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In an unpublished opinion, Cal. Clean Energy Comm. V. County of Placer, 2015 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 9360, the Third Appellate District granted California Clean Energy Committee’s (Clean Energy) petition for writ of mandate challenging the County of Placer’s (County) approval of a proposal to expand an existing ski resort on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe.

Real Party in Interest, Homewood Village Resorts, LLC, proposed improvements to the Homewood Mountain Resort (Project), which would include: the redevelopment of the “North Base” for mixed-use; the “South Base” for residences; and the “Mid-Mountain area” for a lodge and beginner ski area. After a comprehensive Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process, the County Board of Supervisors approved the Project and certified the EIR. The County concluded that the Project’s social and economic “benefits outweigh the Project’s significant and unmitigated adverse impacts,” and “the adverse environmental impacts of the Project that are not fully mitigated are acceptable.” On review, the trial court issued a written ruling concluding the General Plan substantially complied with the statutory mandate to “address” wildfire evacuation routes; the County had broad discretion to determine the appropriate “threshold” for evaluating environmental impacts; and substantial evidence supported the County’s findings.

On appeal, Clean Energy contended that the County’s approval of the Project involved defects in the Placer County General Plan (General Plan) in violation of the Planning and Zoning laws (Gov. Code, § 65000 et seq.), because the General Plan does not “address evacuation routes” for the Project area, a high-risk wildlife area, as required by Government Code, Section 65302. Clean Energy also contended that the County violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) because the EIR for the Project failed to consider: (1) increased wildfire evacuation risks; (2) energy impacts for expanded snowmaking; (3) other energy impacts; (4) world travel impacts; and (5) because the evidence is insufficient to support the findings of infeasibility of carbon offsets and rail packages as climate disruption mitigation measures.

The Court first addressed alleged procedural defects in Clean Energy’s General Plan claims, concluding that Clean Energy’s Subdivision Map Act claim was neither forfeited nor barred by any statute of limitations. The Court then found that even though Clean Energy did not file a direct attack on the General Plan within the specified time period after its approval, Clean Energy had filed a timely lawsuit challenging the Board’s approval of a specific project; there was a nexus between the Project and General Plan to address contentions related to wildfire evacuation routes. Turning to Clean Energy’s substantive claim that the General Plan failed to “address” wildlife evacuation routes as required by Government Code, Section 65302, subdivision (g)(1), the Court applied a deferential standard of review and rejected Clean Energy’s argument. The Court concluded that the County’s General Plan is in substantial compliance with the former Government Code, Section 65302, subdivision (g) requirement to “address evacuation routes” related to “identified fire hazards.”

The Court then turned to Clean Energy’s CEQA claims. Clean Energy argued that the EIR failed to evaluate both components of wildlife evacuation risk – evacuation by residents, workers, and visitors, and the impact of that evacuation on access by emergency entities responding to wildfire. The Court concluded the EIR failed to adequately identify, describe, and analyze the wildfire evacuation risk associated with residents, workers, and visitors fleeing the area and the impact that evacuation will have on emergency response access.   The court explained that the EIR too narrowly focused the public safety discussion on emergency vehicle access, but even then, did so without discussing how emergency responders could share the same inadequate roads with vehicles occupied by residents, workers, and visitors evacuating the area.

Next, the Court rejected Clean Energy’s remaining CEQA claims involving energy impacts, world travel impacts, and climate impacts because Clean Energy failed to establish that any of those arguments are grounds for reversal. Specifically, the Court found that Clean Energy failed to exhaust on its claims related to transportation and equipment energy impacts, renewable energy resources, worldwide tourism impacts, and climate disruption mitigation. The Court rejected Clean Energy’s remaining energy claims and found that the EIR’s treatment of energy impacts complied with CEQA.

The Court reversed the judgment based on Clean Energy’s wildfire evacuation hazard CEQA claim and remanded the matter to the trial court with directions to enter a new judgment granting the petition for writ of mandate.

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