Real Estate, Land Use & Environmental Law Blog

Undoubtedly, development impact fees (DIFs) can make or break the pro forma of any development project. Until this month, developers hoping to challenge the assessment of project-related DIFs we...

https://www.realestatelanduseandenvironmentallaw.com/what-the-sheetz-where-california-development-impact-fees-stand-following-recent-supreme-court-decision.html

In its recent decision in Hilltop Group Inc. v. County of San Diego, California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal issued a number of holdings that resulted in a strong ruling in support of str...

https://www.realestatelanduseandenvironmentallaw.com/a-win-for-consistency-evaluations-under-ceqa-guidelines-15183-court-rules-that-public-controversy-is-not-a-basis-for-additional-environmental-review.html

Despite repeated attempts at reform by the Legislature, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) continues to be a minefield for those assigned with the herculean task of complying with t...

https://www.realestatelanduseandenvironmentallaw.com/2023-year-in-review-ceqa-litigation.html

Following California Supreme Court and its own case law precedent, the Second District, Division Five, has ruled in Guerrero et al. v. City of Los Angeles (Jan. 17, 2024) (Guerrero), certified f...

https://www.realestatelanduseandenvironmentallaw.com/conditional-approval-is-project-approval-appellate-court-confirms-ceqa-statute-of-limitations-triggered-by-tentative-map-approval-conditioned-on-subsequent-rezoning.html

Near the end of 2023, the United States Supreme Court declined to consider the City of Costa Mesa’s appeal of a January Ninth Circuit ruling in SoCal Recovery, LLC v. City of Costa Mesa (2023)...

https://www.realestatelanduseandenvironmentallaw.com/u-s-supreme-court-declines-to-consider-appeal-of-ninth-circuit-ruling-that-sober-living-homes-do-not-have-to-prove-each-resident-is-disabled-to-survive-summary-judgment-in-challenge-to-allegedly-disc.html

In it’s recent decision in United Neighborhoods for Los Angeles v. City of Los Angeles (2023) ___ Cal.App.5th ___, the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a judgment voiding the City of L...

https://www.realestatelanduseandenvironmentallaw.com/second-district-addresses-ceqas-class-32-infill-exemption-criteria.html

On June 13, 2023, the Second Appellate District affirmed the City of Pomona’s use of a statutory exemption for its Commercial Cannabis Overlay Permit Program under California Environmental Qua...

https://www.realestatelanduseandenvironmentallaw.com/commercial-cannabis-permit-program-and-overlay-district-statutorily-exempt-under-ceqa-guideline-section-15183.html

Last week the Office of the Attorney General demonstrated the State of California’s unwillingness to cede its enforcement of state housing laws even in the face of defiance from local governme...

https://www.realestatelanduseandenvironmentallaw.com/people-of-california-v-city-of-huntington-beach-case-review.html

In a case potentially overshadowed by the California Supreme Court’s same-day denial to hear a request to stay a cap on student admissions at UC Berkeley, the Second Appellate District Court (...

https://www.realestatelanduseandenvironmentallaw.com/challenge-to-housing-and-revitalization-project-found-not-cognizable-under-the-fair-housing-act-and-california-fair-employment-and-housing-act.html

In Citizens’ Committee to Complete the Refuge et al. v. City of Newark et al., the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 4) found the California Environmental Quality Act did not require subseq...

https://www.realestatelanduseandenvironmentallaw.com/petitioners-failed-to-show-subdivision-consistent-with-a-specific-plan-eir-was-outside-the-scope-of-a-statutory-exemption.html