In a published opinion filed March 14, 2025, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 2) reversed the trial court’s judgment upholding a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) for a four-story, 75-room hotel/meeting...more
On February 20, 2025, Senator Scott Wiener introduced Senate Bill No. 607 (SB 607), a proposed law that is relatively short in text length, but which would engender major CEQA reforms if enacted as currently drafted. The...more
3/6/2025
/ Administrative Record ,
Affordable Housing ,
California ,
CEQA ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Housing Developers ,
Infill Development ,
Real Estate Development ,
Regulatory Reform ,
State and Local Government ,
Urban Planning & Development ,
Zoning Laws
On November 22, 2024, the First District Court of Appeal’s (Div. 4) partially-published opinion in People of the State of California ex rel. Bonta v. County of Lake (Lotusland Investment Holdings, Inc., et al. Real Parties in...more
12/18/2024
/ California ,
CEQA ,
Construction Project ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Mixed-Use Zoning ,
Real Estate Development ,
Standard of Review ,
Urban Planning & Development ,
Water Supplies ,
Wildfires
In a partially published opinion filed October 31, 2024, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 1) held, in light of AB 1307 and the Supreme Court’s decision in Make UC a Good Neighbor v. Regents of University of...more
11/22/2024
/ Affordable Housing ,
California ,
CEQA ,
Construction Project ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Exemptions ,
Housing Developers ,
Mootness ,
Real Estate Development ,
Redevelopment ,
Standard of Review
“It’s like déjà vu all over again.” Yogi Berra - In a (mostly) published opinion filed October 24, 2024, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 2) affirmed the trial court’s judgment denying a writ petition in a CEQA...more
In a published opinion filed October 21, 2024, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 7) reversed a judgment entered after the trial court granted without leave a real party developer’s motion for judgment on the...more
11/1/2024
/ California ,
CEQA ,
Conditional Use Permit ,
Construction Project ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Real Estate Development ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Subdivision ,
Subdivision Map Act ,
Urban Planning & Development ,
Zoning Laws
“Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” – Dylan Thomas. In a published decision filed October 7, 2024, the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment...more
In a terse opinion filed September 13, and modified and ordered partially published on October 3, 2024, the Third District Court of Appeal upheld an award of reasonable record preparation cots to prevailing lead agency County...more
In an opinion filed August 15, and modified and certified for publication on September 13, 2024, the Fourth District Court of Appeal (Div. 2) resolved cross-appeals from a judgment granting a limited writ by reversing with...more
In an opinion filed on July 24, and later ordered published on August 19, 2024, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 4) affirmed the trial court’s judgment denying a writ petition challenging actions taken by the Los...more
The Sixth District Court of Appeal filed on July 24, and later certified for publication on August 6, 2024, its opinion in Center for Biological Diversity et al. v. County of San Benito, et al. (2024) __ Cal.App.5th __. The...more
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
“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” Yogi Berra and Lenny Kravitz - In a unanimous opinion filed on June 6, 2024, the California Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the First District Court of Appeal in the controversial...more
6/11/2024
/ Affordable Housing ,
CA Supreme Court ,
CEQA ,
Colleges ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Excessive Noise ,
Housing Developers ,
Land Developers ,
Mootness ,
Real Estate Development ,
Universities
In an opinion filed April 18, and belatedly ordered published on May 15, 2024, the Third District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s order discharging the peremptory writ of mandate that was issued following the Court...more
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) has long required a full analysis of project's potential adverse effects on the environment. The environmental impact report (EIR)-known as the "heart of CEQA"-is intended to...more
In a partially published (but mostly unpublished) opinion filed on March 7, 2024, the Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s judgment and writ-discharge order which had upheld Kern County’s most recently...more
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
In a published opinion filed on January 17, 2024, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 5) reversed a trial court judgment overturning a mitigated negative declaration (MND) and requiring an EIR for a 42-single family...more
In a 51-page published opinion filed January 5, 2024, and resolving consolidated appeals, the Third District Court of Appeal rejected baseline, piecemealing/segmentation, impact analysis, project description, alternatives...more
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
In an opinion originally filed on September 8, and subsequently modified and certified for partial publication on October 4, 2023, the Sixth District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s judgment granting a writ setting...more
In a partially published opinion filed September 20, 2023, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 3) affirmed the Alameda County Superior Court’s judgments denying writ petitions in three partially consolidated CEQA actions...more
In a partially published opinion filed on September 7, 2023, the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed a judgment denying a CEQA challenge to Sacramento County’s approval of a mixed-use development project known as the...more
On August 10, 2023 the Sixth District Court of Appeal filed its published opinion in Santa Rita Union School District v. City of Salinas (2023) ___ Cal.App.5th ___. On September 7, 2023, it filed an Order slightly modifying...more
In an opinion filed July 19, and ordered published on August 9, 2023, the Fourth District Court of Appeal (Div. 1) reversed a trial court order denying the City of San Diego’s (City) request to discharge a peremptory writ of...more