Land Use

Subscribe to Land Use

In a case that exists only because of the choices a city made in both application decision-making and litigation, the Second District Court of Appeal held, in Felkay v. City of Santa Barbara, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2021), that multiple applications are not required where the permit denial makes clear that no development of the property would be allowed under any circumstance.
…
Continue Reading Santa Barbara Liable for Taking Private Property When its Permit Denial Made Clear no Development Would be Allowed

During California’s strawberry harvesting season in the summer of 2015, union activists entered a nursery’s property under the authority granted by a California regulation that allows union organizers to enter the private property of agriculture businesses for three hours at a time, 120 days per year, to recruit potential new members.  The organizers entered the nursery’s property with bullhorns in hand, distracting and intimidating hundreds of employees who were preparing young strawberry plants for shipment.  For three consecutive days during the same summer, the organizers also attempted to enter the private property of a family-owned grower and shipper of fresh produce.
…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Wrestles with Line Drawing in an Important Property Rights Case Addressing Physical Taking Rules in the Context of Labor Union Organizing Laws

In a low-profile but important new decision, San Luis Obispo Local Agency Formation Commission v. City of Pismo Beach, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2021) (Case No. B296968), the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court decision and held that the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act (Gov. Code § 56000 et seq.) does not authorize a local agency formation commission (“LAFCO”) to require an indemnification agreement or to require the payment of attorney fees based on such an agreement.
…
Continue Reading Game Changer: Public Agency Cannot Mandate Payment of Attorney Fees Under Indemnity Agreement Without Specific Statutory Authority

On January 8, 2021 California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed an expansive state budget that includes $1.75 billion to purchase additional motels, develop short-term community mental health facilities, and purchase and preserve housing dedicated to seniors, $500 million in low income housing tax credits, and $250 million for infill infrastructure intended to facilitate housing.
…
Continue Reading Proposed California Budget Would Create Housing Accountability Unit and Add New Targeted CEQA Exemptions Focused on Housing

On December 18, 2020, the Fourth District Court of Appeal published 11 Lagunita, LLC v. California Coastal Commission, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2020) (Case No. G058436), a case involving a Coastal Development Permit issued by the California Coastal Commission in 2015 for the reinforcement of an existing seawall that was installed years earlier, before the Coastal Act, at the base of a 1950’s era Laguna Beach home.
…
Continue Reading Court Upholds Coastal Commission Cease and Deist Order Directing Homeowners to Remove Seawall Protecting $25 Million Home and Pay $1 Million Administrative Penalty

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has federal appellate jurisdiction over a major portion of the western U.S., has something of a reputation as the most overturned federal appeals court circuit.  While the truth of that is a mixed bag, an October 13, 2020 order in an important property rights case looks to be a worthy candidate for both a petition for writ of certiorari, a grant of cert by the U.S. Supreme Court, and maybe more.
…
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit to Supreme Court: Pound Sand

Judge Amy Coney Barrett was nominated, for a reason, to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as an Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice.  As other commenters have noted, a Justice Barrett is expected to move the Court to the right on a wide range of issues, including health care, gun control, and abortion.  But what is far less clear at this point is how a Justice Barrett would influence or alter the Court’s property rights jurisprudence.
…
Continue Reading What Might Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett Mean to Property Rights?

The Third District Court of Appeal published an important new case on September 16, 2020—Parkford Owners for a Better Community v. County of Placer, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2020) (Case No. C087824)—holding that a project opponent’s challenge to the expansion of a development project was moot given that construction was nearly complete.  The case distinguishes other leading cases addressing “mootness” in the land use and CEQA context and provides important insights for those involved in the development process.
…
Continue Reading Completion of Development Project Rendered Opponent’s Challenge to County’s Issuance of a Building Permit Moot

On August 17, 2020, in Martis Camp Community Association v. County of Placer, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2020) (Case Nos. C087759 and C087778), the Third District Court of Appeal addressed several novel legal claims arising from the County of Placer’s partial abandonment of public easement rights in a road connecting two adjacent residential subdivisions near Lake Tahoe.
…
Continue Reading Court Holds That County’s Abandonment of Public Road Easement Rights Did Not Violate Brown Act, Was Supported by Substantial Evidence, and Did Not Create Takings Liability

On August 5, 2020, in Granny Purps, Inc. v. County of Santa Cruz, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2020) (Case No. H045387), the Sixth District Court of Appeal addressed several novel property rights issues related to a law enforcement action in the County of Santa Cruz in which officers seized more than 2,000 marijuana plants from a medical marijuana dispensary for violating a local ordinance restricting marijuana cultivation to no more than 99 plants.
…
Continue Reading Court Holds That Dispensary’s Violation of County Marijuana Cultivation Ordinance Does Not Justify Seizure of Plants But Rejects Related Takings Claim