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CEQA Developments
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CEQA Developments
Judicial CEQA Reform On Supreme Court’s Docket In Coming Year?
Few would dispute that the California Supreme Court has played a leading role in judicial CEQA reform in recent years. It has clarified the law on the operation of CEQA’s…
CEQA Developments
Supreme Court Will Review “CEQA-In-Reverse” Issue In CBIA Case Challenging 2010 BAAQMD Air Quality Guidelines
On November 26, 2013, the California Supreme Court by unanimous vote granted review of a fundamental legal issue that repeatedly has surfaced in recent years in both published appellate opinions…
CEQA Developments
All About “Commitment”: CEQA Review is Not Triggered By Orange County’s AB 900 Application For State Funding To Expand Existing Jail Facility, Which Was Not A Project Approval
In a decision recently ordered published, the Fourth District Court of Appeal added to the growing progeny of Save Tara, and affirmed the trial court’s judgment denying the City of…
CEQA Developments
First District Rejects CEQA Challenge To City of Napa’s Reliance On Prior General Plan EIR For Housing Element Update Project
The EIR has long been the judicially-proclaimed “heart of CEQA” because it represents the culmination of the statute’s environmentally-protective purposes and objectives. Yet the legal “expiration date” for the document…
CEQA Developments
Third District Holds CEQA Does Not Require Recirculation Based On Staff-Recommended Alternative Raised After Preparation of Final EIR
In a recent decision extensively analyzing and applying CEQA’s rules on alternatives analysis, recirculation, and a petitioner’s burden to show agency error, the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the…
CEQA Developments
CEQA Standing and Exhaustion Rules Applied In Action Challenging City of San Jose’s General Plan Update
The Sixth District Court of Appeal, in a published decision filed September 30, 2013, reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant City of San Jose in an…
CEQA Developments
“The Year in CEQA: A Look Back”
My October 31 presentation with David Ivester for the Bay Planning Coalition on recent CEQA developments brought home the fact that while there has been only partial and incremental legislative…
CEQA Developments
Depublication of Controversial CEQA Common Interest Case Denied by Supreme Court, Leaving Troublesome Split of Authority
On October 16, 2013, 60 days after the request was submitted, the California Supreme Court denied Infill Builders’ request to depublish Citizens for Ceres v. Superior Court (5th Dist. 2013)…
CEQA Developments
Plaintiff’s Failure to Request CEQA Hearing Within 90 Days of Filing Petition Due to Lead Attorney’s “Excusable” Calendaring Error Warrants Discretionary Relief Under CCP § 473, Holds Second District
The important legislative policy of expediting CEQA litigation sometimes inevitably conflicts with the policy favoring resolution of cases on their merits. This conflict is never more sharp than when a…
CEQA Developments
Recent CEQA Developments In The Legislature And Courts
As we move past summer, into fall, the “back-to-school,” and football seasons, and toward daylight savings time – and a possible shutdown of the federal government – it is time…