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Land Use Litigation
Gate-King Properties
We represent Gate-King Properties, the owner of a proposed 500-acre industrial park development in Santa Clarita, California. The project involves the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report, a development agreement, subdivision approval, conditional use permits, section 404 approval and compliance with new SB 610 (water supply planning for large scale projects).
Keenan Land Company
We provide litigation and land use counseling for Keenan Land Company, a high-end real estate developer involved in residential subdivision and hotel development in Half Moon Bay, Scotts Valley and Hayward, California. The issues include compliance with CEQA, the Subdivision Map Act, the Endangered Species Act, the California Coastal Act and the Clean Water Act.
South San Francisco Scavenger Company
We represented South San Francisco Scavenger Company, a solid waste collection, transportation, disposal and recovery facility, in the development of 100,000 sq. ft. materials recovery (recycling) and transfer facility for the transfer of solid waste to serve the communities of South San Francisco, Millbrae and the San Francisco International Airport.
Client Name Withheld
We successfully represented a major petroleum refining company in the defense of two Clean Water Act citizen suits brought in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The cases presented the question of the meaning and application of the Supreme Court's discussion of mootness in Friends of the Earth v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc., 528 U.S. 167 (2000), an issue of first impression in the Ninth Circuit. Our client prevailed on motions for summary judgment on the theory that the subject facilities had been sold, and that there was no reasonable possibility that any Clean Water Act violations could be committed by the refining company at the sites. One of the cases is on appeal before the Ninth Circuit, and oral argument will take place in March 2002.
Boise Cascade Corporation
We represented Boise Cascade, an Idaho-based forest products company, in an appeal alleging that the Oregon Board of Forestry's denial of Boise Cascade's right to log timber on its own land constituted a "taking of private property" under the Just Compensation Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Fluke Capital Management
We represented Fluke Capital in obtaining approval of a shoreline permit for a hotel in Bellevue, Washington. Both the shoreline permit and shoreline height variance were appealed to the State Shorelines Hearing Board and then to court. The Washington Court of Appeals ultimately ordered that the permit be issued, and the Washington Supreme Court denied the opponent's request for review. Based in Bellevue, Washington, Fluke Capital is a venture fund that invests in early-stage, high-growth companies. We also represented Fluke Capital before the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board in a challenge to the land-use designation of a privately owned island in Puget Sound.
Lake Oswego Corporation
We represented Lake Oswego Corporation in defending the validity of its lakefront easement against an adverse possession claim by a property owner needing the additional property to meet lot partition standards. The adverse possession claim threatened the validity of the Corporation's easement around all of Lake Oswego and hundreds of residences. After a trial to the court, it enforced the easement and denied the adverse possession claim.
Snowbird Ski Resort
We represent Snowbird Ski Resort in connection with a proposal for projects in a master development plan. We are seeking approval from the U.S. Forest Service for the proposal and are defending against challenges to the master development plan by citizens groups.
Tigard Sand & Gravel, Inc.
We represented Tigard Sand & Gravel in support of legislation (SB 2419) to amend Oregon law to restore nonconforming use rights on rural lands, thereby allowing continuance of historic mining uses. The case arose out of a decision that determined that nonconforming use rights at a rock quarry had been interrupted and abandoned under state law. The bill was approved by the Oregon legislature and signed into law by the governor.
Tri-Met
We represented Tri-Met in multiple condemnation actions relating to expansion of light-rail and other public transportation facilities. Issues included right to take, valuation and inverse condemnation.
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