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Court Upholds Use Of Post Emergency Construction Conditions As Baseline For Project Description

By William W. Abbott

CREED-21 v. City of San Diego (2015) 234 Cal. App.4th 488.

As reflected in the recent decision in CREED-21 v. City of San Diego, a lead agency can validly “reset” the baseline for CEQA analysis to the post-emergency condition, even in circumstances in which the lead agency had previously considered undertaking the construction and post-construction work in non-emergency conditions.Continue Reading Appellate Court Harmonizes “Its All About That Bass” (Baseline That Is)

By Katherine J. Hart

Friends of the Kings River v. County of Fresno (2014) 232 Cal.App.4th 105.

In the most recent CEQA case out of California’s Fifth Appellate District, the court of appeal upheld an EIR certified by the County of Fresno (County) as well as the County’s approvals of a use permit, site plan and reclamation plan for a large mining project.Continue Reading County’s Approval of 100 Year Mining Project and EIR Upheld by Fifth DCA

By William W. Abbott

Sierra Club v. County of San Diego (2014) 231 Cal.App.4th 1152.

As with many cities and counties updating their general plans, the County of San Diego committed to adopting a climate action strategy. This commitment was formulated in 2011 as part of the county’s general plan update, based upon a program EIR (PEIR). In 2012, county staff advanced a Climate Action Plan (CAP) along with suggested thresholds of significance which would apply to the processing of later projects. The county relied upon an addendum to its 2011 general plan PEIR. The Sierra Club sued. The trial court agreed that the county had violated CEQA. The county appealed and the appellate court affirmed that the county violated CEQA. Where did the county go wrong?Continue Reading Make No Grand (General) Plans

By William W. Abbott

Paulek v. Department of Water Resources (2014) 231 Cal.App.4th 35.

It is a subtle shade of grey which separates a generalized comment on a project from an objection sufficient to support a later CEQA lawsuit. The California Department of Water Resources crafted this distinction in a case involving a CEQA challenge to a dam remediation project at Perris Lake, located within the Lake Perris State Recreation Area. The project included the following components: remediation of structural deficiencies; replacement of the existing outlet tower; and construction of an emergency outlet extension. In response to comments on the DEIR, the lead agency separated out the emergency outlet extension for separate CEQA review. In response to the CEQA lawsuit, the state (as the lead agency) argued that petitioner Paulek had only posed questions regarding the project, but had not “objected” to the project as required by Public Resources Code section 21177 and therefore, lacked standing to pursue a CEQA claim. Reviewing the transcript and comments, the court of appeal concluded that a question could readily be understood as an objection, as would questioning of the lead agency which inquired as to whether a project would achieve its objectives. On the latter point, the appellate court held this was part of the CEQA process as CEQA requires a balancing of interests. [Comment: in practical terms, this case affirms the widely held belief that it is not difficult for a potential CEQA petitioner to satisfy the obligation to object to the project as a condition precedent to bringing a CEQA claim.]Continue Reading Objector’s Questioning Of Project Sufficient To Meet The Standing Requirement To Bring a CEQA Claim. Separating Out A Portion of the Original Project For Separate Environmental Review Did Not Result In Impermissible Project Splitting.

Cleveland National Forest Foundation v. San Diego Association of Governments (November 24, 2014, D063288) ___ Cal.App.4th ___.

By William W. Abbott

In the first published decision to review a metropolitan planning organization’s Sustainable Communities Strategy, the Fourth Appellate District invalidated the EIR. This is a decision with potentially significant ramifications for many other EIRs as well. Continue Reading Court Affirms Inadequacy Of Programmatic EIR for SANDAG’s Sustainable Communities Plan, rejecting Alternatives and Lack Of Meaningful Mitigation Measures

By William W. Abbott

San Francisco Tomorrow v. City and County of San Francisco (2014) 229 Cal.App.4th 498

Are general plan policies adopted by the citizens through an initiative, entitled to special consideration for purposes of determining consistency of projects with the general plan? Faced with that question in the context of planning policies adopted nearly 30 years ago in San Francisco, the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, declined to elevate the legal significance of citizen crafted measures as compared to other regulatory requirements adopted through traditional means. Approximately 30 years ago, the voters in San Francisco adopted new land use requirements. Jumping ahead three decades, the court of appeal had to resolve whether a major private redevelopment undertaking was consistent with the relevant city regulations and policies, including those adopted by the voters.Continue Reading Court Of Appeal Applies Traditional Deferential Standard Of Review To Questions Of General Plan And Consistency Determinations Including Requirements Enacted By The Local Voters

By William W. Abbott

Picayune Rancheria v. Brown (September 24, 2014, C074506) ___ Cal.App.4th ___.

Practitioners are familiar with the incredible breadth in the applicability of CEQA to numerous governmental agency actions. Agencies have been admonished by the California Supreme Court against early commitments to projects in advance of environmental review (Save Tara …

 By William W. Abbott, Diane Kindermann, Katherine J. Hart, Glen Hansen and Brian Russell

Welcome to Abbott & Kindermann’s 2014 3rd Quarter CEQA update, cumulative for the year. The newer decisions are highlighted in bold font. Although the Supreme Court issued its decision on limitations and CEQA (Tuolumne Jobs & Small Business Alliance v The Superior Court), the court granted preview in another CEQA case, resetting again the number of CEQA cases pending at the court at six. Among other decisions, the appellate court concluded that the Governor was not subject to CEQA on certain tribal gaming decisions (Picayune Rancheria v. Brown), parsed another negative declaration finding only one flaw (Rominger v. County of Colusa), and addressed an important litigation question as to when the agency can recover record-related litigation costs (Coalition for Adequate Review v. City and County of San Francisco). To read the prior year cumulative CEQA review, click here: 2013

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE COMPLETE 2014 3RD QUARTER CEQA UPDATE.

Continue Reading 2014 CEQA 3rd QUARTER REVIEW