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Real Estate Development Environmental Impact Report (EIR) Urban Planning & Development

Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass

“Near-Miss” CEQA Streamlining: New Option to Reduce Scope of Review for Housing Development Projects

Following up on our earlier coverage of the new California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption passed as part of budget trailer bill AB 130, another significant CEQA pathway was created through its companion...more

Miller Starr Regalia

“Double Counting” or Redundant Mitigation?  Second District Holds CEQA Guidelines’ Additionality Requirement Precludes Applying...

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In a partially published 102-page opinion filed June 26, 2025, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 7) resolved cross-appeals by affirming the trial court’s judgment invalidating Los Angeles County’s 2019 EIR...more

Miller Starr Regalia

Is Robust and Disruptive CEQA Reform Possible?  Senator Scott Wiener Wants to Find Out – His Proposed SB 607 Would Exempt...

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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

Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass

Summary of Select 2024 California Real Estate and Land Use Cases Impacting Real Estate Developers

On January 21, 2025, Coblentz litigation partner Skye Langs presented for the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Real Property section on the following real estate and land use cases from 2024...more

Allen Matkins

The Future of Conservation Easements as Mitigation under CEQA

Allen Matkins on

The California Court of Appeal’s recent decision in V Lions Farming, LLC v. County of Kern provides important clarity on the use of agricultural conservation easements (ACEs) for mitigating the conversion of agricultural land...more

Miller Starr Regalia

First District Addresses Significant CEQA Issues Relating to Wildfire Risk, GHG Emissions, and Water Supply Impacts in Lake County...

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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

Downey Brand LLP

First District Holds that Analysis of Development’s Increased Wildfire Risk is a Necessary Component of Project EIR

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In People ex rel. Bonta v. County of Lake (2024) 105 Cal.App.5th 1222, the First District Court of Appeal held that the Final EIR (“FEIR”) and associated errata for a proposed mixed-use development project, located in a rural...more

Miller Starr Regalia

In Writ Action Attacking Vesting Tentative Map Approval, Second District Holds Plaintiffs’ Failure to Comply With Subdivision Map...

Miller Starr Regalia on

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

Miller Starr Regalia

Timing Remains Everything: Sixth District Holds CEQA Notice of Determination Filed Before County’s Final Project Approval Decision...

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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

Alston & Bird

Land Use Matters August 2024 – CEQA Appellate Decisions & Other Legal Developments

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City of Los Angeles - Increase to Planning Applications and Affordable Housing Linkage Fees - On July 1, 2024, the fee for planning and land use applications increased by 3.5% based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban...more

Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass

California Supreme Court Upholds UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan and People’s Park Housing Project Approvals

The California Supreme Court recently upheld the Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) for the Long Range Development Plan (“LRDP”) for the University of California Berkeley (“UC Berkeley”) and a controversial housing project...more

Alston & Bird

Land Use Matters March 2024 – CEQA Appellate Decisions & Other Legal Developments

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City of Los Angeles - Proposed Citywide Adaptive Reuse Ordinance - In 1999, the city council adopted the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance (ARO) that enabled the conversion of commercial buildings constructed in the downtown area in...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

2023 CEQA Legislative Recap: Insignificant Effects, Housing Exemptions, and Streamlining

Several modest amendments to CEQA took effect on Jan. 1, 2024. Our CEQA News You Can Use team summarized a few of changes to keep in mind in the new year....more

Downey Brand LLP

Downey Brand Compilation of Published CEQA Cases in 2023

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2023 served up roughly the same number of published appellate CEQA cases as 2022 with a defense win percentage of over 80 percent, which has been the case in many, if not all, of the past ten years. A prominent theme of...more

Downey Brand LLP

Annual Legislative Update: Important Land Use Laws Taking Effect in 2024

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The 2023 legislative session culminated in Governor Newsom signing dozens of land use bills. This post discusses the most important. The Legislature continued its multifaceted approach to addressing the housing crisis, with...more

Downey Brand LLP

Court Upholds Master Plan EIR’s Climate Change Analysis that Used Sector and Region-Specific Data to Develop a Threshold of...

Downey Brand LLP on

In Tsakopoulos Investments v. County of Sacramento (2023) 95 Cal. App. 5th 280, the Third District Court of Appeal (“Court”) upheld the County of Sacramento’s (“County”) certification of the Mather South Community Master Plan...more

Alston & Bird

Land Use Matters December 2023 - CEQA Appellate Decisions & Other Legal Developments

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City of Los Angeles - The Processes and Procedures Ordinance Becomes Operative January 22, 2024 - The city council adopted the Processes and Procedures Ordinance amending the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) to...more

Downey Brand LLP

Sixth District Says City’s Specific Plan EIR Need Not Analyze Speculative Alternative Scenario Conjured by Project Opponents

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The Sixth District Court of Appeal, in Santa Rita Union School District v. City of Salinas (2023), 94 Cal.App.5th 298, reversed the lower court, finding that the City of Salinas’ (“City”) final programmatic environmental...more

Holland & Knight LLP

California's 2024 Housing Laws: What You Need to Know

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The 2023 California Legislative session, like the last several, saw the enactment of a large number of significant new housing production laws. (See Holland & Knight's previous annual recaps of California Housing Laws in the...more

Nossaman LLP

California Appellate Court Upholds CEQA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Methodology

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A recent court decision provides guidance to lead agencies seeking to comply with CEQA requirements related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In Tsakopoulos Investments, LLC v. County of Sacramento, the Third District Court...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

California Court Holds Proposed Ballot Measure Excluding Community Plan Area from Height Limit Is Not a “Later Activity” For...

In late June, California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld a Superior Court decision in Save Our Access v. City of San Diego, providing clarity for determining when a “later activity” is beyond the scope of an existing...more

Alston & Bird

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

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CITY OF LOS ANGELES - Site Plan Review Exemption for Affordable Housing - On June 30, 2023, the city council adopted an amendment to the Site Plan Review Ordinance to exempt deed-restricted affordable housing units from...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

What’s Happening at the California Capitol? Another Pass at CEQA and Housing Streamlining

In this alert, Brownstein outlines Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest swing at the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and provides the updates (and potentially what to expect) regarding two new bills introduced by Sen. Scott...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

CEQA News You Can Use - Vol. 8, Issue 1

Noisy college students, the new CEQA impact? Would you be surprised to learn that college students can throw noisy parties? Uh, no, but it may be a surprise that they constitute a potentially significant environmental impact...more

Perkins Coie

EIR Invalidated for Failure to Analyze Potential Public Acquisition of Residentially Zoned Land

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The EIR for a residential project has been struck down because its discussion of project alternatives did not analyze the possibility that public funds might be used to acquire the land for open space. Save the Hill Group v....more

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