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Rochelle Browne is a shareholder in the Public
Law Department at Richards, Watson & Gershon. Since joining the Firm
in 1977, Ms. Browne has specialized in litigation on behalf of public
agencies and in advising public agencies in the areas of land use, the
California Environmental Quality Act, changes in municipal and local
district boundaries and rent control.
Ms. Browne has successfully defended cities and redevelopment agencies
against challenges to their general plans, zoning ordinances, redevelopment
plans, the granting and denial of land use permits and business licenses,
environmental impact reports, compliance with CEQA, compliance with the
Brown Act and the Public Records Act and annexation proceedings. Her
practice includes trial and appellate work in both state and federal
courts and frequently involves claims for violation of substantive and
procedural due process, equal protection, the First Amendment and civil
rights, as well as inverse condemnation and takings claims and claims
for violation of the various state and federal statutes governing public
agencies, such as The Federal Fair Housing Act.
A sampling of the reported cases in which Ms. Browne has successfully
represented public agencies are: Carson Mobilehome Park Owners' Assn.
v. City of Carson, 35 Cal.3d 184 (1983) [upholding the constitutionality
of a mobilehome rent control ordinance]; Greenwood Addition Homeowners
Assn. v. City of San Marino, 14 Cal.App.4th 1360 (1993) [upholding
the decision not to adopt a joint tax transfer resolution and thereby
preventing annexation]; Itzep v. City of Agoura Hills, 24 Cal.App.4th
621 (1994) [upholding an ordinance which prohibits soliciting business,
sales, contributions or employment from person traveling in vehicles]; Carson
Harbor Village v. City of Carson, 37 F.3d 468 (9th Cir., 1994) [holding
that a plaintiff cannot state a taking claim against a public agency
based on an ordinance that was in place when the plaintiff purchased
the property claimed to have been taken by the ordinance]; Clark
v. City of Hermosa Beach, 48 Cal.App.4th 1152 (1996) [rejecting
claim that denial of a fair hearing on a permit application constituted
a federal constitutional claim]; Roble Vista Associates v. John Bacon, 97
App.4th 335 (2002)[rejecting claim that a Palo Alto ordinance requiring
tenants to offer leases of at least 12 months to tenants was preempted
by state law]; City of Redlands and City of Rancho Cucamonga v. County
of Riverside, 96 Cal.App.4th 398 (2002) [requiring County to prepare
an EIR before changing land use policies affecting Rancho Cucamonga and
Riverside].
Ms. Browne has drafted guidelines for implementation of CEQA for many
of RW&G's public agency clients and has advised them concerning CEQA
compliance for large and controversial projects. She has also served
as special counsel concerning CEQA compliance for other cities and has
drafted mobilehome rent control and mobilehome park conversion laws.
Ms. Browne served as Chair of the Land Use Subsection of the Los Angeles
County Bar Association Real Property Section from 1987 to 1989 and on
the Executive Committee of the Real Property Section from 1989 to 1991;
she has made presentations to the League of California Cities (Drafting
Agreements Bearing on the Police Power, Erosion of Residential Zoning
Power and Defending Mobilehome Rent Control Ordinances, Environmental
Justice), to the California Local Agency Formation Commission Conference
(Local Government Financing) and to Public Counsel (Seminar on Child
Care, Land Use and Zoning Issues); and has served on the League of California
Cities Mobilehome Issues Committee. She currently serves on the Advisory
Panel of the Community Land Use Project of the Institute of Local Self-Government,
which educates public officials, planners, City Attorneys and the public
concerning planning and zoning issues, including takings and inverse
condemnation law.
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