Highlights for this update include the three firsts on the climate change front: (1) adoption of CEQA guidelines for the quantification and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions (“GHG”), (2) the adoption of the first thresholds of significance for GHG, and (3) the first appellate court case finding an Environmental Impact Report’s (“EIR”) analysis of GHG inadequate.
Continue Reading 2010 MID-YEAR CEQA UPDATE
Limited Discretion Related to Aesthetics did not Trigger Need for Supplemental EIR on Climate Change Impacts
The City of San Diego was not required to conduct supplemental environmental review on the issue of climate change, where the only discretionary action was limited to the aesthetics of the project.
Continue Reading Limited Discretion Related to Aesthetics did not Trigger Need for Supplemental EIR on Climate Change Impacts
Basin Plan Amendments Addressing Impairments for Salt, Boron and Dissolved Oxygen are Valid
Regional Board TMDLs for Salt/Boron and Dissolved Oxygen Upheld by Third Appellate District.
Continue Reading Basin Plan Amendments Addressing Impairments for Salt, Boron and Dissolved Oxygen are Valid
The Long Life of CEQA Mitigation Measures
By William W. Abbott
The shelf life of mitigation measures may readily outlast the lives of the projects to which they are attached, according to the First Appellate District. While the fact pattern is specific to timber harvesting and later conversion, the holding has application in the broader world of all CEQA practice.Continue Reading The Long Life of CEQA Mitigation Measures
Court Affirms Range of City Impact Fees Based Upon a General Description of Facilities; Puts Out the Flame for Fire Impact Fees
Court affirms range of city impact fees based upon a general description of facilities; puts out the flame for fire impact fees applied to a largely developed portion of the City for improvements previously paid for by the City.
Continue Reading Court Affirms Range of City Impact Fees Based Upon a General Description of Facilities; Puts Out the Flame for Fire Impact Fees
Put a Lid on It: EIR for Open Air Human Waste Composting Facility Held Invalid
The California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) (“CEQA”) provides that the purpose of an environmental impact report (“EIR”) is “to provide public agencies and the public in general with detailed information about the effect which a proposed project is likely to have on the environment.” (Pub. Resources Code, § 21061.) In Center for Biological Diversity v. County of San Bernardino (2010) __ Cal.App.4th __, the court found that an EIR for a proposed open-air composting facility did not satisfy the informational purposes of an EIR in relation to air quality alternatives and water supply
Continue Reading Put a Lid on It: EIR for Open Air Human Waste Composting Facility Held Invalid
Article XXXIV Voter Requirements Inapplicable to Senior Housing Project Owned by a City Formed Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation
Use of redevelopment funds by a city formed non-profit to acquire and develop school administrative buildings and a senior housing project with units reserved for 16 percent low and very moderate income residents was a valid use of redevelopment funds and did not require an Article XXXIV voter approval.
Continue Reading Article XXXIV Voter Requirements Inapplicable to Senior Housing Project Owned by a City Formed Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation
898,000 Metric Tons of Unmitigated CO2: Prime Conditions for the First Appellate Court Decision on CEQA and Climate Change
In the first ever appellate court decision regarding CEQA and climate change, the First District Court of Appeal held the future development of a plan for greenhouse gas mitigation constitutes deferred mitigation. The Court also found the project description inadequate for failure to adequately describe whether the project would result in the refinery processing heavier crude because the EIR was internally inconsistent as well as inconsistent with other documents discussing the project.
Continue Reading 898,000 Metric Tons of Unmitigated CO2: Prime Conditions for the First Appellate Court Decision on CEQA and Climate Change
City’s New General Plan is not Cleared for Take-off, Returns to Base and is Grounded: Court Sets Aside Watsonville General Plan for Non Compliance with State Aeronautical Act and CEQA Requirements
An appellate court sets aside a newly adopted general plan on grounds of incompatibility with the State Aeronautics Act, and on the basis of failure to consider a lower growth alternative in the EIR.
It has long been said that the general plan is the constitution for development and growth. In reality, the general plan has, on a selected basis, been subverted to other special planning purposes such as coastal planning, preservation of San Francisco Bay and Lake Tahoe and, as in the subject to this article, airport planning.
Continue Reading City’s New General Plan is not Cleared for Take-off, Returns to Base and is Grounded: Court Sets Aside Watsonville General Plan for Non Compliance with State Aeronautical Act and CEQA Requirements
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