The Wyoming Supreme Court reversed the state's calculation of severance taxes owed by a company that operates a large natural gas well facility in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. State law provides that the fair market value of natural gas for severance tax purposes is determined after the produc...
A North Carolina appellate court held that the North Carolina Sedimentation Control Commission erred in issuing a country club a variance from state buffer requirements allowing it to build a nine-hole golf course along and over Banks Creek, certified trout waters. The applicable state statute requi...
A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying residents' motion to overturn a city's approval of use permits and zoning variances for a mixed-use development project. The residents failed to establish that the city proceeded unlawfully, that the decision was not supported by t...
A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision denying developers' suit against a city challenging its extension of an ordinance restricting development in areas zoned for multifamily residential use. The extension was contrary to law and invalid because the city failed to identify "a ...
A California appellate court affirmed a lower court's decision not to interject itself into a city's still ongoing process of preparing an environmental impact report (EIR) for a proposed development project. The developer wanted the lower court to issue a writ of administrative mandamus to compel t...
A California appellate court reversed in part and affirmed in part a lower court decision denying a citizen group's petition to set aside an amendment to a county's general land use plan that altered the definition of "net acreage." Substantial evidence supports a finding that the amendment could ha...
The California Supreme Court held that a county's decision not to renew a conditional use permit for a private airport is not a "project" subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Declining to renew the conditional use permit was not a public project unde...
A California appellate court affirmed the California Coastal Commission's denial of an individual's application for a coastal development permit for a residential and commercial project. The project, approved by the city, was located in an area zoned for commercial visitor-serving uses. Despite the ...
A California appellate court upheld an individual's conviction for the unlawful disposal of hazardous waste but reversed his sentence. There was sufficient evidence to support his conviction and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering him to pay the local hazardous materials managem...
A California appellate court upheld the dismissal of developers' petition to set aside design guidelines for a development project in North Hollywood. The design guidelines are not a zoning ordinance and, therefore, need not comply with the procedural and individualized notice requirements of the st...