In Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley (2012) 203 Cal. App. 4th 656, the Berkeley Zoning Adjustment Board (Board) determined that a new roughly 10,000 square foot home in the Berkeley hills was categorically exempt from CEQA pursuant to...
In an unpublished decision, Bedford v. Santa Barbara County, 2012 Cal.App.Unpub.LEXIS 886, the Second Appellate District upheld a trial court’s ruling denying a petition challenging the adequacy of an environmental impact report for a wind farm project in Santa Barbara...
In an unpublished decision, Kentfield-Union Neighborhood Ass'n v. Redwood City Council, 2012 Cal.App.Unpub.LEXIS 736, the First Appellate District upheld the trial court’s ruling that the Redwood City Council complied with CEQA in preparing an initial study and adopting a mitigated...
In Center for Biological Diversity, et al. v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, et al., (2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10555, January 30, 2012), the Court granted Plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees in the amount of $1,003,155.87, despite Defendants claim that the fees...
On January 25, 2012, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) released draft CEQA Guidelines to implement Senate Bill (SB) 226. Signed by the Governor last October, SB 226 promotes infill development by: (1) providing flexibility in project design...
In an unpublished decision, the Consolidated Irrigation District filed a petition for writ of mandate challenging the City of Selma’s use of a mitigated negative declaration in approving a 160-unit, 44-acre residential development (Consolidated Irrig. Dist. v. City of Selma,...
In High Sierra Hikers Association v. United States Department of the Interior (N.D.Cal. 2012) 848 F. Supp. 2d 1036, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, addressed whether the National Park Service (NPS) adequately...
On February 14, 2012, the City of Sacramento will hold a hearing to consider approving the City’s Climate Action Plan (CAP). (http://www.sacgp.org/cap.html.) The CAP is split into two phases. Phase 1, which was adopted in February 2010, addresses GHG emissions...
In Friends of Roeding Park v. City of Fresno (E.D. 2012) 2848 F. Supp. 2d 1152, the District Court granted the city's motion to dismiss Plaintiffs' lawsuit challenging the planned expansion of the Fresno Chafee Zoo ruling (1) the Court...
In Ass'n of Irritated Residents v. United States EPA (9th Cir. 2012) 686 F.3d 668, the Ninth Circuit granted a petition challenging federal Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to approve the 2003 SIP Revision on each of the three grounds...
General Development Co. v. City of Santa Maria (January 25, 2012) 202 Cal.App.4th 1391 A developer applied to change the zoning designation for a 4.84 acre parcel of vacant land. The City of Santa Maria denied the request, and the developer filed...
On January 23, 2012, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris filed a Notice of Intent to File a CEQA Petition for Writ of Mandate in Intervention to intervene in the CEQA lawsuit filed by the Cleveland National Forest Foundation and the...