In an opinion filed on April 19, and certified for publication on May 4, 2021, the Third Appellate District in Alliance for Responsible Planning v. Taylor (County of El Dorado) held that a citizen-sponsored ballot measure requiring new development to fund all cumulative traffic mitigation prior to construction violated the Takings Clause of the Constitution by requiring new development to pay more than its fair share. The Court’s ruling reaffirms the constitutional principles of nexus and proportionality as applied to general plan policies and mitigation under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”), and limits the ability of local agencies to burden new development with the costs of mitigating impacts beyond those of their project.
At issue was Measure E, which El Dorado County voters adopted in June 2016. Measure E was intended to end the practice of “paper roads,” whereby traffic-mitigating road improvements were not completed—and thus existed only on paper—at the time of project approval. Specifically, Measure E amended General Plan Policies TC-Xa 3...
