News & Analysis as of

California Environmental Quality Act Exemptions

Miller Starr Regalia

First District Affirms Judgment Rejecting Challenge to CEQA Guidelines Class 32 Infill Development Exemption for 12-Unit...

Miller Starr Regalia on

In an opinion filed June 27, and later ordered published (with slight modifications) on July 18, 2024, the First District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment denying a writ petition challenging the City of...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Big Streamlining for Small Subdivision Developers

To address the housing crisis in California, Senate Bill 684 (SB 684), passed in 2023 but effective as of July 1, 2024, aims to simplify the approval process for small-scale for-sale housing projects, facilitate a quicker...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Budget Trailer Bill SB 174 Exempts State Capitol Renovation Project From CEQA, Extends Existing Statutory Exemption for...

Miller Starr Regalia on

California Senate Bill No. 174 (SB 174), a budget trailer bill that was passed by the Assembly with amendments on June 26, received Senate concurrence on the amendments the same day, and was enrolled and presented to the...more

Miller Starr Regalia

First District Holds CEQA Challenge To Shooting Range Project On City-Owned Land In Unincorporated County Was Not Mooted By...

Miller Starr Regalia on

In a partially published opinion filed March 29, 2024, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 4) rejected contentions that the pre-judgment completion of construction of a shooting range mooted a CEQA challenge to the...more

Miller Starr Regalia

CEQA Remedies Go Both Ways:  Fourth District Reverses Judgment Upholding San Diego County Board’s Decision Granting Project...

Miller Starr Regalia on

In an important published opinion filed February 16, 2024, the Fourth District Court of Appeal (Div. 1) held the San Diego County Board of Supervisors committed a prejudicial abuse of discretion in granting project opponents’...more

Downey Brand LLP

County Ordinance Creating Wildlife Migration Corridor Found in Compliance with CEQA and the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act

Downey Brand LLP on

In California Construction and Industrial Materials Association v. County of Ventura (2023) 97 Cal.App.5th 1, the California Construction and Industrial Materials Association and the Ventura County Coalition of Labor,...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Second District Holds Ventura County’s Adoption of Ordinance Creating Wildlife Migration Corridor Overlay Zones In County’s Rural...

Miller Starr Regalia on

In a published opinion filed November 13, 2023, disposing of consolidated appeals, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 6) affirmed judgments denying writ petitions that sought to invalidate a Ventura County ordinance....more

Miller Starr Regalia

First District Denies Rehearing and Publication Requests, Slightly Modifies Opinion With No Change in Judgment in CEQA Case...

Miller Starr Regalia on

On October 20, 223, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 3) filed an “Order Modifying Opinion; and Denying Petitions for Rehearing and Publication [No Change in Judgment]” in Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium, LLC, et...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Fourth District Affirms Judgment Upholding City’s Use of CEQA Guidelines’ Historical Resource (Class 31) Exemption To Approve...

Miller Starr Regalia on

In an opinion filed September 13, and modified and certified for publication on October 6, 2023, the Fourth District Court of Appeal (Div. 3) affirmed the trial court’s judgment denying a CEQA writ petition challenging the...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Recent Legislation Brings Incremental CEQA Reform

Miller Starr Regalia on

On September 7, 2023, Governor Newsom signed into law AB 1307, urgency legislation which took effect immediately and added to the Public Resources Code a new Section 21085, which reads: “For purposes of this division, for...more

Downey Brand LLP

Court of Appeal Finds Substantial Evidence Supports City’s Use of Statutory Exemption to Approve a Zoning Overlay District For...

Downey Brand LLP on

In Lucas v. City of Pomona (2023) 92 Cal.App.5th 508, the Second District of the Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s decision that the City of Pomona’s (“City”) application of the statutory exemption under CEQA...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Second District Reverses Preliminary Injunction, Holds CEQA Cannot Trump Santa Barbara County’s Authority To Remove Unpermitted...

Miller Starr Regalia on

“I fought the law and the law won” – The Crickets In an opinion filed July 19, and later ordered published on August 16, 2023, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 6) reversed the trial court’s grant of a preliminary...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Third District Declines To Reach CEQA Exemption Claim In Reversing On Other Grounds Judgment Upholding State Department of Public...

Miller Starr Regalia on

In a published opinion filed August 14, 2023, the Third District Court of Appeal reversed a judgment that denied a petition for writ of mandate challenging the State Department of Public Health’s (Department) approval of Real...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Second District Affirms Judgment Voiding CEQA Infill Exemption For Hollywood Hotel Project That Would Demolish Affordable Housing...

Miller Starr Regalia on

In an opinion filed June 28, 2023, and later ordered published on July 25, 2023, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 5) affirmed a judgment granting a writ of mandate setting aside (1) the City of Los Angeles’ (City)...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Second District Affirms Judgment Upholding City of Pomona’s Commercial Cannabis Permit Program Overlay District As CEQA-Exempt...

Miller Starr Regalia on

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) use of a statutory exemption – under Public...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Historical Correction? Second District Holds City’s Policy Decision To Remove And Relocate “Offensive” Statue That Was Replica of...

Miller Starr Regalia on

In an opinion filed May 12, and later certified for publication on June 8, 2023, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 6) upheld the City of San Buenaventura’s decision to remove a bronze statue of Father Junipero Serra...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Second District “Waters Down” Los Angeles Waterkeeper Waste Discharge Permit CEQA Exemption Opinion After Rehearing At Request Of...

Miller Starr Regalia on

In a March 27, 2023 post found here, we wrote about the Second District Court of Appeal’s (Div. 1) decision concerning the Water Code section 13389 CEQA exemption for Regional Water Quality Control Board (“RWQCB”) issuance of...more

Perkins Coie

General Request for EIR Insufficient to Exhaust Administrative Remedies When Challenging Reliance on Categorical Exemption

Perkins Coie on

Plaintiff did not exhaust administrative remedies when challenging the City’s approval of a homeowner’s development project on the ground that a Class 1 categorical exemption was inapplicable. Arcadians for Environmental...more

Miller Starr Regalia

CEQA Updates: Supreme Court Depublishes High School Stadium Light Standard Exemption Case; Second District Modifies Pacific...

Miller Starr Regalia on

On March 22, 2023, the California Supreme Court granted the City of San Francisco’s stand-alone depublication request in (and declined to review on its own motion) the First District Court of Appeal’s (Div. 4) decision in...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Second District Affirms Judgment Upholding Water Code CEQA Exemption, Rejects Plaintiff’s Attempt To Extend CEQA Review And...

Miller Starr Regalia on

On February 27, 2023, the Second District Court of Appeal (Division One) filed its published decision in Los Angeles Waterkeeper v. State Water Resources Control Board (2023) ___ Cal.App.5th ___, a case mainly focused on...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

CA Supreme Court Orders Appeals Court Brown Act Opinion Depublished

Opinion requiring local agency to give notice on meeting agenda of CEQA exemption determined by staff is no longer binding precedent, but some CEQA actions must still be agendized - On February 15, 2023, the California...more

Alston & Bird

Land Use Matters March 2023 – CEQA Appellate Decisions & Other Legal Developments

Alston & Bird on

Los Angeles City Planning and Department of Building and Safety - COVID-19 Emergency Public Order on Tolling and Time Limits Rescinded - On March 21, 2020, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti issued a COVID-19 emergency public order to...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Another Call for CEQA Litigation Reform? Second District Rejects NIMBY Group’s CEQA, Coastal Act, and Land Use Challenges, Affirms...

Miller Starr Regalia on

In a published opinion filed March 8, 2023, the Second District Court of Appeal (Division 8) affirmed the trial court’s judgment denying writ relief in a lawsuit challenging approval of a CEQA-exempt eldercare facility...more

Downey Brand LLP

Second District Rejects CEQA and Coastal Act Challenge to Senior Facility in Pacific Palisades Area of Los Angeles

Downey Brand LLP on

In Pacific Palisades Residents Association, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles et al. (March 8, 2023, Case No. B306658) __ Cal.App.2d __, the Second District issued a strong opinion affirming the trial court’s ruling that a proposed...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Neighbor-Led Group Opposing Single-Family Home Expansion Project Failed To Exhaust Administrative Remedies By Making Sufficiently...

Miller Starr Regalia on

In a published decision filed February 16, 2023, the Second District Court of Appeal (Division 7) affirmed a judgment denying a CEQA writ petition challenging approval of a single-family home expansion project because the...more

108 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 5

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide