NBA championship overshadows relocation to San Francisco

Louis LaVenture : thepioneeronline – excerpt

… While Oakland celebrated, lawmakers in Sacramento on Friday made the new San Francisco arena deal a lot easier to finalize when they included an environmental law exemption for the planned Warriors stadium at San Francisco’s Mission Bay in the state budget proposal unveiled last week.

The new development requires an environmental impact report detailing what wildlife and animals will be displaced by construction and the plans to rectify displacement, which will be waived for one year due to the new law exemption.

The Mission Bay Alliance is one of the main opponents of the proposed Warriors event center and according to them “The proposed stadium will have a disastrous impact on the health and welfare of thousands of patients and families.” They also stated the new arena would block access to medical services, make parking difficult and cause traffic around the area to hit a complete halt during the 225 events that are planned each year in addition to sports events.

The new arena is located near several hospitals, including those specific for women, children, cancer and cardiology. There is a public hearing regarding the San Francisco arena plan on June 30 at City Hall and public input is being listened to at the meetings until July 20... (more)

Court: Cities can force developers to include affordable housing

By Stephen Frank : capoliticalreview – excerpt

Central Valley Business Times

Supreme Court upholds San Jose ordinance
Could impact nearly 200 California cities immediately
Housing developers can be required by cities to include a percentage of their homes for low- or moderate-income buyers, the California Supreme Court says.
The ruling upholds a Court of Appeal decision that backed the city of San Jose, which had been challenged by the California Building Industry Association.
“The conditions that the San Jose ordinance imposes upon future developments do not impose exactions upon the developers‘ property so as to bring into play the unconstitutional conditions doctrine under the takings clause of the federal or state Constitution,” says the unanimous Supreme Court ruling Monday. “Furthermore … an in lieu monetary fee that is imposed to mitigate a particular adverse effect of the development proposal under consideration — the conditions imposed by the San Jose ordinance at issue here do not require a developer to pay a monetary fee but rather place a limit on the way a developer may use its property.”
Noting that the problem of finding affordable housing in California has become worse over the years, the state’s highest court says the city had a constitutionally legitimate reason to use the ordinance to increase “the number of affordable housing units in the city in recognition of the insufficient number of existing affordable housing units in relation to the city‘s current and future needs” and assure “that new affordable housing units that are constructed are distributed throughout the city as part of mixed-income developments in order to obtain the benefits that flow from economically diverse communities and avoid the problems that have historically been associated with isolated low income housing.”
The ruling is expected to have wide-ranging impact as nearly 200 California cities have adopted some form of the San Jose ordinance… (more)

Drakes Bay Oyster Co. takes fight to U.S. Supreme Court

By Mark Prado : Marin Independent Journal – excerpt

The Drakes Bay Oyster Co. filed a petition Monday to take its fight to stay open to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kevin Lunny, owner of Drakes Bay Oyster Co., is seeking to have a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned by the high court.

“If this judgment is not overturned, government agencies will have the power to deny a permit to any individual or business for any reason, without judicial review,” Lunny said in a statement. “Citizens must have recourse in the face of an arbitrary and capricious decision.”

The appeal to the high court is the latest legal maneuver as the oyster farm attempts to remain open in the face of a federal government order to shut down.

The oyster operation could know as soon as October if the court will take the case, said Peter Prows, who is among the attorneys representing Lunny…

In February 2012, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected a preliminary injunction to halt the federally ordered closure of the oyster operation in the Point Reyes National Seashore.

The 9th circuit court agreed to hear the case and review Rogers’ decision. In September 2013, a three-judge panel of the 9th circuit ruled it lacked jurisdiction to review Salazar’s discretionary decision not to issue a new operational permit for Drakes Bay.

But in that ruling 9th Circuit Judge Paul J. Watford wrote in a dissenting opinion Lunny’s request for an injunction should have been granted. That provided the oyster company’s supporters hope the court might reconsider that 2-1 ruling, but that didn’t happen.

Until legal issues are cleared up, the Inverness oyster farm remains open.

REALATED:
That Drakes Bay Oyster Company
http://savedrakesbay.com/core/
2 million oysters in SF Bay begin restoration effort

California Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Salmon in Marin

by Joanna Nasar : indybay – excerpt

San Francisco (March 6, 2014) – Marin County Wide Plan Ruled Unlawful: CA Appeals Court Affirms SPAWN Position that County Failed to Analyze Cumulative Impacts and Provided Spurious Mitigation for Destruction of Salmon Habitat

Turtle Island Restoration Network ‘s Salmon Protection And Watershed Network (SPAWN) won a legal battle with the County of Marin to protect the last population of wild California coho coastal salmon…The case will now move to back to the lower court with a clear mandate from the CA Appeals Court to adequately protect California’s endangered coho salmon…

Read the Court’s opinion here: http://bit.ly/1f9e4v3  …

Turtle Island Restoration Network (http://www.SeaTurtles.org) works to mobilize people and communities around the world to protect marine wildlife, the oceans and the inland waterways that sustain them. The Salmon Protection And Watershed Network (SPAWN http://www.spawnusa.org) is a project of Turtle Island that works to protect endangered salmon and their habitat in the Marin County, CA.  http://www.spawnusa.org