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California Courts Refine the Limits of Ballot Power in Land Use Decisions

Hand of a person casting a ballot at a polling station

A pair of recent decisions have added new detail to the possibilities and limitations of ballot measures. In City of Morgan Hill v. Bushey, the California Supreme Court held that voters may use a referendum to invalidate a jurisdiction’s zoning amendment – even where it creates an inconsistency between the zoning ordinance and the general plan. In Ctr. For Community Action and Environ. Justice v. City of Moreno Valley, the 4th District restricted the scope of initiatives, holding that development…

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Court of Appeal Affirms Parking is Not a CEQA Impact for Transit Oriented Development Projects Approved After The Effective Date of SB 743

Aerial of Mostly Empty Parking Lot

In a recently published decision by the Second District, the California Court of Appeal in Covina Residents for Responsible Development v. City of Covina (B279590, certified for publication March 22, 2018) affirmed California’s goal of encouraging transit-oriented development. Amanda Monchamp and Joey Meldrum (representing the project developer, City Ventures) worked with the City of Covina to defend its approval of a 68-unit, mixed-use, infill project located a quarter-mile from a Metrolink commuter rail station. Each unit in the project is…

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