Statute
CEQA
1,308 published works
California Land Use & Development Law Report
CEQA In-Fill Exemption Inapplicable Where Project Conflicted with General Plan Affordable Housing Policies
The appellate court invalidated the City’s reliance on CEQA’s Class 32 in-fill exemption to approve construction of a hotel because the project included demolition of affordable housing and thereby conflicted…
CEQA Developments
Second District Affirms Judgment Upholding City of Pomona’s Commercial Cannabis Permit Program Overlay District As CEQA-Exempt Under Statutory Exemption Provided In Guidelines Section 15183 For Projects Consistent With Development Density Established By Existing Zoning, General Plan, Or Community Plan for Which EIR Was Certified; Holds Substantial Evidence Standard of Review Applies To Lead Agency’s Finding of Exemption
In a published opinion filed June 13, 2023, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 8) affirmed the trial court’s judgment rejecting CEQA challenges to the City of Pomona’s (City)…
California Land Use & Development Law Report
San Diego’s Removal of Building Height Limit Improperly Relied Upon Earlier Program EIR for Community Plan
By Perkins Coie
In Save Our Access v. City of San Diego, 92 Cal. App. 5th 819 (2023), the court of appeal ruled that the City of San Diego improperly relied upon an…
Environmental and Climate
UC Regents Prevails Against Dueling Challenges to Fuels Management Plan Designed to Reduce Wildfire Risk in the Berkeley Hills
By Megan V. Unger, Tina Thomas
In Claremont Canyon Conservancy v. Regents of the University of California (2023) 92 Cal.App.5th 474, two organizations, the Claremont Canyon Conservancy and the Hills Conservation Network, filed petitions for writ…
CEQA Developments
Missing the Forest For the Trees: First District Reverses Trial Court, Upholds Project Description And Impact Analysis In Regents’ EIR For Vegetation Removal Projects To Reduce Wildfire Risk At UC Berkeley Hills Campus
In a published opinion filed June 9, 2023, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 3) reversed the trial court’s judgment granting a writ of mandate in consolidated CEQA actions…
California Land Use & Development Law Report
EIR Addendum Was Sufficient for Project Within Scope of Earlier Program EIR
By Angela Luh
The Court of Appeal upheld the City of Newport Beach’s reliance on an EIR addendum to approve a residential project whose impacts had been evaluated in a 2006 Program EIR…
Administrative and Regulatory
California Supreme Court Grants Review in UC Berkeley People’s Park Student Housing Case
By Breana M. Inoshita, Kathryn L. Oehlschlager
The California Supreme Court, on May 17, 2023, granted review of the First District Court of Appeal’s decision in Make UC a Good Neighbor v. Regents of University of California…
CEQA Developments
Fifth District Holds Harm To Public Interest In Informed Decisionmaking Must Be Considered By Court In Deciding Whether To Grant Preliminary Injunction In CEQA Case
In a published opinion filed June 7, 2023, the Fifth District Court of Appeal held the trial court erred in applying California’s interrelated factors test to deny a preliminary injunction in…
California Land Use & Development Law Report
Overlay Cannabis District Was Consistent with General Plan and EIR and Exempt from CEQA
The Court of Appeal held that the addition of cannabis retailers to existing commercial neighborhoods through an overlay zoning district was exempt from CEQA as consistent with the existing General…
Environmental and Climate
“It just so happens that [Governor Newsom’s Sweeping New Plan to Accelerate Infrastructure Projects] is only mostly dead.” – Miracle Max from The Princess Bride
By Megan V. Unger, Kathryn L. Oehlschlager
Governor Gavin Newsom announced proposed major new infrastructure permitting reforms on May 19, 2023 in an effort to create thousands of jobs and build California’s clean energy future. The eleven-bill…