June 2013

Judging by all the recent articles and blog posts written about it, many commenters believe the Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Taxpayers For Accountable School Bond Spending v. San Diego Unified School Dist. (“Taxpayers”) (4th Dist 2013) 215 Cal.App.4th 1013 has broken (or at least replowed) significant legal ground and created serious new problems for local agencies and project developers by reinstituting a former CEQA requirement that a project’s impacts on “parking” be analyzed. 
Continue Reading Is “Parking” Really A CEQA Impact? Same As It Ever Was!

In a partially-published opinion, the Fifth District Court of Appeal held that the Merced County Planning Commission’s failure to mention in its posted agenda that it was considering adoption of a mitigated negative declaration (MND) in connection with a minor subdivision approval violated the Brown Act.  (San Joaquin Raptor Rescue Center v. County of Merced, et al. (5th Dist. 5/31/13) 216 Cal.App.4th 1167.  Key points of the published portion of the opinion include:
Continue Reading CEQA Determination Is Item of Business That Must Be Agendized Under Brown Act, Fifth District Holds

In a lengthy published opinion filed May 21, 2013, the First District Court of Appeal reversed a judgment granting a writ of mandate and upheld as legally adequate under CEQA the Marin Municipal Water District’s EIR for development and construction of a desalination plant in Marin County.  (North Coast Rivers Alliance, et al. v. Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors (1st Dist., Div. 4, 2013) 216 Cal.App.4th 614.  The Court rejected Petitioner North Coast Rivers Alliance’s (Alliance) challenges to the adequacy of the EIR’s analysis of the project’s aesthetic, land use, seismic, hydrology, water quality, biological resources, and cumulative GHG impacts, as well as its challenges to the EIR’s environmental setting description of baseline physical conditions and alleging that various of its mitigation measures were improperly deferred.  In light of its reversal of the judgment, the Court dismissed the District’s related appeal of a post-judgment order awarding attorneys’ fees to Alliance as moot.
Continue Reading CEQA School In Session: First District Reverses Judgment Invalidating EIR for Desalination Plant Project In North Coast Rivers Alliance