Land Use
Previewing This Week’s Oral Arguments in the Supreme Court’s Most Important Property Rights Case This Term
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in what is shaping up as the Court’s most important property rights case of the current Term: Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, No. 11-1447. What can we expect? Koontz is one of three Takings Clause cases on the Court’s docket this Term. …
CONTINUE READINGThe Trouble with TDRs
What went wrong with TDRs? But first, you might ask, what are TDRs? TDRs — more formally, transferable development rights — were the first form of environmental trading system to be used in the United States. For instance, the Supreme Court decided a the Penn Central case, which involved TDRs over a decade before Congress created the …
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CONTINUE READINGOf Mollusks and Men: The Wilderness Act and Drakes Bay Oyster Company
The debate over Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s continued operation within the Point Reyes National Seashore created two unlikely foes: environmentalists in favor of transitioning the land to wilderness, and supporters of local, organic food and a longstanding family business. The San Francisco Chronicle aptly termed it a “legal and philosophical slugfest.” The door seems to …
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CONTINUE READINGBreaking News: Judge Rules San Diego’s SB 375 Transportation Plan Violates State Environmental Law
San Diego Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor today ruled that the San Diego Association of Government’s (SANDAG) regional transportation plan, with a sustainability chapter as required by SB 375, violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Judge Taylor concluded that the environmental review accompanying the plan, as required by CEQA, did not sufficiently analyze the …
CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court Rules Federal Flooding of State Forest Lands an Unconstitutional Taking
Today was a busy day for the environment in the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only did the justices hear arguments in a potentially-important Clean Water Act case. (More on that in a future post.) The Court also issued its first decision among the five environmental cases pending before it this Term–three of which involve property …
CONTINUE READINGHow the Democrats’ Supermajority Can Improve California’s Downtowns
Now that Democrats in California have achieved the Pete Wilson Supermajority in the legislature, they should focus on two key reforms to revitalize the state’s downtowns and ensure more efficient land use. First, the supermajority should put on the ballot a constitutional initiative to lower the threshold for passing local tax measures to fund transit. …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Proposition 30 and the Environment
With so much attention paid to the presidential race, it’s easy to overlook the fact that California’s fiscal future is on the ballot tomorrow, with consequences for the environment. Proposition 30 represents Governor Jerry Brown’s attempt to stave off harsh cuts to the state budget, a situation brought on by declining tax revenues in the …
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CONTINUE READINGSaving Public Transit: Neighborhoods Matter
Public transit depends on neighborhood design to be successful. Without convenient neighborhoods that orient housing and jobs around transit, buses and trains will waste scarce public dollars by failing to attract sufficient riders and offering poorer quality service to those who do ride. Mott Smith, a Los Angeles-based real estate developer and advocate who focuses …
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CONTINUE READINGFracking Lawsuit Filed in California Against State Agency
Earthjustice filed a lawsuit two days ago in Alameda County Superior Court on behalf of four environmental plaintiffs charging that the California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) has failed to consider or evaluate the risks of fracking, as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Plaintiffs — the …
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CONTINUE READINGConference on Saving Public Transit, Friday November 2nd at UCLA Law (Simulcast Available)
Please join us on Friday, November 2nd, for a free (with registration) conference on strategies to save public transit during a time of shrinking budgets. The conference will feature experts on transit finance, real estate development around transit, and new technologies that may revolutionize transit in the coming years. Art Leahy, Chief Executive Officer of …
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