Miller Starr Regalia

“Baseline” Basics: Second District Rejects CEQA Challenge To Hollywood Hotel Project MND Alleging Unanalyzed Human/Housing Displacement Impacts Because Plaintiffs Relied On Incorrect Environmental Baseline

By Arthur F. Coon on July 29, 2019

In an opinion originally filed June 28, and later certified for partial publication on July 22, 2019 (upon the request of the California Building Industry Association), the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a judgment denying a CEQA writ petition challenging a project converting a vacant former apartment building into a boutique hotel in Los Angeles’ Hollywood area. Hollywoodians Encouraging Rental Opportunities (HERO) v. City of Los Angeles et al. (Millennium Settlement Consulting/1850 North Cherokee,…

Land Use Developments

Court Rejects Land Use Consistency Challenge to Sacramento Mixed-Use Project Providing “Significant Community Benefits”

By Bryan W. Wenter, AICP on July 24, 2019

On July 18, 2019, in Sacramentans for Fair Planning v. City of Sacramento, __ Cal.App.5th __ (2019), the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court decision denying a “vertical” consistency challenge filed by “Sacramentans for Fair Planning” after the City of Sacramento approved a15-story “high-rise” condominium building—known as the “Yamanee” project—in the City’s Midtown area. The plaintiff group also challenged the City’s streamlined CEQA review of the project under a sustainable communities environmental…

CEQA Developments

Third District Upholds Sustainable Communities Environmental Assessment (SCEA) Used Instead Of Traditional CEQA Document To Approve High-Rise, High-Density Mixed-Use Condo Housing Project In Sacramento’s Midtown

By Arthur F. Coon on July 19, 2019

In a 30-page opinion originally filed July 3, and certified for publication on July 18, 2019, the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment denying a writ petition challenging, on zoning law and CEQA grounds, the City of Sacramento’s approval of a high-rise infill housing project in its midtown area. Sacramentans for Fair Planning v. City of Sacramento (2500 J Owners, LLC, Real Party in Interest) (2019) ___ Cal.App.5th ___. The project,…

CEQA Developments

CEQA Meets RICO: True Stories Of Extortion And Litigation Abuse In Tinseltown

By Arthur F. Coon on July 12, 2019

A lawsuit filed June 10, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for California’s Central District, and conspicuously reported on last month in Law360, takes dead aim at defendants who are alleged to have filed and threatened frivolous CEQA suits for the sole purpose of extorting monetary settlements – in this case, from plaintiffs alleging they are economically vulnerable Hollywood hotel project developers who were forced to capitulate to defendants’ extortionate demands.…

Land Use Developments

In Major Property Rights Decision, U.S. Supreme Court Rules That Property Owners May Sue in Federal Court Without Seeking a Just Compensation Remedy in State Court First

By Bryan W. Wenter, AICP on June 23, 2019

On June 21, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Knick v. Township of Scott, Pennsylvania, 588 U.S. __ (Case No. 17-647), a closely-watched property rights case that was argued first in October of 2018 and again in January of 2019 after Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the Court. Knick addressed the requirement, established in Williamson County Regional Planning Comm’n v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172 (1985), that property owners must…

CEQA Developments

The Curious Case of the EIR Without A “Project”: Third District Rejects CEQA, Statutory Challenges To DOGGR’s “Unique” S.B. 4-Mandated EIR Analyzing Statewide Fracking/Well Stimulation Impacts

By Arthur F. Coon on June 19, 2019

In a 38-page opinion filed on May 16, and belatedly ordered published on June 14, 2019, the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment rejecting all of plaintiff/appellant Center for Biological Diversity’s (“CBD”) CEQA and statutory challenges to the EIR that the California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (“DOGGR”) was required by S.B. 4 (Stats. 2013, ch. 13, § 2) to prepare “pursuant to [CEQA], to provide the…

CEQA Developments

Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument In CEQA Project Definition Case

By Arthur F. Coon on June 6, 2019

The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments in an important case we’ve been following involving CEQA’s definition of a “project” on the afternoon of June 4, 2019, and took the matter under submission. The case – Union of Medical Marijuana Patients v. City of San Diego (California Coastal Commission, Real Party in Interest), No. S238563 – involves a City of San Diego ordinance authorizing (as a new use in industrial/commercial zones) and restricting the location and…

CEQA Developments

Supreme Court Schedules Argument In CEQA Project Definition Case

By Arthur F. Coon on May 21, 2019

On May 15, 2019, the California Supreme Court announced it would hear oral argument in Union of Medical Marijuana Patients v. City of San Diego (California Coastal Commission), Case No. S238563, on June 4, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. in its Los Angeles courtroom. This is a long-awaited development as review was unanimously granted in this case on January 11, 2017, and the case was fully briefed by the parties in October 2017. My prior blog…

Land Use Developments

Court of Appeal Establishes Bright Line Rule That Pre-Application Inquiries and Meetings With City Staff Is Not “Current and Immediate Threat” for Valid Moratorium Ordinance

By Bryan W. Wenter, AICP on May 20, 2019

California law contains several critical limitations on the exercise of the police power conferred in Article XI, Section 7 of the state constitution. As set forth in Government Code section 65858, the moratorium statute allows cities and counties to adopt 45-day “interim ordinances” to prohibit land uses that may conflict with a contemplated general plan amendment or another land use proposal the legislative body is studying or intends to study within a reasonable period of…

CEQA Developments

Spring CEQA Notes – May 2019

By Arthur F. Coon on May 14, 2019

Save Lafayette Trees Litigation Update: The Beat Goes On We last posted on this decision (currently published as Save Lafayette Trees v. City of Lafayette (Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Real Party in Interest) (1st Dist. 2019) 32 Cal.App.5th 148) and its significant CEQA/Planning and Zoning Law statute of limitations holdings in my February 26, 2019 post, which can be found here. In that post, it was noted (among other things) that the Court’s…

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“Baseline” Basics: Second District Rejects CEQA Challenge To Hollywood Hotel Project MND Alleging Unanalyzed Human/Housing Displacement Impacts Because Plaintiffs Relied On Incorrect Environmental Baseline

Court Rejects Land Use Consistency Challenge to Sacramento Mixed-Use Project Providing “Significant Community Benefits”

Third District Upholds Sustainable Communities Environmental Assessment (SCEA) Used Instead Of Traditional CEQA Document To Approve High-Rise, High-Density Mixed-Use Condo Housing Project In Sacramento’s Midtown

CEQA Meets RICO: True Stories Of Extortion And Litigation Abuse In Tinseltown

In Major Property Rights Decision, U.S. Supreme Court Rules That Property Owners May Sue in Federal Court Without Seeking a Just Compensation Remedy in State Court First

The Curious Case of the EIR Without A “Project”: Third District Rejects CEQA, Statutory Challenges To DOGGR’s “Unique” S.B. 4-Mandated EIR Analyzing Statewide Fracking/Well Stimulation Impacts

Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument In CEQA Project Definition Case

Supreme Court Schedules Argument In CEQA Project Definition Case

Court of Appeal Establishes Bright Line Rule That Pre-Application Inquiries and Meetings With City Staff Is Not “Current and Immediate Threat” for Valid Moratorium Ordinance

Spring CEQA Notes – May 2019

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