Peter Spoerl

Peter Spoerl has 17 years of experience as an attorney advising on land use, planning, CEQA, redevelopment and other areas of municipal law. He has served as transactional counsel for numerous institutional, civil infrastructure and economic development projects for public agencies, private developments and public-private partnerships throughout California.

Peter has extensive experience and expertise with land use matters. He has advised both public and private clients with respect to nearly every aspect of California land use regulation, including procedural and noticing requirements for quasi-judicial and legislative hearings, the Permit Streamlining Act, issues related to General and Specific plans, zoning, use permits, variances, legal non-conforming uses, vested rights, the Subdivision Map Act, housing and affordable housing, real estate, exactions, fees and nexus limitations on fees and dedications, and regional planning issues. In his capacity as lead counsel to several local Planning Commissions, Peter has also developed expertise and wide-ranging experience with CEQA in the land use context. He has reviewed and drafted CEQA documents for numerous lead agencies, including Negative Declarations, Mitigated Negative Declarations, Environmental Impact Reports (“EIRs”), Subsequent and Supplemental EIRs and Addenda to EIRs, Statements of Overriding Considerations and findings, as well as accompanying legislation.

In addition to his experience with land use practice, Peter also has extensive experience negotiating and drafting legal instruments related to both acquisition and disposition of real property for California public agencies, as well as managing outside counsel handling real estate transactions on behalf of his clients. He has had primary responsibility for transactions ranging from utility easements and single parcels to complex developments that involve multi-party, multi-parcel and multi-phased developments. Peter has negotiated, reviewed and drafted real estate acquisition, development, disposition, financing and leasing documents (including Purchase and Sale Agreements, Option and Purchase Agreements, Development Agreements and Disposition and Development Agreements) for redevelopment agencies, municipalities and other public entities. He also drafts numerous lease agreements, rights of entry, encroachment permits and licenses.

As a former in-house City Attorney, Peter also has years of experience in Public Administration and as a general municipal practitioner. He has an extensive background in administrative procedure (the Ralph M. Brown Act, Public Records Act), ethics laws (the Political Reform Act, Government Code 1090), issues of municipal structure, statutory and constitutional limitations on municipal authority, and First Amendment issues. Peter has provided counsel and substantial advisory memoranda on elections law, ballots, initiatives and referenda, election contests, recall, and campaign regulations. 

Prior to joining Ragghianti Freitas, Peter worked as a City Attorney to several California municipalities, serving as Senior Deputy City Attorney in Land Use to the City of Oakland from 2017-2018, and as a Deputy City Attorney for the City of Napa from 2008-2017, providing daily procedural and transactional advice on a wide array of matters including land use, contracting, public records, conflicts of interest and elections. Peter previously worked as an associate at Meyers Nave in Oakland, where he advised cities, redevelopment agencies, special districts and other public agencies on a range of issues.