The D.C. Office of Planning has issued a proposed new Ivy City-Small Area Plan (Draft IC-SAP), along with a proposed new Nannie Helen Burroughs Corridor-Small Area Plan (Draft NHBC-SAP), for public review and comment....more
Fairfax County government recently announced a new multiyear planning initiative to modernize the Virginia county's Policy Plan, a key component of its Comprehensive Plan. This effort, called "Plan Forward," will focus on...more
Florida was hit by Hurricane Ian in September 2022 and Hurricane Nicole in November 2022, both of which caused severe damage to various parts of the state. In response to these disasters, the Florida Legislature enacted...more
The month of September was a bad month for the City of Minneapolis’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan (2040 Comp Plan). On September 5, 2023, Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District (Hennepin County) released a decision temporarily...more
California housing law requires every city and county in the state to update the Housing Element of that jurisdiction's General Plan every eight years. Among other things, each updated Housing Element must plan for the...more
In a decision partially published on November 30, 2022, Save Lafayette v. City of Lafayette, the First Appellate District Court of Appeal upheld the City of Lafayette’s approval of the Terraces of Lafayette (the “Project”), a...more
As DC continues to explore ways to incentivize office-to-residential conversions and revitalize downtown, the Zoning Commission recently dismissed a pending text amendment that would have removed the exemption for...more
Montgomery County is in the process of updating several of its master plans, which make recommendations regarding land use, zoning, transportation and public facilities that shape the future development of specific...more
Comprehensive Plans must be compelling, realistic, and specific. They should embody discipline and imagination. Importantly, they must resolve the tension between property owners seeking a permit and property owners wanting...more
As the Jan. 21, 2023, statutory deadline to submit compliant housing elements for the 6th Regional Housing Need Assessment (RHNA) Cycle looms over Bay Area governments, all eyes are on the penalties associated with missing...more
Holland & Knight Partner Jennifer L. Hernandez, leader of the firm's West Coast Land Use and Environmental Group, recently authored an industry report for the Center for Jobs & The Economy, whose mission is to identify and...more
YIMBY et al. v. City of Los Angeles et al. concerned a proposed 67-unit housing development in the Woodland Hills area of the San Fernando Valley. While the City of Los Angeles's (the City) general plan designated this area...more
The court of appeal held that the City’s determination that a mixed-use development project was consistent with applicable general plans policies and standards was supported by substantial evidence. Old East Davis...more
As part of its efforts to implement changes outlined in the 2021 Comprehensive Plan Update, the District of Columbia Office of Planning (OP) has undertaken multiple initiatives. These are at various stages in the planning...more
Recent decisions from two court cases – Schreiber v. City of Los Angeles1 and Bankers Hill 150 v. City of San Diego2 – make California's Density Bonus Law a powerful tool not just for accessing increased density, but also for...more
The DC Office of Planning has released the New York Avenue Roadmap, an introduction to three planning studies Mayor Muriel Bowser's administration will implement to transform the New York Avenue NE Corridor into a mixed-use...more
On September January 12, 2022, in Old East Davis Neighborhood Association v. City of Davis, __ Cal.App.5th __ (Case No. C090117), the Third District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court decision that granted a writ petition...more
As Holland & Knight has previously reported, California courts have consistently enforced state housing laws that preempt land use and planning decisions by local governments. (See previous Holland & Knight alerts, "Court of...more
In Stop Syar Expansion v. County of Napa (2021) 63 Cal.App.5th 444, the First District Court of Appeal upheld Napa County’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the expansion of Syar Industries, Inc.’s aggregate mining...more
In an opinion filed on April 19, and certified for publication on May 4, 2021, the Third Appellate District in Alliance for Responsible Planning v. Taylor (County of El Dorado) held that a citizen-sponsored ballot measure...more
The San Francisco Planning Department is updating the City’s General Plan, and Department staff held a two-week series of online workshops on the proposed General Plan updates beginning Monday, March 15th. All development...more
The Committee of the Whole for the Council of the District of Columbia will hold public hearings on Nov. 12-13, 2020, on the Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2020 (Bill 23-736). The bill proposes amendments to the 24...more
The Third District Court of Appeals recently weighed in on the interpretation of Public Resources Code section 21099(b)(2) (“Section 21099(b)(2)”) and newly enacted CEQA Guidelines section 15064.3, which govern the...more
The “4-Plex Bill” Meant to Address the Housing Crisis Couldn’t Muster Enough Support - Much to the relief of local land-use control advocates and cities throughout California, Senate Bill 50 failed to pass the state Senate...more
CEQA’s Class 32 categorical exemption for “infill development” applies to proposed developments within city limits on sites of five or fewer acres substantially surrounded by urban uses, where the site has no habitat value...more