Updates and Articles
Capitola Trestle Initiative Upheld
Photo Credit: Will Mayall Capitola residents submit an initiative to ensure that the Capitola Trestle will be preserved and maintained for bicyclists and pedestrians. The firm successfully defends the measure in a pre-election challenge brought by the City (City of Capitola v. Fridy). Capitola voters pass the initiative in November 2018.
Read MoreAppellate Court Strikes Down Development Agreement Initiative
The firm and Earthjustice prevail in challenging an initiative that purported to approve a development agreement for the World Logistics Center, a massive warehouse project near low-income communities in Riverside County. The court of appeal holds that local initiatives may not be used to adopt development agreements. (Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice v. City of Moreno, 26 Cal.App.5th 689 (2018).)
Read MoreVoting Rights Protected in Arizona
Following litigation by the firm, the Campaign Legal Center, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, the State of Arizona agrees to change its overly burdensome and illegal requirement that voters provide documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections. (League of United Latin American Citizens v. Arizona Secretary of State.)
Read MoreHistoric Post Office Saved
The firm successfully defends the City of Berkeley's Civic Center Historic District and protects the historic Berkeley Main Post Office from conversion to a commercial use. (U.S. Postal Service v. City of Berkeley (2018).)
Read MoreMobile Home Rent Control Upheld Against Takings Challenge
Photo credit: Sarah Schwartz The firm obtains a ruling by the Ninth Circuit overturning a multi-million dollar jury verdict against the City of Carson in a regulatory takings challenge to a mobile home rent control ordinance, preserving affordable homes. (Colony Cove Properties, LLC v. City of Carson, 888 F.3d 445 (9th Cir. 2018).)
Read MoreSMW Partner Teaching at Stanford Law School
Andrew Schwartz recently became a Lecturer at Stanford Law School where he teaches a course on Land Use Law.
Read MoreProtecting Ag Land from Development
The firm successfully represented the Cleveland National Forest Foundation in challenging San Diego County's approval of a residential subdivision on ranchland protected under the Williamson Act. The Court of Appeal held that such projects are permissible only where homes would support the land's agricultural use.
Read MoreSMW Victory in the Ninth Circuit
Photo Credit: Tim Evanson, Flickr, CC BY 2.0 The Court rejected a billboard developer's challenge to Alameda County's sign ordinance, and upheld a rare award of attorneys' fees to a prevailing defendant, on the grounds the lawsuit was frivolous. Read the court's opinion at https://www.smwlaw.com/files/Citizens_Free_Speech_v._County_of_Alameda.pdf
Read MoreNinth Circuit Provides Further Clarity on the Limits of Regulatory Takings
On April 23, 2018, in Colony Cove Properties, LLC v. City of Carson, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed the broad leeway local governments have to regulate the use of property without causing a “taking” under the under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The court reversed a nearly $8 million jury verdict against the City of Carson based on the City’s application of its mobile home rent control ordinance....
Read MoreSB 827 Comes . . . and Goes
In a previous edition of In the Public Interest, we provided a summary of the legislation enacted by the State in 2017 to address California’s growing housing crisis. Since then, a new, highly controversial housing bill—SB 827—has come and gone. Senator Scott Weiner introduced SB 827 in January of this year. If approved, the bill would have exempted residential projects proposed along major transit corridors, like train...
Read MoreSB 50: The Legislature Attempts to Protect National Parks, Erects New Hurdles for Local Development
The year 2017, probably like 2018 and years to come, was marked by legal conflict between the State of California and the federal government. Hidden amidst higher-profile state enactments was SB 50, a statute that looks on the surface like a mostly-procedural conservation measure but that will have substantial practical effects for many local agencies. Blocking Privatization of Public Land The federal government owns...
Read MoreNew Requirements for Local Energy Storage Permitting Processes
The State is taking numerous steps to encourage energy storage in California. Cities and counties will have important roles to play as well. Assembly Bill (AB) 546, passed last year, includes specific local permitting obligations. SMW attorney Erica McConnell provides an overview of the new law. Energy storage has sometimes been referred to as the “holy grail” of clean energy transformation, in part because it has the...
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