California Eminent Domain Report : a blog following condemnation, inverse condemnation, and regulatory takings written by attorneys with Nossaman LLP.

Both Chapters 57 and 67 of the IRWA have June meetings upcoming (their last meetings before the summer hiatus).  Details are:

• June 2, 2010:  Chapter 57 is meeting at the Riverside Convention Center, located at 3443 Orange Street, Riverside.  The speaker will be Ken MacVey, an eminent domain attorney with Best, Best & Krieger in Riverside.  Contact Communications Chair Jan Spindler for more information. 
• June 8, 2010:  Chapter 67 is meeting at the Holiday Inn, Orange County Airport, located at 2726 South Grand Avenue, Santa Ana.  We will have two speakers, Ricky Rodriguez from Caltrans and Tom Bogard from OCTA.  In addition, Chapter 67 will be swearing in its new Executive Board, including Michele Folk from OPC as incoming President and a truly brilliant eminent domain attorney, Rick Rayl (wait, that's me), as incoming President-Elect.  Contact Hospitality Chair Joe Munsey for more information. 

In addition to those regular meetings, Chapter 1 (Los Angeles) is holding a full day, "Right of Way and the Law Seminar," on June 22, at the Quiet Cannon, located at 901 North Via San Clemente, Montebello.   The entire panel looks great, but I want to highlight the 2:30 presentation being given by one of my partners, David Graeler, along with Joe Avila of Avila & Putnam, both very good eminent domain attorneys. 

David and Joe are offering a presentation entitled How the Push Toward Renewable Energy Sources Will Impact Eminent Domain, a topic not dissimilar from the topic I spoke on earlier this month at Chapter 67's Renewable Energy Seminar.  The event should be a good one, as Chapter 1 always puts a lot of work into its programs. 

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This week the Orange County Register reported in an article titled "Transportation agency to spend millions saving habitat" that the Orange County Transportation Commission is "beginning quietly" with what could be "one of the largest habitat preservation efforts in county history" by which the OCTA may acquire millions of dollars of land to protect native landscape. 

The article states:  

The preservation push [is] meant as a hedge against possible habitat damage from a 30-year, $4.8 billion freeway improvement project the agency is planning.

According to the article, the OCTA will use Measure M Funds (the County's 1/2 cent sales tax initiative) to purchase the properties, and the OCTA is currently studying 26 properties for possible acquisition, hoping that the current economic climate will make the owners interested in selling.

Such large-scale habitat conservation efforts are becoming a standard approach for trying to achieve balance between the need to construct infrastructure and the need to protect wildlife habitat.  For example, we previously reported on conservation/acquisition efforts by the Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority, which was established by the County of Riverside and other jurisdictions to implement a massive Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, or "MSHCP," and similar plans have been adopted in a number of other parts of California.

Experience from these other conservation plans suggests that in addition to balancing infrastructure needs and wildlife habitat needs, the OCTA will find itself needing to balance the rights of the owners of potential conservation properties, ensuring that they are truly "willing sellers" -- not sellers with no option but to sell because their property has been identified as potential conservation land.

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