Blog
CEQA Developments
By Miller Starr Regalia Visit the blog
517 published works
CEQA Developments
Residential Project Exempt From CEQA Review Under Government Code Section 65457 As Consistent With Specific Plan For Which Program EIR Previously Certified; First District Also Holds New GHG Thresholds Do Not Constitute “New Information” Requiring Supplemental EIR For Specific Plan
In a recently published opinion construing Government Code § 65457’s exemption from environmental review for a residential development consistent with a specific plan for which an EIR was previously certified,…
CEQA Developments
AB 900 CEQA Reform Law Partially Struck Down
Ruling from the bench at a March 29, 2013 hearing, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch found a key provision of an ambitious CEQA reform law championed by Senator Darrell…
CEQA Developments
Spring CEQA Roundup
Spring is here, and it seems the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government have all been busy trying to “clean up” CEQA and related areas of the law in…
CEQA Developments
Second District Rejects CEQA Challenge To EIR for Riverbed Sand And Gravel Mining Project, Upholds Santa Barbara County’s Discretion to Formulate Project-Specific Threshold of Significance, and Finds EIR’s Erroneous “Not Significant” Conclusion Nonprejudicial
The Second District Court of Appeal upheld the County of Santa Barbara’s Final Revised Environmental Impact Report for a 30-year conditional use permit (CUP) for the Diamond Rock mine project. …
CEQA Developments
“Bare-Bones” CEQA Reform Bill (SB 731) Introduced By Senator Steinberg; Senator Evans Proposes Legislation to Further Expand CEQA
On February 22, 2013, Senator President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg introduced SB 731, a bill the Senator’s website press release described as “outlining the detailed intent that strengthens [CEQA’s] protection…
CEQA Developments
Supreme Court Will Review CEQA Decision From Fifth District In Wal-Mart Citizen Initiative Case
After receiving three separate petitions for review, including petitions from real parties Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and the City of Sonora, the California Supreme Court voted unanimously on February 13, 2013…
CEQA Developments
Perfect Storm for CEQA Reform In 2013? Former Govs Weigh In
Hot on the heels of Governor Jerry Brown’s 2013 State of the State address, which raised the need for CEQA reform (as noted in my immediately-preceding blog post), a trio…
CEQA Developments
CEQA Reform Goal Is Noted In Governor’s State of the State Address
In his 2013 State of the State address delivered on January 24, 2013, Governor Jerry Brown focused on education, health care, jobs, and the interrelated areas of climate change, water,…
CEQA Developments
Fourth District Applies CEQA’s “Murky” Piecemealing Tests To Reject “Project Definition” Challenge To Park Development in Banning Ranch Conservancy
Harmonizing CEQA’s rules and principles is, to say the least, not always easy, and is often quite challenging. The relevant concepts are often in tension, or are so malleable that…
CEQA Developments
Recent Cases Show How CEQA’s Applicability And Substantive EIR Requirements Are Determined By Meaningful Agency Discretion
It is a fundamental precept of CEQA that it applies only to the discretionary approval of a project. If an agency has no discretion to deny or shape the project…