Posts from March 2011
Posted in Court Decisions

We've covered the Guggenheim v. City of Goleta regulatory takings case pretty exhaustively, most recently noting there is a pending petition for Supreme Court review.  While we wait for the fateful decision as to whether the Supreme Court will take up the Guggenheim case, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued another mobilehome rent control regulatory takings decision in Colony Cove Properties v. City of Carson.  Like the 9th Circuit's en banc decision in Guggenheim, the park owner's regulatory takings claim was unsuccessful.

The owner in Colony Cove

Posted in Court Decisions

The California Court of Appeal recently issued an interesting unpublished decision addressing a property owner's claim that a government entity's regulation of asbestos constituted a regulatory taking.  The owner's unsuccessful challenge presents a nice summary of what not to do when pursuing a regulatory takings claim, and just how difficult it is for an owner to succeed.

In Butte Equipment Rentals, Inc. v. California Air Resources Board, the property owner operated a rock mining and quarrying business.  The owner alleged that two regulations adopted by the ...

Posted in Redevelopment

Despite daily rumors to the contrary, neither chamber took up the issue of redevelopment last week.

Both the Senate and Assembly held brief floor sessions Friday morning without voting on either SB 77 or AB 101, the bills eliminating redevelopment. While both houses remained on-call over weekend and today, the next floor sessions are not scheduled until Tuesday, March 29.

Meanwhile, there have been intensive lobbying efforts in support of the CRA and League of California Cities Alternative solution. Essentially, they are proposing that redevelopment agencies voluntarily ...

Posted in Projects

Today the California Transportation Commission announced the allocation of $101 million to fund 90 state-wide transportation projects.  The CTC's updated project allocation list provides a full breakdown of all the projects.

In reviewing the project list, there appears to be a big push towards going "green":  many of the projects involve improvements such as tree planting, compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, pedestrian and bicycle trails, or acquisition of property for restoration and habitat protection.  There's also a handful of ...

Posted in Redevelopment

Another day has passed with no apparent movement on the two remaining elements of the Governor’s budget.  Rumors are circulating that plans are afoot for bypassing Republican legislators by placing a tax measure on the November ballot. 

Officially, the Governor’s office remains focused on the original plan.  In fact, the Governor’s spokesman, Gil Duran, was quoted as saying that it was a lie that the Governor has decided on a November election.  However, other anonymous sources say that while Brown is continuing to negotiate with Republicans to put the tax extension on a June ...

Posted in Possession

It's been a crazy couple weeks with the redevelopment saga continuing to play out in California.  But let's shift gears and take a breather – at least for a moment – while hundreds of redevelopment agencies continue to hang on for dear life.

I received a call today from a business owner who faced a potential eminent domain action, and the owner unforntuately did not take the appropriate steps to preserve goodwill and find a suitable relocation site.  The owner's difficult dilemma prompted me to mention an excellent article I came across a while ago from Martyn Daniel LLC

Posted in Redevelopment

A pretty dull Monday on the redevelopment front.  We're hearing that it's likely that the Assembly will not take up the issue again today or tomorrow, so Wednesday may be the next big day.

In the meantime, the California League of Cities has officially endorsed the CRA's alternative proposal, which is not particularly surprising since one of the "losers" if redevelopment is abolished is likely to be the cities. 

The League's summary of the CRA proposal is as follows:

  1. Local redevelopment agencies can voluntarily suspend their housing set-aside for FY 2011-12. An equivalent amount of ...
Posted in Redevelopment

Both the Senate and Assembly have adjourned for the weekend, but what a week it has been in the battle over the future of redevelopment.

The bill to kill redevelopment, SB 77, came up for multiple votes in the Assembly on Wednesday. The bill initially garnered only 50 of the 54 votes needed for the two-thirds majority. The Governor, working out of the Speakers office just off of the Assembly floor, personally lobbied and cajoled legislatures throughout the day. Eventually, he won over two wavering Democrats and one Republican, Chris Norby of Orange County. By the time of the bill’s final ...

Posted in Redevelopment

The Assembly has been in session since 11:00, and as best I can tell (I haven't been able to watch the feed the entire day), it has not yet taken up SB 77 or redevelopment again today.  My understanding is that further discussion is planned before the session ends, and that SB 77 was - at least at the beginning of the session - "item #7" on the agenda. 

In the meantime, the 11:00 session started a bit late this morning, and both houses almost immediately convened in caucuses.  Later, they moved forward with a few of the budget bills, taking them up and (apparently) approving them based on a ...

Posted in Redevelopment

As the evening has worn on in the Assembly, SB 77 has been called to a vote several more times.  What started as 50 yes votes (four short of passage) has now become 53 "yes" votes - now a single vote away. 

Just before 7:00, the vote was 53-23, with 3 still abstaining.  Another vote was called at about 7:10, but the tally remained 53-23.  The plan at that time was to adjourn at 8:30 barring some change, but discussions continued until well past 9:00.

At about 9:20 p.m., the vote was called one more time.  It remained 53-23, one vote short.  At that point, the Assembly adjourned; it is scheduled to ...

Posted in Redevelopment

SB 77 - the budget trailer bill to eliminate redevelopment agencies in California - has been debated on the Assembly floor much of the afternoon.  When it finally came time to vote at a little after 4:00 p.m. this afternoon, it was still unclear whether Governor Brown would receive the two-thirds vote necessary. 

As the votes came in, it became obvious that (1) the votes, as expected, would fall largely on party lines, with Democrats approving the bill and Republicans rejecting it, and (2) that the final result was going to be very close, one way or the other. 

Ultimately, the vote came in ...

Posted in Redevelopment

It looks like Governor Brown's proposal to end redevelopment as part of his overhaul of California's budget may come to a vote on both the Assembly and Senate floors today.  AB 101 and SB 77 are scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. vote, and both include within them the plan to eliminate redevelopment agencies.  They require a 2/3 vote for passage.

In the meantime, the California Redevelopment Association is promoting an alternative proposal that it hopes will be presented on the floor.  They claim that the CRA proposal will:

  • Provide significant funding to schools which could also help close the ...

We've blogged a lot in the past two months about redevelopment issues and the Governor's plan to help right California's budget by, among other things, eliminating redevelopment agencies.  But most of what we've written has viewed redevelopment from the 30,000 foot level. 

For policy-making decisions, viewing the big picture is hugely important.  But a case making news this week out of National City reminds us that the redevelopment fight is also quite personal. 

The Community Youth Athletic Center has been fighting what it perceives as an attack on its very existence for nearly four ...

Posted in Redevelopment

As we noted in yesterday's post, Vote on Redevelopment Agencies' Future Uncertain, the Governor's deadline of March 10th is slipping away.  How far can it slip?  Some believe that a vote on his budget proposal could slip all the way into the third week of March, unless a few Republicans break ranks before then.  Thus far, at least publicly, Republican opposition to both the tax extension and abolition of redevelopment remains unabated.  Among the demands in the now infamous March 7th open letter to the Governor from five key Republican senators is "Save but reform Redevelopment Agencies and ...

Posted in Redevelopment

Just when it looked liked we had reached the eleventh hour in the California's redevelopment battle, redevelopment agencies appear to be getting at least a temporary stay of execution. Governor Brown had declared a March 10 deadline for a vote on his proposal to overhaul California's budget, including "disestablishing" redevelopment agencies. 

But on Monday, those efforts stalled.  In an open letter to the Governor, five key Republican senators announced:

Although it is clear that you [the Governor] engaged in our conversation seriously, it appears we have reached an impasse.

In ...

Posted in Redevelopment

The Legislature may deal a death blow to redevelopment in California as early as next week.  Late yesterday afternoon, on a party line vote, the members of the Budget Conference Committee voted to move the Governor's proposal to eliminate redevelopment to both houses for a vote by the Assembly and Senate members.  The Governor wants the State Legislature to send him a budget package to sign by March 10, the date by which he must secure a two-thirds vote to get a measure to extend tax increases on the June ballot.

Therein lies the rub.  A minimum of two Republicans are needed in the Assembly ...

Posted in Projects

One recent article by our Infrastructure Group, "New Surface Transportation Legislation Likely to Encounter Many Roadblocks in the Coming Months," seems particularly useful.  The article indicates that the Obama Administration has the passage of a multi-year surface transportation bill high on its legislative agenda, and its new budget proposal pushes for a $556 billion surface reauthorization bill.  John Mica, the Republican Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, however, has warned transportation stakeholders that a Republican bill this ...

Recently we've been reporting on redevelopment agencies' efforts to utilize redevelopment funds before they're no more under new proposed legislation.  Whether you agree or disagree with the existence of redevelopment agencies, sometimes those agencies acquire properties on behalf of other government entities for undisputed public purposes.  For example, the Redding Redevelopment Agency is currently acting on behalf of the State Administrative Office of the Courts to acquire property necessary to build a new Shasta County Courthouse.  If redevelopment agencies are ...

I wanted to alert people to two meetings coming up soon that may be of interest if you're in Southern California. 

  • IRWA, Chapter 57 meeting on March 2:  Chapter 57 is holding its monthly meeting tomorrow in Riverside.  The speaker will be Chris Mazier from Lawyers Title and his subject will be Preliminary Title Reports and their Dreaded Schedule B Items!  As all eminent domain attorneys and right of way consultants know, navigating "Schedule B" issues is a huge part of the precondemnation planning process.  And having now spent a huge part of the last several months reviewing Schedule B items ...

California Eminent Domain Report is a one-stop resource for everything new and noteworthy in eminent domain. We cover all aspects of eminent domain, including condemnation, inverse condemnation and regulatory takings. We also keep track of current cases, project announcements, budget issues, legislative reform efforts and report on all major eminent domain conferences and seminars in the Western United States.

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