In an unpublished decision, Citizens Advocating for Roblar Rural Community v. County of Sonoma, 2014 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 3393, the Court of Appeal for the First District reversed the trial court’s decision granting a petition for writ of mandate that challenged County certification of a final environmental impact report (EIR) and issuance of
Appellate Court Upholds County’s Authority to Require Deposit for Costs of Certifying Administrative Record After the Petitioner Elects to Prepare the Administrative Record
By Thomas Law Group on
Posted in Administrative Record
In an unpublished decision in Mt. Shasta Tomorrow v. County of Siskiyou 2014 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 3445, the Third Appellate District upheld a trial court’s decision affirming Siskiyou County’s authority to require a deposit for the estimated cost of certifying the administrative record and denying a waiver request by the petitioner for the costs…
You Can’t Abate if You Don’t Correlate: Appellate Court Finds EIR for Proposed Master-Planned Senior-Living Community Included Inadequate Analysis of Air Quality Impacts and Mitigation Measures
By Thomas Law Group on
Posted in Air Quality, Mitigation
In Sierra Club v. County of Fresno, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 459, the Court of Appeal for the Fifth Appellate District reversed and remanded the lower court’s denial of a petition for writ of mandate challenging the County’s adoption of a proposed master-planned community.
In February 2011, the County of Fresno certified the Environmental…
Superior Court Grants Attorney General Leave to Appear as Amicus Curiae in Support of Greenhouse Gas Analysis Prepared for Plan Bay Area
By Amy R. Higuera on
Posted in News
On May 16, 2014, in Bay Area Citizens v. Assn. of Bay Area Governments, et al (Case No. RG13690631), the Alameda County Superior Court granted an Ex Parte Application filed by the Attorney General on behalf of the People of the State of California to file an amicus curiae brief. In its amicus curiae brief,…
Appellate Court Upholds CEQA Exemption for New Fiber-Optic Cable Utility Boxes in San Francisco
By Amy R. Higuera on
In an unpublished decision in San Francisco Beautiful v. City and County of San Francisco, 2014 Cal.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…
Ninth Circuit Requires Bureau of Reclamation to Consult with USFWS to Protect Delta Smelt
By Thomas Law Group on
Posted in Endangered Species Act
In another decision related to California’s delta smelt, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a unanimous en banc decision in NRDC v. Jewell, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 7063, reversed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the defendants and held that Environmental Species Act (ESA) Section 7(a)(2) applies to the Bureau of…
Federal District Court Dismisses Environmental Challenges to Tahoe Regional Plan
By Thomas Law Group on
Posted in Planning and Zoning
In Sierra Club v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47871, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s (TRPA) motion for summary judgment and upheld TRPA’s 2012 Regional Plan Update (RPU).
The Regional Plan, which was adopted in 1987, governs land-use planning…
COURT FINDS PROGRAMMATIC EIR FOR RETAIL DEVELOPMENT INCLUDED INADQUATE ANALYSIS OF URBAN DECAY AND ENERGY IMPACTS
By Amy R. Higuera on
In California Clean Energy Committee v. City of Woodland, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 300, certified for partial publication on April 1, 2014, the Third District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s denial of a petition for writ of mandate to vacate the City of Woodland’s certification of an EIR for a regional shopping…
NINTH CIRCUIT REVERSES DISTRICT COURT AND UPHOLDS BIOLOGICAL OPINION PROTECTING ENDANGERED DELTA SMELT
By Thomas Law Group on
Posted in Endangered Species Act
In a decision that included three opinions from the three-judge panel, the Ninth Circuit in San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority v. Jewell, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 4781, reversed the district court’s decision and upheld a 2008 biological opinion prepared by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) regarding the effect of the Central…
Appellate Court Upholds CEQA Exemption for Rodeo at Santa Cruz County Fairground
By Thomas Law Group on
Posted in Exemptions
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…