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CEQA
1,307 published works
CEQA Developments
Fifth District Holds Project to Develop New “Produced Water” Injection Wells in Pre-CEQA Oil Field Operating Since 1950’s Is Not Statutorily Or Categorically Exempt
In an opinion filed on September 17, and later ordered published on October 15, 2026, the Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed a judgment granting a writ of ordinary mandamus ordering the…
CEQA Developments
Sixth District Holds Project Proposing “Typically Ministerial” Lot Line Adjustment Is Not Exempt From CEQA When Coupled With Agency’s Discretionary Acceptance of Property Dedication for New Public Street
In an opinion filed September 3, and later certified for publication on October 5, 2026, the Sixth District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s judgment denying a writ petition challenging the…
Fennemore
Use, Not Risk: California Supreme Court Clarifies CEQA’s Class 1 Exemption
By Fennemore
Sunflower Alliance v. Department of Conservation et al., Reabold California, LLC, Real Party in Interest and Appellant, was decided by the California Supreme Court on June 25, 2026. The Court…
CEQA Developments
Fourth District Voids Laguna Beach’s Negative Declaration and Historic Resources Element Amendment, Holds CEQA Required EIR or MND Due to Amendment’s Blanket Removal of Protections for Presumptive Historic Resources Listed In 1981 Local Inventory
In an opinion filed on August 31, and later ordered published on September 22, 2026, the Fourth District Court of Appeal (Div. 3) reversed the judgment of the Orange County…
Coblentz Law
2026 Housing Legislation: Highlights for Developers
The 2026 California legislative season lacked the blockbuster land use legislation that made headlines in 2025, but still delivered a number of meaningful changes for housing developers. This post focuses…
California Appellate Report
Steer v. Town of Los Gatos (Cal. Ct. App. – Oct. 6, 2026)
By Shaun Martin
Multimillionaire neighbors in Los Gatos using California environmental statutes to delay their neighbor from building a home on a vacant lot next to theirs.It doesn't work in the trial court,…
CEQA Developments
CEQA Reform Role Reversal? SB 958 and SB 344 Illustrate How the Legislature Has Stepped Up to Provide CEQA Reform When the Courts Won’t
What a difference a decade can make. Less than a year after I began writing this blog in September 2011, I wrote a post suggesting that – in a “judicial…
Coblentz Law
Family Zoning and SB 79 in Court: What’s Next for San Francisco Housing?
San Francisco is facing three lawsuits in Superior Court (the local trial court) challenging its recent efforts to implement state housing legislation, on different legal theories and from different ends…
CEQA Developments
First District Affirms Judgment Voiding Class 7 and 8 and Common Sense CEQA Exemptions for Sonoma County’s Groundwater Well Ordinance Amendments; Reverses Portion of Judgment Voiding Ordinance on Public Trust Grounds
In a published decision filed August 4, 2026, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 2) partially affirmed and partially reversed a judgment granting a writ setting aside Sonoma County’s (“County”) 2023…
CEQA Developments
AB 130’s Statewide VMT Mitigation Program: California’s New Framework for CEQA Transportation Mitigation
On June 30, 2026, the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI) released its long-awaited Statewide Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Mitigation Program Guidance (“Guidance”), implementing one of the…