Eminent Domain Report

The case involving a small boxing gym in National City, California, has garnered national media attention.  The owner filed suit challenging National City's redevelopment plan for, among other things, failing to follow California's post-Kelo rules on making blight determinations.

We reported on the case last month in A More Personal View of the Redevelopment Fight from National City.  The trial ended a few weeks ago, and the parties have been anxiously waiting for a decision ever since.  Late yesterday, the court issued its decision, ruling in favor of plaintiffs.  According to ...

We've been following the Guggenheim case for more than a year now, and in the last week or so, there have been a number of developments.  As a quick recap, this decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the City of Goleta's rent control ordinance - which had the effect of transferring the vast majority of a mobile home park's value from the park owner to the tenants - did not constitute a taking.  The decision followed an earlier decision by a different panel of the same court, in which the court held that the ordinance did qualify as a taking. 

Not surprisingly, the owner then sought ...

I presented an update on eminent domain/redevelopment issues making their way through the legislature at this week's IRWA Chapter 67 (Orange County) monthly meeting, and I've received a few follow-up requests for more information.  So I decided it was probably worthwhile to put all the information here on the Nossaman blog. 

• Status of California Redevelopment Agencies:  It's now been several weeks since the  attempted Assembly votes, where Governor Brown's attempt to eliminate redevelopment agencies fell one vote short.  The Governor needs the $2.2 billion in ...

Roy Fowler's Furniture Station has been a well-known staple within the City of Azusa.  The 39-year-old store has witnessed much change in the area known as Corky's Corner.  However, the store is now officially shutting down after the City of Azusa acquired the property through eminent domain.

According to an article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, "Long-time Azusa furniture store to close after losing battle against city, eminent domain," the Furniture Station finally reached a settlement with the City after a contentious eminent domain battle.  The City sought to ...

If Gov. Brown wins, plans for sports venues in Escondido and San Diego lose.  So ran a headline on the Los Angeles Times' blog earlier this year.  The article noted if the governor were successful in abolishing redevelopment agencies, it could kill plans for a minor-league baseball park in Escondido and a new football stadium for the Chargers in downtown San Diego.  Any new stadium for the A’s, either in Oakland or San Jose, could experience some similar fate.

With SB 77 falling 1 vote short of the requisite 2/3 majority in the Assembly, and traction being gained by the California ...

I wanted to provide a quick update on a couple of cases we've reported on earlier. 

The first case is the dispute between the City of Seal Beach and Bay City Partners over 10.7 acres of waterfront property.  The city wanted the property preserved for the public, while the owner wanted to use it as part of a new oceanfront development.  According to a March 29 article in the Orange County Register by Roxana Kopetman, Seal Beach and developer agree on waterfront property, the parties agreed this week to a settlement that will result in leaving about 70 percent of the property open to the ...

We've covered the Guggenheim v. City of Goleta regulatory takings case pretty exhaustively, most recently noting there is a pending petition for Supreme Court review.  While we wait for the fateful decision as to whether the Supreme Court will take up the Guggenheim case, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued another mobilehome rent control regulatory takings decision in Colony Cove Properties v. City of Carson.  Like the 9th Circuit's en banc decision in Guggenheim, the park owner's regulatory takings claim was unsuccessful.

The owner in Colony Cove

The California Court of Appeal recently issued an interesting unpublished decision addressing a property owner's claim that a government entity's regulation of asbestos constituted a regulatory taking.  The owner's unsuccessful challenge presents a nice summary of what not to do when pursuing a regulatory takings claim, and just how difficult it is for an owner to succeed.

In Butte Equipment Rentals, Inc. v. California Air Resources Board, the property owner operated a rock mining and quarrying business.  The owner alleged that two regulations adopted by the ...

Despite daily rumors to the contrary, neither chamber took up the issue of redevelopment last week.

Both the Senate and Assembly held brief floor sessions Friday morning without voting on either SB 77 or AB 101, the bills eliminating redevelopment. While both houses remained on-call over weekend and today, the next floor sessions are not scheduled until Tuesday, March 29.

Meanwhile, there have been intensive lobbying efforts in support of the CRA and League of California Cities Alternative solution. Essentially, they are proposing that redevelopment agencies voluntarily ...

Today the California Transportation Commission announced the allocation of $101 million to fund 90 state-wide transportation projects.  The CTC's updated project allocation list provides a full breakdown of all the projects.

In reviewing the project list, there appears to be a big push towards going "green":  many of the projects involve improvements such as tree planting, compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, pedestrian and bicycle trails, or acquisition of property for restoration and habitat protection.  There's also a handful of ...