Description: Challenge to real estate development in California.
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Friends of the Santa Clara River v. County of Los Angeles
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 05/11/2018 Opinion Download Opinion issued upholding writ issued by trial court. California Court of Appeal Said Approvals for Newhall Ranch Could Remain in Place While Los Angeles County Fixed Greenhouse Gas Analysis. The California Court of Appeal upheld a trial court’s decision to leave land use approvals of components of the Newhall Ranch development in Los Angeles County in place even though the court partially decertified the final EIR. The court partially decertified the EIR because Los Angeles County’s analysis of greenhouse gas emissions was found to be insufficient based on the California Supreme Court’s decision in Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Fish & Wildlife, which concerned the same project and which found that the EIR’s conclusion that impacts of greenhouse gas emissions would not be significant was not supported by sufficient evidence or a reasoned explanation. The appellate court found that the limited writ granted by the trial court was a valid exercise of the trial court’s equitable powers. -
Friends of the Santa Clara River v. County of Los Angeles
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 09/22/2017 Settlement Agreement Download Settlement agreement reached. Newhall Ranch Developers Agreed to “Net Zero Plan” in Settlement with Project’s Opponents. The developers of the Newhall Ranch multi-use development project in northwestern Los Angeles County reached a settlement agreement on September 22, 2017 with groups that had opposed the project to end ongoing litigation and avoid future litigation over the projects. The California Supreme Court ruled in November 2015 that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife lacked substantial evidence to support its conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions associated with the project would not result in a cumulatively significant impact under the California Environmental Quality Act. The settlement agreement indicated that in response to the court’s decision, the developers committed to a “Net Zero Plan” that would, among other things, “result in more than approximately 10,000 solar installations producing approximately 250 million kWh of renewable electricity every year” and “installation of approximately 25,000 electric vehicle chargers within the development and across Los Angeles County, as well as approximately $14 million in subsidies toward the purchase of electric vehicles.” -
Friends of the Santa Clara River v. County of Los Angeles
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 03/23/2016 Order Order issued transferring case to Court of Appeal. After its decision in Center for Biological Diversity v. California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Supreme Court ordered the Court of Appeal to vacate its April 2015 decision and reconsider in light of the Center for Biological Diversity opinion. 08/19/2015 Order Download Petition for review granted. California Supreme Court to Consider CEQA Claims in Challenge to Los Angeles County Development. The California Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the environmental review and land use approvals for a portion of Newhall Ranch, a major commercial and residential development in Los Angeles County. The court deferred briefing until after it renders a decision in Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Fish & Wildlife, another case concerning Newhall Ranch in which the court is taking up the question of whether an agency conducting a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review may deviate from the existing conditions baseline and instead determine the significance of a project’s greenhouse gas emissions by reference to a hypothetical higher “business-as-usual” baseline. In the instant case, the California Court of Appeal upheld Los Angeles County’s use of the business-as-usual baseline as well as other aspects of the environmental impact report and approvals in April 2015. -
Friends of the Santa Clara River v. County of Los Angeles
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 11/03/2016 Opinion Download Opinion issued following transfer from California Supreme Court. Court of Appeals Followed California Supreme Court’s Lead and Reversed Trial Court Decision That Upheld Greenhouse Gas Significance Analysis for Newhall Ranch. After the California Supreme Court ruled that CEQA findings regarding the significance of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the Newhall Ranch development in Los Angeles County were not supported by substantial evidence, the California Court of Appeal reiterated that conclusion in another case involving Newhall Ranch. In an unpublished opinion, the court cited the California Supreme Court’s opinion in Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Fish and Wildlife, No. S217763 (2015), and noted that the parties agreed that the greenhouse gas emissions discussion in the instant case paralleled the discussion that the Supreme Court found lacking. The court therefore reversed the portions of a trial court’s ruling that upheld the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ conclusion that the development’s greenhouse gas emissions would not have a significant impact. 04/21/2015 Opinion Download Opinion issued. A California Court of Appeal upheld the environmental review and land use approvals for a portion of Newhall Ranch, a major commercial and residential development in Los Angeles County. In an unpublished opinion, the court approved the selection of a greenhouse gas emissions significance criterion that was based on the emissions reductions goal in the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which required adoption of a statewide plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 emissions levels by 2020. The appellate court noted that three other appellate court cases had approved use of significance criteria based on this mandate. The court rejected the argument that this criterion was “illusory” and that the use of a “business-as-usual” emissions baseline was legally impermissible—but noted that the California Supreme Court wascurrently considering the baseline issue in Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Fish and Wildlife, another case concerning the CEQA review for Newhall Ranch.