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CEQA Developments
CEQA, Sausages, And The Art of The Possible: A Closer Look at SB 743’s General CEQA Reform Provisions
In a flurry of eleventh-hour activity following Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg’s withdrawal of SB 731 from consideration (see 9/13/13 post “Steinberg Drops Statewide CEQA Reform Bill (SB 731)…
CEQA Developments
Steinberg Drops Statewide CEQA Reform Bill (SB 731) After Meeting With Governor Brown
Proposed legislative CEQA reform for 2013 has gone out, not with a bang, but with a … dribble? After meeting with Governor Brown, on September 11, 2013, Senator Darrell Steinberg…
CEQA Developments
Third District Holds CEQA Analysis of GHG Emissions Was Inadequately Quantified To Support EIR’s Mitigation Conclusion in Friends of Oroville
In a partially published opinion filed August 19, 2013, the Third District Court of Appeal reversed a judgment denying a writ petition challenging a Wal-MartSupercenterthat would replace an existing Wal-Mart…
CEQA Developments
Depublication Of Fifth District CEQA Decision Creating Conflict On Common Interest Doctrine Sought By Infill Builders
While Real Party in Interest Wal-Mart Stores did not elect to seek California Supreme Court’s review of the Fifth District’s controversial decision in Citizens for Ceres v. Superior Court (2013)…
CEQA Developments
Adoption of CEQA Thresholds of Significance Is Not A CEQA “Project,” First District Holds In Reinstating BAAQMD’s 2010 Air Quality Guidelines
In a published opinion filed August 13, 2013, the First District Court of Appeal, Division Five, reversed a trial court judgment that had invalidated the Bay Area Quality Management District’s…
CEQA Developments
High Court Tackles CEQA Future Baselines In Neighbors For Smart Rail Decision
In a much-anticipated decision filed August 5, 2013, the California Supreme Court held that CEQA requires a lead agency to assess a project’s environmental impacts against an “existing conditions” baseline…
CEQA Developments
First District Holds CEQA Categorical Exemptions For Regulatory Agency Actions To Protect The Environment Apply To Marin County’s Plastic Bag Ban Ordinance, Recognizes Case Law Split On Standard Of Review For Exceptions
After years of study, Marin County adopted an Ordinance in 2011 banning single-use plastic bags and mandating a 5-cent fee on single-use paper bags; the ordinance applies to roughly 40…
CEQA Developments
First District Publishes Significant CEQA Decision On Legal Feasibility Of Mitigation For Prime Farmland Losses In Masonite Corporation v. County Of Mendocino
In a partially-published opinion filed July 25, 2013, the First District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s judgment denying a writ petition with directions that the County of Mendocino prepare…
CEQA Developments
Sixth District Holds CEQA Action Barred By 30-Day Statute of Limitations of Government Code Section 65457 Despite City’s Filing of Notice of Exemption
A recent Sixth District Court of Appeal decision serves as a pointed reminder to practitioners that CEQA exemptions and limitations periods are not always neatly grouped within those statutory provisions…
CEQA Developments
CARB Violated CEQA In Adopting GHG Regulations, But Fifth District Holds Regulations May Remain Operative Pending Compliance
In a mostly-published 95-page opinion filed July 15, 2013, the Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court’s judgment and directed issuance of a writ of mandate setting aside Resolution…