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[WEBINAR] Update on the California Environmental Quality Act: What’s New for 2018
“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” Yogi Berra and Lenny Kravitz - In a unanimous opinion filed on June 6, 2024, the California Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the First District Court of Appeal in the controversial...more
Senate Bill (SB) 1227, introduced by Senator Scott Wiener on February 15, 2024, would help speed the recovery of downtown San Francisco by creating a new CEQA exemption for qualifying commercial, institutional, student...more
The 2023 legislative session culminated in Governor Newsom signing dozens of land use bills. This post discusses the most important. The Legislature continued its multifaceted approach to addressing the housing crisis, with...more
The 2023 California Legislative session, like the last several, saw the enactment of a large number of significant new housing production laws. (See Holland & Knight's previous annual recaps of California Housing Laws in the...more
Governor Newsom recently approved multiple state housing bills passed by the State Assembly and Senate. The following is a summary of a few of the key bills that are expected to benefit multi-family, mixed-income housing...more
CITY OF LOS ANGELES - Site Plan Review Exemption for Affordable Housing - On June 30, 2023, the city council adopted an amendment to the Site Plan Review Ordinance to exempt deed-restricted affordable housing units from...more
In a published opinion filed February 24, 2023, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 5) reversed a judgment upholding the adequacy of the EIR for the University of California, Berkeley’s long range campus development plan...more
In Save Livermore Downtown v. City of Livermore (Dec. 28, 2022, Case No. A164987) __ Cal.App.1st __, the First District Court of Appeal held that the City of Livermore (City) did not violate planning and zoning laws when it...more
After years of record budget surpluses, California now faces a projected $22.5 billion budget deficit, Governor Gavin Newsom announced last week. As part of a required adjustment in state spending, Newsom proposed cutting...more
In a partially published opinion in Save Lafayette v. City of Lafayette (2022) 85 Cal.App.5th 842, the First District Court of Appeal upheld approval of an affordable housing project in the face of the third in a series of...more
O'Brien Land Company's more than a decade-long odyssey to build 315 zoning-compliant homes – chronicled in Conor Dougherty's book Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America – has become the stuff of housing law legend,...more
County and City of Los Angeles - Los Angeles City and County Ordinances to Ban Oil and Gas Drilling - There are 26 oil and gas fields and more than 5,000 oil and gas wells (active and idle) across the City of Los Angeles. On...more
City of Los Angeles - State Approves the City’s Housing Element Update for the 6th Cycle (2021–2029) - On June 29, 2022, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) informed the City of Los Angeles...more
On March 7, 2022, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 4) filed its published opinion in Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, et al. v. City of Los Angeles, et al (The Icon at Panorama, LLC, Real Party in Interest)...more
Last month, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf wrote to the Federal Highway Administration, stating that Oakland “is suffering from a crippling housing and homelessness crisis.”...more
In an opinion filed November 15, and later ordered published on December 14, 2021, the Sixth District Court of Appeal reaffirmed the basic CEQA principle that required environmental review and analysis must precede project...more
ACEEE highlights 10 building energy performance standards to help meet climate goals - Bullet Utility Dive – June 24 - The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released a white paper this Monday...more
Developers have new powerful tools to suspend restrictions on housing development and reduce the time it takes to approve housing developments in California. The recently adopted Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (“SB 330”) aims to...more
The City of Oakland spent the last four years developing the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan to address growth and revitalization of the downtown area over the next 20 years and to ensure that development takes into...more
Part 4: New California Housing Laws - As part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pledge to create 3.5 million new housing units by 2025, he signed Senate Bill 330 on Oct. 9. The new law makes numerous changes to the Permit...more
Recent Cases - Land Use and Entitlements The Second District Court of Appeal rejected a California Environmental Quality Act challenge to a mitigated negative declaration for a 24-room boutique hotel (the “Project”) in...more
Renewable Energy Focus - Ninth Circuit upholds wind farm approval - Courthouse News Service - Jun 7 - Federal regulators adequately addressed whether a proposed wind turbine project near San Diego would...more
At its October 27, 2015, meeting, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to create a new dedicated Affordable Housing Program budget unit and approved setting aside $100 million for the creation and operation of both...more