On September 4, 2014, the Court of Appeal for the Fifth District granted a request to publish an additional portion of the recent case San Francisco Tomorrow v. City & County of San Francisco, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 800. The previously published opinion affirmed the City and County of San Francisco’s approval of a redevelopment project near Lake Merced in southwest San Francisco. The court held the San Francisco General Plan contained adequate information regarding population density and building intensity for the project and the project was approved with adequate notice. The court also held that the trial court did not err by including transcripts of hearings in the administrative record that were not considered by the Board of Supervisors prior to certification of the EIR.  

In the newly published portion of the opinion, the court addressed Petitioners’ argument that the project was not consistent with the priority policies in the General Plan. Petitioners contended that the City was required to make detailed findings of consistency with the General Plan, rather than the general compatibility findings relied on by the City. The court rejected Petitioners’ argument and held that such specificity was not required.  According to the court, the City’s municipal code allowed the City to weigh and balance priority policies and the City did not abuse its discretion in determining the project was consistent with the General Plan. 

A complete summary of the case is available here: https://thomaslaw455.wpengine.com/appellate-court-rejects-challenges-redevelopment-project-san-francisco-neighborhood/.