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KUSP LandWatch
News
Week of December 27, 2010 to December 31, 2010
Week of December 27, 2010 to December 31, 2010
KUSP provided a brief Land Use Report on KUSP Radio from January 2003 to May 2016. Archives of past transcripts are available here.
Week of December 27, 2010 to December 31, 2010
- Monday, December 27, 2010
Enroll Now
- Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Air Quality And Growth
- Wednesday, December 29, 2010
City of Arcadia
- Thursday, December 30, 2010
Mobilehome Rent Control Upheld
- Friday, December 31, 2010
News From The AMBAG Clearinghouse
The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP Radio by Gary A. Patton. The Wittwer & Parkin law firm is located in Santa Cruz, California, and practices environmental and governmental law. As part of its practice, the law firm files litigation and takes other action on behalf of its clients, which are typically private individuals, governmental agencies, environmental organizations, or community groups. Whenever the Land Use Report comments on an issue with which the Wittwer & Parkin law firm is involved on behalf of a client, Mr. Patton will make this relationship clear, as part of his commentary. Mr. Patton’s comments do not represent the views of Wittwer & Parkin, LLP, KUSP Radio, nor of any of its sponsors.
| Monday, December 27, 2010 Enroll Now |
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If you would like to get more deeply involved in land use policy you should consider attending a couple of upcoming conferences scheduled in January and February. Both of these conferences are quite worthwhile. There is more information in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. First, on Saturday, January 29th, the Planning and Conservation League will be holding its annual Legislative Symposium in Sacramento. PCL is the state’s oldest environmental lobbying organization, and this year’s event should be particularly worthwhile. There is going to be lots of legislative excitement next year, with a new Governor in office. I will be moderating a panel on water policy, which is certain to be an important topic in the Legislature next year. Early Bird registration rates are still available. Second, the UCLA Environmental Law and Policy Program is hosting a Symposium about local government land use law on February 11th, in Los Angeles. The Symposium title is "Local Agencies on the Cutting Edge – Emerging Challenges to Local Land Use Authority." Topics include Proposition 26, the Public Trust Doctrine, and Takings Law. This annual Symposium is aimed more at specialists than at generalists, but if you are in that category, or would like to be, you should think about attending. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Tuesday, December 28, 2010 Air Quality And Growth |
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The complexity of the interaction between environmental regulation and the development process is highlighted in a recent article from the San Francisco Chronicle. On Wednesday, December 15th, the Chronicle reported on the impact that new air quality rules might have on affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s an article worth reading, and a topic worth thinking about. Here’s the issue: Affordable housing advocates say that "builders ought to prioritize new, denser development in established urban areas, which are close to jobs and transit hubs." In other words, new housing should go in existing urban areas, to minimize sprawl. This is definitely the perspective of "smart growth" advocates, as well. The problem, however, is that these denser, urban areas, often have poorer air quality than outlying areas, and new air quality guidelines, set to go into effect on January 1st, are designed to limit home construction in areas with high air pollution. The new rules wouldn’t actually forbid building in urban areas, but they would require more studies, meaning more expense, and more delay, and this could mean more problems for affordable housing developers. There is no "perfect" solution when competing policy interests collide, but it does seem wrong to enact rules that might perpetuate the patterns of sprawl, as the best way to minimize air pollution impacts. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Wednesday, December 29, 2010 City of Arcadia |
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The City of Arcadia, and other Southern California cities, joined by the Building Industry Legal Defense Foundation, a nonprofit corporation representing the construction industry, have recently duked it out in court with the State Water Resources Control Board, and the Los Angeles Region Regional Water Quality Control Board, in a challenge to the procedures used by the Regional Board as it enacted certain rules relating to stormwater discharges. I found about this case from the "Opinions" website maintained by the California Courts. If you are the kind of person who likes to track court cases (on virtually every issue from criminal law to land use), you might want to take a periodic look at this website yourself. I’ve put a link in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. In the City of Arcadia case, which is very complicated, the Appellate Court upheld the right of the Regional Water Quality Control Board to regulate stormwater discharges in the way it chose to do so. I am highlighting the case as a way to alert listeners to a website you might not otherwise hear about, and to highlight the importance of the Regional Water Quality Control Boards, as regulatory agencies whose decisions have a profound impact on land use and development. Our Central Coast Regional Board is based in San Luis Obispo. You can find out more in today’s transcript. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Thursday, December 30, 2010 Mobilehome Rent Control Upheld |
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Speaking of court cases (I was speaking of them yesterday), I can bring some good news to KUSP listeners who live in one of the many mobilehome parks located in the Central Coast Region. An important court decision was recently handed down in federal court, upholding the mobilehome rent control ordinance of the City of Goleta, against claims that the ordinance violated the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution, and was a "taking" of the mobilehome park owner’s property without due process of law. The challenged ordinance was initially adopted by the County of Santa Barbara in 1979. In 1997, the park owners purchased the park, with the price reflecting the existing rent control regulation. In 2002, the City of Goleta incorporated, and adopted the County’s ordinance as its own. The park owners seized upon this change in governmental structure to bring a challenge to the constitutionality of the ordinance. The case had a very complicated procedural history, but in the end, mobilehome park tenants, and the City, won the day! If you click on the Land Use Report icon on the main page of the KUSP website, you can track down the written transcript of today’s Land Use Report. There, you’ll find a link to the case itself, and to a brief and quite understandable summary by the law firm of Burke, Williams & Sorensen. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Friday, December 31, 2010 News From The AMBAG Clearinghouse |
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The Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, or AMBAG, operates a "Clearinghouse," providing information on upcoming land use decisions within the AMBAG Region. Here is a listing of upcoming decisions from the most recent Clearinghouse Report:
Tomorrow is the day for New Year’s Resolutions, so I hope at least some listeners will resolve to get more personally and directly involved in land use decisions, like these, during the upcoming year. I’ll keep trying to give listeners a "head’s up," but there is no shortcut to self-government. We have to get involved ourselves! For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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Archives of past transcripts are available here
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