Description: Challenge to Costco retail store and gas station.
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Ukiah Citizens for Safety First v. City of Ukiah
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 06/21/2016 Opinion Download Opinion issued. California Appellate Court Said City’s Analysis of Energy Impacts of Costco Store Was Inadequate. The California Court of Appeal found that the City of Ukiah had not sufficiently analyzed the energy impacts of a proposed Costco retail store and gas station in an environmental impact report (EIR) prepared under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The EIR was certified in December 2013. The court said that the EIR had improperly relied on building code compliance to mitigate construction and operational energy impacts and on mitigation measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The court noted that these shortcomings were similar to inadequacies identified in the Court of Appeals’ decision in February 2014 (several months after the City of Ukiah certified the Costco EIR) in California Clean Energy Committee v. City of Woodland. In that case, the Court of Appeals stated that “[a]lthough there is likely to be a high correlation between reducing greenhouse emissions and energy savings, this court cannot assume the overlap is sufficient under CEQA’s study and mitigation requirements.” After the court issued its City of Woodland decision, the City of Ukiah issued an addendum to the EIR to address energy impacts; the trial court considered this addendum when it upheld the EIR. The Court of Appeals ruled, however, that the addendum “does not cure the prior approval of an inadequate EIR.”