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 published decision filed June 12, 2018, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 6) held that the same broad definition of a “project” that mandates more extensive CEQA review of activities undertaken or approved by...more
In a published decision filed May 28, 2015, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed that part of the trial court’s judgment granting a writ of mandate and otherwise affirmed the judgment, thus upholding the City of San...more
In a decision filed January 29, and belatedly ordered published on February 18, 2015, the Fourth District Court of Appeal rejected numerous CEQA (and other) challenges to the City of San Diego’s regular, after-the-fact...more
On January 6, 2015, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) filed a petition asking the California Supreme Court to review the decision in Cleveland National Forest Foundation, et al. v. San Diego Association at...more
Controversy has dogged the California high speed rail project since before its inception with the 2008 passage of Proposition 1A, the bond measure providing the project’s initial funding. The controversy has not abated in the...more
In this presentation:
- Legislative CEQA Reform Efforts
- Selected CEQA Case Law Developments
- Land Use Developments
- What’s Happening in Tracy?
- Overview and Purpose
- Site...more
The EIR has long been the judicially-proclaimed “heart of CEQA” because it represents the culmination of the statute’s environmentally-protective purposes and objectives. Yet the legal “expiration date” for the document...more
In a flurry of eleventh-hour activity following Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg’s withdrawal of SB 731 from consideration (see 9/13/13 post “Steinberg Drops Statewide CEQA Reform Bill (SB 731) After Meeting with...more
In a much-anticipated decision filed August 5, 2013, the California Supreme Court held that CEQA requires a lead agency to assess a project’s environmental impacts against an “existing conditions” baseline – and consequently...more
On June 11, 2013, the Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) issued a new Endangered Species Guidance Document (“Guidance”) on the Section 7 consultation requirement for federal discretionary actions. While focused primarily on...more
In a partially-published appellate writ decision filed July 8, 2013, the Fifth District Court of Appeal held that while CEQA’s administrative record statute (Pub. Resources Code, § 21167.6) does not impliedly abrogate the...more