Eminent Domain Report

California’s agricultural lands face constant pressure from residential, commercial, and industrial development. One of the state’s primary tools for preserving farmland and open space is the Williamson Act, formally known as the California Land Conservation Act of 1965. Unlike conservation easements, which are often permanent, Williamson Act contracts provide a mechanism for landowners to temporarily restrict development in exchange for favorable property tax treatment.

For landowners, public agencies, and eminent domain practitioners, understanding how these ...

Some of the biggest real estate disputes I’ve handled have started with a document that may be only a few paragraphs long: an easement. Easements are everywhere. Utilities use them for pipelines and transmission lines. Developers rely on them for access and infrastructure. Property owners inherit them when they buy property. And they’re often ignored—until somebody wants to do something the other side doesn’t like. And in eminent domain proceedings, public agencies and utilities oftentimes pay little attention to the easement terms or how broad or narrow they’ve ...

In Wang v. Peletta, the California Court of Appeal held that property owners cannot acquire a prescriptive easement to maintain an encroaching structure if that structure was built without required permits and constitutes an abatable public nuisance.

In Wang, homeowners built a retaining wall and related improvements without first obtaining the required permits or a survey. They believed the work was on their own property, but it actually encroached significantly onto their neighbor's land. The county later issued citations to the homeowners requiring correction of the code ...

I’ve spent most of my career practicing in a relatively narrow corner of the law: eminent domain, inverse condemnation, and real estate litigation. That wasn’t necessarily the plan when I went to law school, but eminent domain chose me – I didn’t choose it. I’ve always been drawn to real estate—how property is used, what gives it value, and how seemingly small differences in location, access, zoning, improvements, or highest and best use can dramatically affect that value. Eminent domain cases bring all those issues together in a way that is both challenging and endlessly ...

Conservation easements are a common tool for protecting agricultural land, open space, wildlife habitat, and other natural resources throughout California. While frequently associated with conservation efforts, conservation easements are fundamentally a property-rights mechanism that allows landowners to limit future development while retaining ownership of their land.

What Is a Conservation Easement?

A conservation easement is a voluntary restriction on the use of real property designed to limit development while keeping the property in private ownership. Property ...

In 2024, the Supreme Court upended decades of California precedent when it held that legislatively enacted development impact fees must satisfy the “essential nexus” and “rough proportionality” tests established in Nollan v. California Coastal Commission and Dolan v. City of Tigard, respectively. However, the Supreme Court did not decide whether the legislatively enacted fee program challenged by Sheetz actually failed to comply with Nollan / Dolan. Instead, it remanded that issue back to the California courts so that they could address the issue in the first ...

Conservation easements generally preserve land in a predominantly natural or agricultural state. The efforts behind these easements often go unappreciated. The same is true for the notice requirements that correspond with the acquisition of property encumbered by a conservation easement. Failing to heed these notice requirements can impede acquisition efforts and add cost and delay to public projects.

Code of Civil Procedure section 1240.055 sets forth valuation and notice requirements for acquiring conservation easements under threat of condemnation in California.* It ...

During the past several years, California legislators have been pushing through new legislation to increase potential housing opportunities in California. In October, Governor Newsom signed California Senate Bill 79 (SB 79), which opens up new residential developments near rail and bus stations in major California communities. Specifically, SB 79 creates rules to override local zoning regulations related to height and density for sites near transit-oriented development stops and applies to the “urban transit communities” of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Alameda ...

When public agencies or utilities move forward with infrastructure projects, one of the most critical steps is determining exactly what property rights must be acquired. Too often, agencies focus solely on the permanent footprint of the project, only to discover late in the process that they lack authority for construction activities, staging areas or access. Early project planning on the front end helps avoid costly delays, litigation and redesign.

Existing Rights

The first analysis should always be – what rights are already in place? Many agencies or utilities hold ...