In Rominger v. County of Colusa, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 813, the Court of Appeal for the Third District overturned the trial court and held a proposed subdivision approved by Colusa County was a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), even though the proposal did not include any specific plans for development.
Exemptions
Ninth Circuit Makes Key Permit Streamlining Act Ruling for Conditional Use Permit Applicants
In American Tower Corporation v. City of San Diego, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 15641, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the City of San Diego’s (City) denial of three conditional use permits (CUP) for three cell tower facilities owned and operated by American Tower Corporation. The court reversed in part and affirmed in …
Renewal of Interim Water Contracts Exempt from CEQA Review
In North Coast Rivers Alliance v. Westlands Water District, (2014) Cal. App. LEXIS 590, the Court of Appeal for the Fifth District upheld the trial court’s denial of a petition for a writ of mandate challenging the renewal of interim water contracts between the Bureau of Reclamation (the Bureau) and Westlands Water District along…
Appellate Court Upholds CEQA Exemption for New Fiber-Optic Cable Utility Boxes in San Francisco
In an unpublished decision in San Francisco Beautiful v. City and County of San Francisco, 2014 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 3108, the First District Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of a writ of mandate challenging the City and County of San Francisco’s decision to approve AT&T’s installation of 726 metal utility boxes without…
Appellate Court Upholds CEQA Exemption for Rodeo at Santa Cruz County Fairground
In Citizens for Environmental Responsibility v. State ex rel. 14th District Agricultural Association, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 283, the Court of Appeal, Third District, affirmed the trial court’s determination that a rodeo at the Santa Cruz County Fairground (the Fairground) meets CEQA’s Class 23 categorical exemption for “normal operations of existing facilities for public…
CEQA Challenge Barred by 35-Day Statute of Limitations for Categorically Exempt Infill Project
In an unpublished decision, Friends of the Landmark Filbert Cottages v. City and County of San Francisco, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 564, the First District Court of Appeal rejected a CEQA challenge to an infill project near San Francisco’s Russian Hill. The court applied CEQA’s 35-day statute of limitations and affirmed that the public…
ANOTHER LOSS FOR THE PLASTIC BAG
Following the overwhelming majority of courts that have upheld local laws regulating plastic bags, California’s First District Court of Appeal unanimously upheld San Francisco’s ban on plastic bags in Save the Plastic Bag Coalition v. City and County of San Francisco (2013) 222 Cal.App.4th 863. The court found that the city complied with CEQA in…
Plastic Bag Coalition Unable to Litigate its Way Out of a Paper (or Cloth) Bag
In Save the Plastic Bag Coalition v. County of Marin, 2013 Cal. App. LEXIS 588, the Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District affirmed denial of a petition for writ of mandate challenging a county’s adoption of an ordinance banning single-use plastic bags.
In January of 2011, the Marin County Board of Supervisors (“Board”)…
CEQA Challenge Barred by 30-Day Statute of Limitations Based on Exemption Not Asserted in Notice of Exemption
In May v. City of Milpitas, 2013 Cal. App. LEXIS 557, the Court of Appeal for the Sixth Appellate District held that a 30-day statute of limitations in Government Code section 65457 barred a CEQA challenge for which a Notice of Exemption (“NOE”) had been filed. NOE’s typically trigger a 35-day statute of limitations; however,…
Put on Your Dancing Shoes – Restaurant & Nightclub to Open Soon in Manhattan Beach
In Coastal Defender v. City of Manhattan Beach (Dec. 6, 2012) 2012 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 8919, the Second District Court of Appeal issued an unpublished decision upholding the trial court’s determination that the City of Manhattan Beach correctly concluded a proposed renovation of a restaurant and nightclub was exempt from the California Environmental Quality…