News
U.S. Supreme Court will clarify the constitutionality of legislatively-authorized land use exaction fees
 Allen Matkins – October 9
The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari on September 29, 2023, in Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, a case that challenges the County of El Dorado’s requirement that a property owner pay a Traffic Impact Mitigation Fee as a condition to a development permit. By taking the case under review, the Court is expected to clarify the circumstances under which an exaction authorized under state law violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
California laws related to permitting EV charging stations and electric infrastructure projects
Allen Matkins – October 10
In recognition of the substantial effect that widespread use of electric vehicles (EVs) will have in reducing carbon emissions, the state and federal government have set ambitious goals to increase the number of EVs on the road. In an effort to reach these goals, California has adopted legislation with the objective of increasing the number of EV charging stations and expanding existing infrastructure to supply the demand for charging. Please see our latest alert here for a summary of the key laws that can help developers and governments more quickly permit EV charging infrastructure.
City of Vernon’s population could quadruple due to new zoning change
KCRW – October 5
Carol Menke is one of just 222 people who live in Vernon, a five-square-mile city just south of Downtown Los Angeles. Despite its tiny population, she says the city doesn’t exactly have a small-town feel. Some 45,000 to 50,000 people commute into Vernon every day. It’s home to factories, railyards, sprawling electrical substations, and meatpacking facilities. The city even has the words “exclusively industrial” embossed on its seal. However, a new zoning ordinance is set to add up to 874 apartments to Vernon, more than quadrupling the city’s population. The new zoning changes, which went into effect on September 1 of this year, are concentrated on South Santa Fe Avenue, near the city’s border with Los Angeles.
A ‘company town’? Stanford housing plan raises concerns in Palo Alto
Mountain View Voice – October 10
As Santa Clara County prepares to approve new policies for governing Stanford University’s growth, a key goal is to ensure that Stanford supplies enough housing on its campus to accommodate the demand of a growing workforce. But as the county’s Board of Supervisors looks to adopt the new Stanford Community Plan next week, one question remains unanswered: To what extent should Stanford be allowed to lean on surrounding cities, most notably Palo Alto, for housing sites? The question has been at the center of recent discussions at the county level about the new Stanford Community Plan, the biggest update of the university’s growth policies since the current plan was adopted in 2000.
U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED v5 doubles down on decarbonization
Utility Dive – October 6
The U.S. Green Building Council has published a draft of the fifth iteration of its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, which addresses the operations and maintenance of existing buildings. The LEED v5 draft would require climate resilience assessment, social impact assessment, and operational carbon projection for existing LEED-certified buildings, as well as reduced emissions from embodied carbon, refrigerants, and transportation.
Reimagining hard-to-lease ground-floor retail
Multi-Housing News – October 6
Since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, many shoppers again prefer in-person retail experiences to buying online, which is rebooting the bricks and mortar retail market. While availability of retail space in destination lifestyle and neighborhood shopping centers has tightened, however, a significant amount of ground-level retail space remains vacant in urban centers. As a result, some state and local governments have relaxed rules for urban residential mixed-use projects and or are actively encouraging building owners to adapt empty spaces for housing or other compatible uses with higher demand.
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