year and unusually dry start to the winter had many concerned, but a weather pattern shift in late February […]
