California Planning and Development Report

William Fulton explains how a citizen anti-tax initiative passed 25 years ago has turned out to be a major force in shaping the urban and suburban landscape we see throughout the country today.

Proponents of property rights and other conservatives are attacking smart growth as a theory dreamed up by out-of-touch urban planners.

Tejon Ranch owns what might be the largest contiguous stretch of land controlled by one property owner in California.

California is negotiating to provide local governments more control over Indian casino development.

For years we’ve debated how big our local governments ought to be — without factoring in economic development.

Despite California's sluggish economy and high housing prices, impact fees continue to rise -- and it could lead to a voter revolt.

The California Supreme Court has sided squarely with planners in a ruling on the status of parcel maps recorded prior to the first state subdivision law.

A voter-approved height limitation initiative does not apply to redeveloped land that was part of a military base, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled.

A Constitutional defect raises other questions about California's Coastal Commission.

The Orange County, CA Planning Department will lay off 39 employees this month because financial troubles have swamped the agency.

California policymakers have long been obsessed with water, and 2003will be no different.

Ventura County, California, Board of Supervisors approves first tract map for conversial project.

No tract map hearing for an already approved housing development has ever drawn as much attention as the Ahmanson Ranch project on the edge of Los Angeles.

Is the Segway Human Transporter an urban transportation panacea ormobility-oriented snake oil?

The California State Association of Counties provided the latest battlefield in the war of words over the state housing element law.

A proposed bill woudl put teeth in the state's housing element law by fining local governments that refuse to plan for new housing.

Ventura County, California,remains the epicenter of the world of ballot-box planning.

It's a mixed bag, but slow-growthers lose in some surprising places, while a high-profile property rights measures loses.

We Californians are conflicted. Most of our urban areas are quite dense, yet those same areas often lack a center that could be called a "place."

A California state senator who's retiring -- but not shy -- says politicans can no longer lead and therefore planners must do it instead.