Sean, thanks for the Local Government 101 explainer. Understanding the basics is important to any discussion on housing and often overlooked or ignored. I have two comments on your article: First, I’m not aware of any city that crosses county lineS. I haven’t looked as to whether it is legally possible, but as a practical matter for a city to incorporate across county lines would involve two incorporation proceedings and two incorporation elections. Not very likely. Second, you reference Art. 11, sec. 5. This only applies to the 121 charter cities in California out of the 482 cities. You should also look at Art. 11, sec 7, commonly referred to as the police power, which independently provides zoning authority to all cities and counties although not in so many words.
Here are some reference resources although I’m sure you’ve identified some of them:
League of California Cities — www.cacities.org
CSAC — www.counties.org
Cal LAFCO — www.calafco.org (incorporation and disincorporation)
California Municipal Law Handbook — www.ceb.com (it also should be available through your county law library)
California Constitution — www.oup.com (this is a very helpful commentary on the constitution published by Oxford University Press. I may not have the URL right but your county law library will be able to get it for you.)
I look forward to your forthcoming articles.
