California Court Rules Against County's Use of CEQA to Block Project
Court sides with industrial developer against San Diego Board of Supervisors.
A state appeals court has ruled that San Diego County can’t invoke the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to delay a development project that is compatible with zoning in the county’s general plan.
The ruling, which potentially has broad implications, involved an application by Hilltop Group to construct a facility to recycle construction debris on a site adjacent to I-15 in Northern San Diego County.
The county originally determined that the project, known as the North County Environmental Resources Project, was entitled to a CEQA exemption because it met the criteria of the county’s general plan, which had been certified as compatible with CEQA.
However, when residents who live near the site and the city of Escondido opposed the facility citing noise and traffic, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors declared the need for more environmental mitigation under CEQA, according to a report in Cal Matters.
When Hilltop sued, a trial court sided with the county. Now, a three-judge panel on the 4th District Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled that the county could not impose additional conditions because the project is compatible with the industrial zone created in the county’s general plan.
CEQA is California’s signature environmental law, enacted in 1970 a few months after the first Earth Day. Initially intended as a tool for residents to oppose freeway expansions, the California Supreme Court broadened the law in 1972 to apply it to almost every building project in the state.
CEQA reviews, which can delay projects for more than a year, increasingly are being seen as impediments to the development of new housing or the redevelopment of vacant office space in the Golden State.
Scott Weiner, a state senator who authored 2017 legislation that accelerated construction of affordable housing in cities that were not meeting state-mandated targets for new housing, recently proposed to to exempt about 150 blocks of downtown San Francisco from CEQA reviews.
Weiner told the New York Times that adding dense housing near jobs and public transit should be a core mission of the environmental movement. Weiner said infill housing will cut down on hours-long car commutes and prevent additional sprawl.