Statute
CEQA
1,312 published works
Stoel Rives Environmental Law
CEQA Baseline Analysis: Future Conditions Baseline Should Be the Exception Not the Rule When Agency Reviews Environmental Impacts, Says Divided California Supreme Court
In Neighbors for Smart Rail v. Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority (filed August 5, 2013) (“Neighbors”), a majority of the California Supreme Court justices announced a new rule regarding the…
Environment, Land & Resources
Supreme Court Lets Metro’s “Expo Line” Proceed, While Criticizing Its EIR and Setting New CEQA Baseline Standards
By Jim Arnone, DJ Moore, Winston Stromberg and Michele Leonelli On August 5, the California Supreme Court issued an important new California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) decision in Neighbors for…
California Land Use & Development Law Report
Use Of Future Baseline In CEQA Analysis Approved By California Supreme Court
By Julie Jones
The California Supreme Court has both resolved a split in the appellate courts and forged new law on the baselines agencies may use to assess projects’ environmental effects under CEQA. …
Administrative and Regulatory
CEQA Challenge Barred by 30-Day Statute of Limitations Based on Exemption Not Asserted in Notice of Exemption
In May v. City of Milpitas, 2013 Cal. App. LEXIS 557, the Court of Appeal for the Sixth Appellate District held that a 30-day statute of limitations in Government Code…
Administrative and Regulatory
A Mendocino County Quarry Project Can’t Keep the ACE in the Hole, Court Finds Inadequate the EIR’s Farmland Conversion Analysis
On July 27, 2010, Mendocino County approved the Kunzler Terrace Mine Project, a 65.3 acre sand and gravel quarry one mile north of Ukiah. Project opponents sued, alleging various CEQA…
California Land Use & Development Law Report
City Council’s Interpretation of General Plan Prevails Despite Conflict With Plan’s Land Use Map
By Julie Jones
A city council has sweeping authority to interpret the city’s general plan. That authority trumped a successful referendum campaign designed to block a residential development project, according to the court's decision in Orange…
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…
California Land Use & Development Law Report
Specific Limitations Period In Government Code Prevails Over Statute of Limitations In CEQA
A 30-day limitations period for a challenge to a project that is exempted from CEQA by Government Code section 65457 applies rather than the 35-day limitations period that ordinarily applies after…
Stoel Rives Environmental Law
Marin County’s Plastic Bag Ban Categorically Exempt From CEQA Review
Decision expected to provide guidance for public agencies in determining the type of environmental review required for such bans. In Save the Plastic Bag Coalition v. County of Marin, et al. (published…
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…