10.01.14
Effective Jan. 1, 2015, low income housing projects face a modified legal regime when qualifying for property tax exemptions in California.
09.26.14
Last month Governor Jerry Brown’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) released for public review and debate proposed draft amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act’s implementing guidelines (CEQA Guidelines).
09.18.14
In upholding the approval of a 260-acre expansion to the Potrero Hills Landfill, this decision provides important guidance regarding the evidence that may be used to support a lead agency’s determination that a reduced-size project alternative is economically infeasible under CEQA.
09.17.14
The deadline for owners of nonresidential buildings that are between 5,000 and 10,000 square feet to comply with the Nonresidential Building Energy Use Disclosure Program has been extended from July 1, 2014, to July 1, 2016.
08.21.14
With land use issues and development projects increasingly the subject of local ballot initiatives, it is imperative to understand the procedural requirements for initiatives, including who may properly serve as an official proponent of a local measure.
08.12.14
Project proponents may avoid CEQA altogether by gathering sufficient voter signatures and then having the local City Council approve the proposed project, without submitting the measure to a vote of the people.
07.22.14
The 30 day statute of limitations for CEQA challenges was upheld to bar litigation alleging that a project, as constructed, was different from how that project was described in the CEQA document.
06.30.14
The court refined its previous test for air quality impacts analysis under CEQA, and required recirculation of an EIR due to its failure to specifically analyze the impacts on human health resulting from the change in air quality due to the project’s air emissions.
06.09.14
The Court in Bowman held that a permit condition could not be modified or deleted by a second permit that included the same project, even if the first permit had expired.
11.07.13
Charter cities were pleased with the California Supreme Court decision in State Building and Construction Trades Council of California AFL-CIO v. City of Vista, which permitted charter cities to avoid the requirement for the payment of prevailing wage rates on public works projects.