August 2012

The answer is yes, as long as the arbitration clause is not unreasonable, according to the California Supreme Court in Pinnacle Museum Tower Association v. Pinnacle Market Development (July 16, 2012).

In Pinnacle, the developer recorded CC&Rs before the condo project homeowners association was formed.  The CC&Rs contained a mandatory procedure for resolution of construction

Public agencies generally prefer not to prepare EIRs – at least for their own plans and projects – unless they have to.  And CEQA attempts to avoid redundancy by encouraging reliance, to the extent possible, on a previously certified EIR to support the approval of a subsequent action.  So, in 2008, when El Dorado County

An alternatives analysis under NEPA may be valid even though only two very similar alternatives to the project are considered.  In League of Wilderness Defenders-Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project v. United States Forest Service, the Ninth Circuit upheld an Environmental Impact Statement for an experimental forest thinning project in Oregon.  The court rejected the claim