A federal appeals court on Monday overturned Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas in new construction, agreeing with restaurant owners who argued the city bypassed federal energy regulations when it approved the ordinance. The measure, which took effect in 2020 to cheers from environmentalists, was intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With some exceptions, it banned new residential and commercial buildings from installing natural gas piping in favor of electrical lines.
Save Livermore Downtown (SLD) faces yet another court rejection in its quest to overturn the Livermore City Council's approval of a 130-unit affordable housing development. The California Supreme Court case online docket was updated on April 20 to reflect its denial of SLD's petition asking the court to review the appellate court's published decision that affirmed the trial court's judgment in favor of developer Eden Housing, Inc. and the city. SLD’s initial lawsuit seeking to overturn the city's approval of the project was denied in trial court in February of 2022. SLD argued that the project was inconsistent with Livermore's Downtown Specific Plan and violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
See our recent legal alert for more information about this important case.
San Francisco leaders have a new plan to make it easier for developers to transform downtown office buildings into housing complexes and reduce the abundant vacancies downtown, including in the Union Square shopping district. Mayor London Breed and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin are advancing legislation to relax some requirements for downtown office-to-housing conversions in an effort to save developers time and money on such projects. The legislation would also let ground floors around Union Square host entertainment businesses and co-working cafes in addition to the larger retailers already sanctioned there.
See our recent legal alert for more information about this proposed legislation.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Joel Engardio on Tuesday introduced legislation, which would address the current requirement that the Planning Commission approve a conditional use authorization for residential projects due to, e.g., the lot size or proposed building height, which can add months or years to approvals for housing projects that otherwise comply with zoning laws. The legislation is focused on “high-resourced” neighborhoods on the north and west sides of the city.
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a motion on Friday to eliminate additional obstacles in the process of converting unpermitted structures such as a garage into a legal accessory dwelling unit (ADU), which would ensure more access to affordable housing in the city. Under the current process, the city requires any unpermitted or illegal ADUs that were converted into a residential unit to first be issued a Certificate of Occupancy before the applicant undergoes the process of converting their units into legal ADUs.
The city of Clovis must take more steps to outline plans for higher-density, lower-cost housing within the city, a state appeals court panel ruled Friday. The Fifth District Court of Appeal opinion effectively denied the city’s appeal of a 2021 Fresno County court ruling that the city failed to comply with its obligations under state law to provide sufficient land available for development of multi-family housing and accommodate Clovis’ share of affordable housing within the county.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera Tuesday released a draft of an ordinance to provide protections to renters from eviction as long as they continue to pay rent and comply with their lease. The Residential Tenant Protections Ordinance to Prevent Displacement and Homelessness is intended as a step toward addressing the city’s twin housing and homelessness crises.
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