Mr. Cosgrove is co-chair of the Condemnation and Property Valuation Practice Group and a partner in the firm's Public Law Section. He specializes in eminent domain, water law and land use issues. He has been with Rutan & Tucker since graduating from Ohio State University College of Law in 1984. Mr. Cosgrove's property acquisition and valuation practice includes assisting public agencies with property acquisitions, from the preliminary stages all the way through condemnation trials, and appellate work. In this capacity, he has served as lead counsel for the City of Anaheim's Resort Area acquisitions, involving hundreds of partial acquisitions for roadway widening projects in the Anaheim Resort area, near Disneyland. Mr. Cosgrove represents landowners whose properties are acquired with both real property and business valuation issues, defenses to the right to take, and CEQA-related or other project challenges.
Dave provides general counsel representation to water agencies, including water rights and groundwater adjudication issues, compliance with CEQA, endangered species, and other environmental regulatory requirements, and general public entity issues such as Brown Act, conflict of interest and reorganization questions. He also represents developers and private property owners on issues of water rights, appropriative license applications and groundwater production and use. Dave currently is the general counsel for the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District, and was formerly the Assistant General Counsel for the Orange County Water District, Serrano Irrigation District, Tri-Cities Municipal Water District and Rancho California Water District.
Mr. Cosgrove draws from a broad background in general municipal law. For years, he served as Assistant City Attorney in the City of Signal Hill and was Deputy City Attorney for the Cities of San Clemente and La Palma. In these positions, he was directly involved in land use approval processes, redevelopment issues and disposition and development agreements. He also headed up ordinance development and drafting on such varied topics as campaign finance reform, development impact fees, specific plans and zoning measures, and conflict of interest matters. He was also instrumental in drafting and lobbying the Fair Political Practices Commission to consider and adopt regulations for analyzing conflicts of interest in smaller jurisdictions. He drafted and lobbied for the original Uniform Standby Assessment Procedures Act (stats. 188, Chapter 834) and legislation permitting collection of capital facilities fees for public entities (stats. 1988, Chapter 1350), both of which successfully passed the Legislature.
PUBLICATIONS/SEMINARS
· "Critical Analysis of Real Property Appraisals" - Rutan & Tucker In-House MCLE Course delivered November, 1998.
· "Eminent Domain Overview" - delivered to the Orange County City' Attorney's Association in March, 1998.
· "Words From The Wings" - a regular series of articles on eminent domain-related subjects written for the Orange County Chapter of the International Right of Way Association Newsletter, 1997. Topics included proposed changes to appraisal disclosure rules, the role of alternative dispute resolution in eminent domain proceedings, and evidentiary requirements for resolution of necessity hearings, among others.
· "Contamination In Condemnation" - delivered to the International Right-of-Way Association, local Chapter No. 67, March 10, 1994.
· "Requesting Advice From The F.P.P.C.--A Series of Practical Considerations for Increasing Accuracy and Response Time" - delivered to the Association of California Water Agencies' 1993 Continuing Legal Education Workshop, October 7, 1993.
· "CEQA and Incompatible Uses" - Rutan & Tucker Environmental Law Practice Group Seminar conducted September 11, 1992.
· "CEQA Document Preparation and Processing" - delivered to the California Association of County Counsels, May 8, 1992.
· "Information Sources for Defensible Market Adjustments" - delivered to the International Right-of-Way Association, local Chapter No. 67, on December 14, 1991.
· "Cross-Examination and Defense of Market Data Adjustments" - course delivered to the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers on December 8, 1989.
· "The San Marcos Case and Legislative Response" - presented to the Association of California Water Agencies, Fall 1988 Conference.
· Drafted Uniform Standby Assessment Procedures Act, Stats. 1988, Chapter 834 (Gov't Code §§ 54984 et seq.). The Act unified and simplified diverse authorizing statutes for water districts' standby assessments.
· Original drafting of Stats. 1988, Chapter 1350 (Gov't Code §§ 54999 et seq.), authorizing collection of capital facilities fees from public entities.
PRACTICE GROUPS
· Affordable Housing/Economic Development
· Condemnation/Property Valuation
· Environmental
· Land Use/Natural Resources
· Municipal/Government Agency Law
MEMBERSHIPS/ADMISSIONS
· State Bar of California
· Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Federal Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of California, Courts of the State of California
· Orange County Bar Association
COMMUNITY/AFFILIATIONS
· Association of California Water Agencies
· International Right-of-Way Association (President - 1998)
· Xavier University Alumni Association