Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Impact Fees As CEQA Mitigation

By William W. Abbott and Janell M. Bogue
December 26, 2006

Properly administered impact fee programs can operate to streamline California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review of later development projects. At the same time, impact fee programs that are not implemented in accordance with the original expectations, or that are founded upon unrealistic assumptions, may offer the lead agency and affected applicant little or no real legal relief, and may be a trap for the unwary.

Impact fees are controlled by Government Code section 66000-66022. Fees may be imposed based upon a comprehensive impact fee program (Blue Jeans Equities West v. City and County of San Francisco (1992) 3 Cal. App. 4th 164) or as calculated on an ad hoc basis (Erlich v. City of Culver City (1996) 12 Cal.4th 854). The methodology ' broad-based vs. ad hoc ' determines which findings must be adopted by the imposing agency. Loyola Marymount University v. Los Angeles Unified School District (1996) 45 Cal.App.4th 1256. Generally, impact fees of broad application receive less judicial scrutiny (Erlich v. City of Culver City, supra at p. 875).

Read These Next
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It Image

Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?

Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough Image

There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.

The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later Image

The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.

A Lawyer's System for Active Reading Image

Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.

Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent Trolls Image

With trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.