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Lay of the Land — Published by Los Angeles, California Land Use Attorneys — Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP Contact Us Now: Tap Here To Call Us Los Angeles: 310.284.2200 Orange County: 949.260.4600 San Francisco: 415.262.5100 Lay of the Land Published by Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP Navigation Home Land Use Team Firm Website Contact Us New State Housing Supply Legislation on the Horizon: Déjà Vu All Over Again? Published on: January 22, 2021 | By Margo Bradish , Scott Birkey and Amy Y. Foo 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 the 2021-2022 session. Below is a summary of recently introduced state housing supply legislation to watch this session. Perhaps not surprisingly, the theme for this year’s housing legislation seems to be, If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Continue reading By Margo Bradish , Scott Birkey and Amy Y. Foo Posted in: Affordable Housing Tagged: California Housing and Housing Crisis Published on: January 22, 2021 Updated: February 3, 2021 9:58 am Army Corps Issues Final Rule on New and Reissued Nationwide Permits Published on: January 22, 2021 | By R. Clark Morrison and Scott Birkey 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 of the United States is critically important to developers and others in the regulated community because it enables applicants with qualifying projects to save significant amounts of permitting time and costs. Following through on that announcement, the Corps issued its final rule on January 13, 2021, reissuing and modifying certain NWPs. Continue reading By R. Clark Morrison and Scott Birkey Posted in: Wetlands Tagged: wetlands Published on: January 22, 2021 Updated: January 22, 2021 1:24 pm Court Rules Against California’s Wetlands Regulatory Program Published on: December 21, 2020 | By R. Clark Morrison and Scott Birkey 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 administration regulations that dramatically narrowed Federal wetland protections. Ironically, the court’s order prohibits the State of California from applying the Procedures to any waters other than those already protected by Federal law, thus leaving in place the very regulatory gap that the Procedures were intended to fill. Continue reading By R. Clark Morrison and Scott Birkey Posted in: Wetlands Tagged: California Supreme Court and wetlands Published on: December 21, 2020 Updated: December 22, 2020 2:17 pm Santa Clara County Trial Court Upholds Another Housing Project Using SB 35 Published on: May 11, 2020 | By Scott Birkey , Margo Bradish , Linda Klein and Eric J. Cohn 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 decided by the Honorable Helen E. Williams of the Santa Clara County Superior Court—solidified just how powerful a tool SB 35 can be. Continue reading By Scott Birkey , Margo Bradish , Linda Klein and Eric J. Cohn Posted in: Affordable Housing and Land Use Litigation Tagged: Housing Crisis and Land Use Published on: May 11, 2020 Updated: May 14, 2020 4:28 pm Supreme Court Rules that Discharges to Groundwater May Be Regulated by Clean Water Act Published on: April 23, 2020 | By R. Clark Morrison and Scott Birkey 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 issued just two days following EPA’s publication of a controversial rule limiting the federal government’s Clean Water Act jurisdiction over wetlands and other surface waters. Continue reading By R. Clark Morrison and Scott Birkey Posted in: Natural Resources and Wetlands Tagged: California Supreme Court , Clean Water and Groundwater Published on: April 23, 2020 Updated: April 23, 2020 2:52 pm Court Eliminates Army Corps Nationwide Permit for Utility Crossings Published on: April 21, 2020 | By Scott Birkey and R. Clark Morrison In a far-reaching decision with sweeping implications, a federal district judge in Montana eliminated the Army Corps’ nationwide permit for utility line crossings over waters of the United States. This permit – known as Nationwide Permit 12 – was used to streamline approvals across the country for electrical lines, pipelines, and other utility projects resulting in minor encroachments on wetlands and other waters. Because of this decision’s scope, thousands of projects across the country – including projects in California – may be stalled as they re-think their permitting approach or await further direction from the courts. Even more troubling is the fact that this decision calls into question the legality of over fifty other nationwide permits intended to streamline project approvals, including those issued for housing, industrial, and other development projects Continue reading By Scott Birkey and R. Clark Morrison Posted in: Endangered Species , Natural Resources and Wetlands Tagged: Endangered Species Act , Environmental and Wetland Protection Published on: April 21, 2020 Updated: April 21, 2020 12:40 pm Tolling of LAMC Deadlines Published on: March 31, 2020 | 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 bodies, zoning administrators, the Director of Planning, the General Manager of the Department of Building and Safety, or other City department general managers; 2) tolls and extends by six months the time limit for utilization of approved entitlements, and 3) tolls the expiration date for other permits (e.g. building permits) during the effective period of the order. The order is in effect until April 19, 2020 , and may be extended beyond this date. To date, no state action has been taken to extend any local planning deadlines, although such action may be forthcoming and could supersede some or all of these actions. Continue reading By Alex DeGood Posted in: General Plans & Zoning Tagged: Land Use Published on: March 31, 2020 Updated: April 19, 2022 4:56 pm City Land Use and Planning Functions During Shelter In Place and Related COVID-19 Orders Published on: March 18, 2020 | By Our Land Use & Natural Resources Team 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...