CEQA

Subscribe to CEQA via RSS

by William W. Abbott and Janell M. Bogue

Properly administered impact fee programs can operate to streamline CEQA review of later development projects. At the same time, impact fee programs which are not implemented in accordance with the original expectations or which are founded upon unrealistic assumptions may offer the lead agency and affected applicant little or no real relief. Significant cases decided over the last five years illustrate how this can play out.
Continue Reading Impact Fee Programs as Effective Tools for CEQA Mitigation: An Update

by Elias E. Guzman

In a San Diego court, a petitioner recently argued that it failed to file its opening brief because the City held the administrative record for “ransom.” Yes, ransom. Well, in the world of administrative writ actions, there are two absolutes regarding the preparation of the administrative record. Someone has to prepare it and someone has to pay for it.
Continue Reading City Holds Administrative Record for Ransom?

by William W. Abbott Although never verified as the source, Mark Twain is considered the originator of the quote “whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.” Had he lived until the enactment of CEQA, perhaps he would have added something to his saying. As land use practitioners know, the water supply/CEQA/Subdivision Map Act interface has raised the bar in terms of what it takes for large development projects to move forward. A repeated challenge in this area is the dichotomy between theoretical water deliveries by the state and federal water contractors and actual deliveries, the difference commonly referred to as “paper water.” As readers of this newsletter may remember, a development project EIR analysis of water supply which concludes that adequate water exists based upon paper water is likely to be set aside by a reviewing court (see the March 2003 Abbott & Kindermann article on Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment v. County of Los Angeles). This has been the trend in a number of court decisions going back to at least the year 2000. Jump forward to 2005, and the water supply challenge is neither fixed nor improving, and EIRs are still being successfully challenged.
Continue Reading Paper Water and Project Approval

The Supreme Court granted review in this case on January 25, 2006, and the opinion below is no longer citable. See Abbott & Kindermann Land Use Law Blog article for a discussion of the Supreme Court opinion. by Elias E. Guzman and Janell M. Bogue CALFED is an unprecedented collaboration among 18 state and federal agencies and the state’s leading urban, agricultural, and environmental interests. The ultimate goal is to develop a long-term, comprehensive plan that will restore ecological health and improve water management for beneficial uses of the Bay-Delta system, the intricate waterways created at the junction of the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and the watersheds that feed them. After many years of study and analysis, CALFED adopted a program to be administered over the next 30 years. The program includes measures designed to improve the Bay-Delta ecosystem, water quality and quantity, and Delta levee stability. On August 28, 2000, the final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (PEIS/R) was certified and CALFED adopted the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Program in accordance with NEPA and CEQA.
Continue Reading Programmatic EIRs Still Require Details and Analysis to be Found Sufficient

On the bright side, we have learned that there is one more local agency action exempt from CEQA. In Citizens to Enforce CEQA v. City of Rohnert Park (2005) 131 Cal.App.4th 1594, an MOU entered into between the City of Rohnert Park and a local tribe, the subject of which was a funding agreement to…

by Elias E. Guzman

In Endangered Habitats League v. County of Orange (2005) 131 Cal.App.4th 777, an appellate court determined that project approvals and findings must be consistent with a county’s general plan. The court also found that an environmental impact report (“EIR”) must provide sufficient information to the lead agency in order to make an informed decision.
Continue Reading General Plan Consistency and EIR Sufficiency

by William W. Abbott and Janell M. Bogue

It can safely be said that CEQA has gone to the dogs. In Lighthouse Field Beach Rescue v. City of Santa Cruz (2005) 131 Cal.App.4th 1170, we learn that failure to document the possibilities for changes in what most of us understand to be normal canine behavior may be the basis to invalidate an initial study, and in turn, a negative declaration.
Continue Reading See Spot Write an Expanded Initial Study