SMW Helps El Segundo Combat Adverse Airport Impacts from LAX
The firm negotiates a global settlement of a dispute over the expansion of the Los Angeles International Airport, limiting the size of the expansion, mitigating its impacts on neighbors, and assisting in the development of a long-term regional strategy to satisfy aviation demand through other airports in the Los Angeles area. (El Segundo v. Los […]
SMW’s Defense of Affordable Housing
Photo Credit: Satellite Affordable Housing Associates The firm successfully defends a challenge to an affordable housing project for low-income seniors in Berkeley. (Bowman v. City of Berkeley, 122 Cal.App.4th 572 (2004).)
Successful Defense of Transbay Transit Center
Photo credit: Sergio Ruiz, Flickr, CC BY 2.0 The firm and the San Francisco City Attorney’s office in 2005 successfully defend the Transbay Joint Powers Agency against challenges to its CEQA/NEPA compliance for the Transit Center, Downtown Rail Extension, and associated redevelopment.
Court Upholds Lake Tahoe Scenic Regulations
Representing the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the firm secures a federal court victory in a regulatory takings challenge to TRPA’s scenic regulations that apply to development on Lake Tahoe. (Committee for Reasonable Regulation of Lake Tahoe v. TRPA, 311 F.Supp.2d 972 (2004).)
Acquisition of Property for Transit Oriented Development
The firm represents the Transbay Joint Powers Agency in the acquisition of 26 properties for the Transbay Transit Center project over ten years starting in 2005, including 13 eminent domain actions.
SMW Advises Merced County on University Community Plan
Photo Credit: Qymekkam, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Assisted by the firm, Merced County in 2004 adopts the University Community Plan for the land uses and infrastructure necessary to support the new UC Merced campus.
Public-Private Partnership Preserves Public Access to Historic Gardens
In 2003 the firm assists the City of Saratoga in developing an innovative public-private partnership for the management of one of the oldest Japanese garden estates in the Western Hemisphere. The Hakone Gardens were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
Protected: Lake Tahoe Development Moratorium Upheld
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Protected: SMW Defends the City of Lafayette in Complex Land Use Litigation
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Appellate Court Victory Protects Saratoga Residents From Community College’s Noisy Athletic Stadium
The firm wins an appellate court case for the City of Saratoga, requiring a school district’s athletic stadium to comply with the City’s zoning ordinance. (Saratoga v. West Valley-Mission Community College District (2002).)