Statute
CEQA
1,312 published works
Land Use Law Blog
Speculation Concerning Potential Impacts Insufficient To Defeat Use Of A Categorical Exemption
Walters v. City of Redondo Beach (2016) 1 Cal.App.5th 809. By Brian Russell Auto-Spa applied for a conditional use permit to build a car wash and coffee shop in Redondo…
Aviation & Airport
Culver City to Challenge SoCal Metroplex Project
By Barbara E. Lichman, Ph.D., J.D.
Culver City has issued a Press Release announcing its intention to file a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration related to aircraft overflights. Culver City has retained Barbara E. Lichman,…
Administrative and Regulatory
Local Ordinance Regulating Medical Marijuana Dispensaries is Not a “Project” Subject to CEQA Review, Fourth Appellate District Rules (Again)
In its October 14 decision in Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, Inc. v. City of San Diego, the Fourth Appellate District weighed in for the second time this year on…
CEQA Developments
Blowing Smoke About Impacts? Fourth District Rejects Speculative CEQA Challenge to San Diego’s Medical Marijuana Consumer Cooperative Ordinance, Holds Zoning Ordinances Are Not Necessarily CEQA “Projects”
In a 29-page published opinion filed October 14, 2016, the Fourth District Court of Appeal dispensed some good news to municipalities desiring to reasonably regulate retail medical marijuana facilities within…
Land Use Developments
Recent Reports Highlight Negative Consequences of Local Barriers to New Housing Development, Call for State-Level Solutions
California’s housing crisis is well-understood and documented. A chief culprit is the fact that the state’s coastal urban areas, for various reasons, do not approve enough new housing to accommodate…
Environmental and Climate
Downey Brand’s Fall 2016 CEQA and Land Use Litigation Update
On October 7, I had the privilege of presenting the annual CEQA and Land Use Litigation Update at the League of California Cities’ Annual Conference & Expo in Long Beach.…
California Land Use & Development Law Report
MOU Allocating Responsibility for Development of Groundwater Management Plan Not a Project Under CEQA
By Chris Berka
The Fourth Appellate District has held that a memorandum of understanding between a water district, county, property owner, and water company outlining mutual responsibilities for preparing a groundwater management plan…
California Land Use & Development Law Report
Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s CEQA Guidelines on Pollution Impacts to Project Occupants and Users Are Invalid
By Perkins Coie
The significance thresholds for exposure of receptors to harmful air pollution in the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s CEQA Guidelines cannot provide the basis for requiring an EIR or…
Environment, Land & Resources
California Supreme Court Addresses Subsequent Review Under CEQA; Rejects Lishman “New Project” Test
By Christopher W. Garrett, David Amerikaner, Lucas I. Quass and Samantha Seikkula In an opinion by Justice Kruger, the Supreme Court of California unanimously reversed the Court of Appeal in Friends…
Environmental and Climate
California Supreme Court Rejects “New Project Test” and Defers to Agencies on Whether Project Modifications Require Subsequent Environmental Review
On September 19, in a long-awaited and unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in Friends of the College of San Mateo Gardens v. San Mateo County Community…