Matthew Gray focuses his practice on land use entitlement processing and
litigation. He represents a range of local agencies, real estate developers and
landowners in all stages of the land use entitlement and development process. He
assists clients in negotiating and securing approval of development agreements,
general plan amendments, specific plans, zoning, subdivision approvals, and
annexation of property into cities and special districts; regularly appears
before planning commissions and city councils; and advises clients on compliance
with the California Environmental Quality Act and other federal and state
regulatory programs during the development process. Matt also has experience
negotiating affordable housing agreements, complex mitigation fee agreements and
conservation easements; forming land-based financing mechanisms, including
Mello-Roos Districts; securing cancellation or termination of Williamson Act
contracts on agricultural lands; advising clients on issues relating to water
supply; and using the initiative and referendum process in the land use planning
context. Matt also negotiates purchase and sale agreements; site development
agreements; covenants, conditions, and restrictions; and related transactional
documents in connection with mixed-use, commercial, and residential development
projects.
Matt litigates land use matters in the state and federal
courts, having defended clients in challenges under the California Environmental
Quality Act, the Planning & Zoning Law, the Subdivision Map Act, the
National Environmental Policy Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act,
and the National Historic Preservation Act, as well as local zoning ordinances,
conditions of approval and general plans. He also regularly defends landowners
in eminent domain litigation, including complex matters involving challenges to
an agency’s right-to-take and valuation of goodwill.
Matt has worked on
a wide variety of significant land use projects throughout California, including
large urban redevelopment projects, military base reuse projects, mixed-use
waterfront developments, renewable energy and related infrastructure projects,
regional shopping centers, and master-planned residential
communities.
Matt teaches an Annual Land Use Law Review and Update course
at University of California Davis Extension. He has also taught Planning Law and
Legal Process at University of California Berkeley Extension. He regularly
lectures on the Subdivision Map Act through California Continuing Education of
the Bar (CEB) and before local municipal engineers’ associations.
He is
an active member of San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR) and the Bay
Area Council. He serves on the board of directors of the AIDS Legal Referral
Panel, and previously served as a board member and chair of the Amicus Committee
of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom.