Benjamin J. Hanelin

Benjamin's representative matters include:

• Writ Petitions: Represented private parties and public agencies in challenges to local municipal actions, such as public agency’s refusal to approve salary ranges and refusal to issue building permits or approve development projects
• Public Transit: Representing the builder of the first fixed public transit system to an events venue against multiple legal challenges brought under local and state law
• Initiatives: Advised property owners and clients pursuing and opposing initiatives and referenda regarding land use development rights
• CEQA Litigation: Defended numerous challenges to local and state development project approvals on CEQA and other grounds before California trial and appellate courts.
• Electrical Transmission Line Development: Representing a public utility in its development of a 120-mile transmission line before the California Public Utilities Commission, Bureau of Land Management, California Court of Appeal, California Supreme Court, federal District Court, and the Interior Board of Land Appeals.
• Private Property Rights Litigation: Representing a property ownership association as an intervenor in federal court litigation to protect the interests of lakefront property owners at Lake Tahoe and in response to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s adoption of new regulations to regulate the development and use of Lake Tahoe’s shorezone. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, a bi-state regional environmental planning agency, adopted the new regulations after more than twenty years of debate, and Benjamin successfully worked to ensure that the regulations met environmental goals consistent with recreational and private property interests.
• Large-Scale Mixed-Use Development: Representing the development and securing approvals for one of the largest mixed-use projects in the City of Bakersfield. Covering 255 acres and including two million square feet of commercial development and 425 dwelling units, the project serves as a new model for development projects in the Central Valley.
• High-Rise Development: Securing project approvals for the development of the first new commercial high-rise proposed for the Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood in over fifteen years. The 29-story, 315,000 square foot project required a general plan amendment, specific plan amendment, zone and height district change, conditional use permit, and other approvals.
• Clean Water Act/Endangered Species Act Litigation: Defending the development of lakefront condominiums at Big Bear Lake from challenges under the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act.