SMW Thwarts Developer Attempt to Circumvent General Plan Policies for Historic Town Center
On behalf of Save Our Historic Town Center, the firm successfully challenges a massive development in the heart of downtown San Juan Capistrano that is flatly inconsistent with the City’s general plan policies for that historic area. (Save Our Historic Town Center v. City of San Juan Capistrano (2016).)
Legislation Passes Authorizing Mission Rock Project on Giants Parking Lot Site
In 2016 the state legislature enacts legislation (AB 2797), drafted by the firm for the Port of San Francisco, authorizing the development of the Mission Rock project on the site of a surface parking lot. The project includes 40% affordable housing and a five-acre waterfront park on China Basin Park.
Court Overturns End-Run to Subdivision Map Act
The firm prevails in the court of appeal in a case of first impression challenging Contra Costa County’s approval of a subdivision on agricultural land adjacent to Marsh Creek State Park without Subdivision Map Act compliance. (Save Mount Diablo v. Contra Costa County, 240 Cal.App.4th 1368 (2015).)
Landmark Settlement Agreement Ends Decades of Dispute over Mono Basin Streams
Assisted by the firm, the Mono Lake Committee negotiates a settlement agreement requiring the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to restore habitat and fisheries in four tributaries to Mono Lake.
Critical Wildlife Corridor Established
The firm advises Laguna Greenbelt in successful negotiations leading to the 2019 opening of the Orange County Great Park Wildlife Corridor in Irvine to connect the Cleveland National Forest to the coast.
California Supreme Court Upholds Significant Regulation of Emissions from Paints
The California Supreme Court upholds the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s authority to adopt “technology-forcing” rules in a challenge to the District’s regulation of paints, the second largest source of smog-forming emissions after motor vehicles. Dan Selmi and firm partner Matt Zinn receive the California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award for this […]
Agreement Enables Redevelopment of Naval Air Station Treasure Island
The firm negotiates an exchange agreement with the state, and helps defend a development plan, adopted by the Treasure Island Development Authority in 2012. (Citizens for a Sustainable Treasure Island v. City and County of San Francisco.) The approvals, authorized by legislation drafted by the firm (SB 1873), enable the redevelopment of Yerba Buena Island […]
Legislation Will Enable Affordable Housing on San Francisco Port Property
The state legislature in 2012 enacts legislation (AB 2649) drafted by the firm on behalf of the Port of San Francisco, paving the way for development of the 88 Broadway project, which will convert a former parking lot into 125 units of affordable housing.
Largest Brownfields Renewal Project in San Francisco Approved at Hunters Point
On behalf of the former San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, the firm negotiates land exchange agreements with the state that will enable the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and Candlestick Point to be developed with 300 acres of new parks and more than 12,000 housing units, over 30% of them affordable. The firm drafted the state […]
Legislation Authorizes Infill on San Francisco Port Parking Lots
The firm drafts legislation for the Port of San Francisco, passed by the California Legislature in 2007 (SB 815), authorizing a broad range of housing and other urban uses on Seawall Lots that are vacant or used for surface parking, and creating new revenue opportunities to allow the Port to rehabilitate its threatened historic finger […]