Conference helps planning professionals understand California's evolving land laws

With a growing population and accelerating land demands, understanding California’s evolving rules and laws regulating real estate development and community planning is increasingly important.

For decades, planning professionals have gathered at the California Land Use Law and Planning Conference to discuss these issues. This year, Arizona State University has taken over as the new sponsor for one of the state’s most trusted conferences. 

On Jan. 23, more than 100 professionals gathered at The Biltmore Los Angeles for the 39th California Land Use Law and Planning Conference.

The event was sponsored by the W. P. Carey Center for Real Estate and Finance in partnership with California Planning & Development Report. In previous years, the conference had been sponsored by UCLA. 

Mark Stapp, Fred Taylor Endowed Professor of Real Estate at ASU, said reviving the conference presented a unique opportunity to serve Californians.

While the event itself is tailored toward land use and planning professionals, Stapp said the conversations that come out of the conference can potentially impact spaces built for Californians to live, work and play.

“The laws we talk about at this conference are very complex, but these complex laws affect everybody,” he said. “They involve projects from a single-family home that’s being built all the way up to large economic development projects like warehouses and data centers. At this event, we are able to get the practitioners of these laws in a room and talk about what’s working, and what we might want to try to change.”

Stapp said his opening remarks at the event answered a key question that attendees had in mind: “Why would Arizona State University host a land use conference in California?”

“ASU is invested in California in a really unique way, and I think this conference was an opportunity to introduce ourselves to a new group of professionals and explain who we are and what we are doing here,” Stapp said.

While ASU’s home base is in Arizona, it has a deep relationship with the American Southwest and the Golden State. ASU’s flagship California locations feature top-ranked undergraduate and graduate degree programs in film, fashion, business and more. More than 24,000 Californians attend ASU, 13% of ASU’s graduates work in California and more than 104,000 alumni reside in California.

“We were thankful to develop a really strong partnership with the long-standing organizers and chairs of the committees who are involved in creating this conference, and building that trust was instrumental in putting on such a successful event,” Stapp said.

David Schlinkert, program and finance manager for the Center for Real Estate and Finance at ASU, said the relationships that have come out of this conference have been a highlight of the event.

“It’s incredibly valuable that this conference has such a positive legacy to it,” Schlinkert said. “It’s important to honor the legacy and continue to offer the same trusted information, and we also have the opportunity to build a new cohort and spearhead an expansion here. There is a lot of opportunity for impact for future developments in California, and we’re glad to be doing the work.”

Tom Johnston, executive director of the W. P. Carey Center for Real Estate and Finance, said the conference was also made possible by Wimberly Doran, Tricia Hilbun and David Schlinkert of the W. P. Carey Center for Real Estate and Finance who quickly collaborated to ensure the conference success.

"We will be taking this experience to create the Arizona Land Use Law and Planning Conference and ultimately one held in Washington regarding National Land Use and Environment laws impacting real estate,” Johnston said.

While ASU real estate leaders sponsored the conference, they didn't work alone. The speakers were arranged by a dedicated group of California-based individuals who had worked on previous conferences. This partnership ensured a smooth transition for the event, and offered a blend of cohesion and innovation to a new era for the conference

“We’ve said it to everyone: We are not doing this as a single-year event,” Stapp said. “We’re already planning for next year, we set the date — Jan. 29, 2027 — and we intend to help deliver this for decades to come.”