Updates and Articles
Conservationists Set Sights on Preserving a Petaluma Historic Ranch, Enhancing a Regional Park
Working closely with the Earth Island Institute's Kelly Creek Protection Project, in 2018 the firm negotiates an innovative purchase and sale agreement with a property owner that will limit development on an environmentally and historically sensitive parcel of land and extend Sonoma County's Helen Putnam Regional Park.
Read MoreSMW Defeats New Railyard Next to Disadvantaged Long Beach Community
The City of Long Beach, represented by the firm and joined by five other petitioner groups and the Attorney General, prevails in a CEQA challenge to the controversial “SCIG” railyard, whose air pollution threatened the health of nearby residents and schoolchildren. The court of appeal orders the approval rescinded. (City of Long Beach v. City of Los Angeles, 19 Cal.App.5th 465 (2018).)
Read MoreGetting Infrastructure Right for People and Marine Life
The California Public Utilities Commission approves a desalination plant required to provide water to the Monterey Peninsula without overdrawing the Carmel River. Project proponents wanted an oversized plant, discharging excessive, harmful brine into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. If the plant is ever built, the firm's work will ensure the plant is a more reasonable size, reflecting actual demand on...
Read MoreHalting Sprawl on the Suburban Fringe
The firm's lawsuit stops the City of Highland's Harmony Specific Plan, which would have scattered development across a floodplain and required a bridge over — and in — a sensitive creek at the edge of the San Bernardino Mountains. (Greenspot Residents Association v. City of Highland (2018).)
Read MoreSMW Drafts and Defends Ballot Measure to Protect San Jose’s General Plan
In 2018, on behalf of the City of San Jose, the firm drafts and defends a first-of-its kind charter amendment to prevent a developer-sponsored initiative from gutting the City's General Plan.
Read MoreLand Exchange Agreement Allows Pier 70 Project to Move Forward
Representing the Port of San Francisco, SMW in 2018 successfully negotiates an agreement with the state for a trust land exchange to allow for the rehabilitation of historic industrial buildings and the development of a new urban neighborhood on the city's waterfront. The firm drafted the state legislation authorizing the exchange (AB 418).
Read MoreAffordable Housing Project Opens at Candlestick Point
Residents move into 306 units of affordable housing at the Alice Griffith Community at Candlestick Point, on land the Firm helps acquire and entitle, including the prosecution of quiet title litigation that successfully defends the public ownership of the site. (Successor Agency v. All Persons (2017).)
Read MoreFirearm Storage Ordinance Approved
The firm advises the City of Saratoga in 2018 in adopting an ordinance regulating the storage of firearms in the home.
Read MoreVoters approve SMW-drafted Short Term Rental Initiative
In 2018 voters in Pacific Grove pass an initiative, drafted by the firm, that prohibits short-term rentals in most residential neighborhoods in the City.
Read MoreMinnesota Leads the Midwest With New Clean Energy Rules
On behalf of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, the firm succeeds in pushing Minnesota to completely overhaul its rules for the interconnection of solar to the grid in 2018, adopting some of the most progressive rules in the Midwest and helping the state achieve its ambitious clean energy goals.
Read MoreNevada Streamlines Process For Installing Energy Storage
On behalf of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, the firm in 2018 successfully advocates for new rules to make the process of installing energy storage systems on Nevada's distribution system more efficient and cost-effective.
Read MoreHalf Moon Bay Voters Adopt First of Its Kind Cannabis Nursery Ordinance
In 2018, Half Moon Bay voters consider five cannabis measures, including a first-of-its-kind cannabis nursery ordinance drafted by the firm. The nursery ordinance and related tax measure pass.
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