Despite a promising start, last year’s state legislative session was a relative bust for housing legislation as the Legislature justifiably focused on the pandemic in 2020. Although we expect the Legislature will continue to grapple with legislative relief measures to address COVID concerns, there is some potentially promising housing supply legislation on the horizon for
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Army Corps Issues Final Rule on New and Reissued Nationwide Permits
As we reported in September 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a proposal to reissue existing and issue new nationwide permits (NWPs) for categories of activities involving minimal amounts of discharges of dredged or fill material into wetlands or other waters of the United States. This form of streamlined approval to fill waters…
Court Rules Against California’s Wetlands Regulatory Program
Last week, the Sacramento Superior Court delivered a serious blow to California’s regulatory program for the protection of wetlands and other waters of the State.
The State’s wetland protection program (commonly known as the “Procedures”), which became effective in May, was intended to create a regulatory structure to fill the gap left by recent Trump…
Santa Clara County Trial Court Upholds Another Housing Project Using SB 35
When Senate Bill 35 (SB 35) was enacted in September 2017, the streamlined ministerial approval process it created for eligible housing developments was optimistically viewed as a powerful tool for developers to create more housing, especially in NIMBY jurisdictions loath to approve additional residential development. Over the past two weeks, two decisions on SB 35—both…
Supreme Court Rules that Discharges to Groundwater May Be Regulated by Clean Water Act
The Supreme Court ruled today that pollutant discharges to groundwater may, in some instances, be regulated in the same manner as discharges to navigable surface waters. The decision was a clear rebuff to EPA, which argued that only direct discharges to surface waters are regulable under the Clean Water Act. Coincidentally, the Court’s decision was…
Court Eliminates Army Corps Nationwide Permit for Utility Crossings
Tolling of LAMC Deadlines
By Alex DeGood
On March 21, 2020, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an emergency order which tolls and extends certain land use-related deadlines and time limits set forth in the Los Angeles Municipal Code (“LAMC”). This order 1) tolls and suspends any deadline (including provisions in community, specific, or other similar plans) pertaining to public hearings and decisions made by legislative…
City Land Use and Planning Functions During Shelter In Place and Related COVID-19 Orders
Major California Cities Close Planning Counters and Suspend Planning Deadlines
Cox Castle & Nicholson, LLP is tracking developments related to the processing of land use and planning applications in major California cities in light of the government’s efforts to contain the coronavirus. While the situation is fluid, several patterns seem clear:
(1) zoning counters and…
Insight: Trump’s Clean Water Act Rollback – Implication For California
Clark Morrison and Scott Birkey co-authored an article for Bloomberg Environment where they examine the effect of the Trump administration’s California Clean Water roll-back, as well as the state’s response.
To read the full article, click here
Trump Administration Dramatically Narrows Scope of Federal Wetlands Protections
This morning, the White House announced adoption of its long-awaited redefinition of waters protected by the federal Clean Water Act. This new rule will significantly restrict the role of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in regulating discharges of fill or other pollutants into wetlands and other waters.
In…