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Automobile delay (as measured solely by roadway capacity or traffic congestion) cannot constitute a significant environmental impact, even for projects that were approved before the new CEQA guidelines on transportation impacts were certified in December 2018. Citizens for Positive Growth & Preservation v. City of Sacramento, 2019 WL 6888482.

The case involved a challenge to the City of Sacramento’s 2035 General Plan, which it adopted in March 2015. The plaintiff alleged that the city violated CEQA and the Planning and Zoning Law.

CEQA: Transportation Impacts

Analyzing Transportation Impacts Under CEQA. Public Resources Code section 21099 (commonly known as SB 743) directed the Office of Planning and Research to develop guidelines for assessing transportation impacts based on vehicle miles traveled (VMT). SB 743 provides that upon certification of implementing guidelines by the Natural Resources Agency, “automobile delay, as described solely by level of service [LOS] or similar measures of vehicular capacity or traffic congestion shall not be considered a significant impact on the environment . . . except in locations specifically identified in the guidelines, if any.”

Section 15064.3 of the CEQA Guidelines, adopted in 2018 to implement SB 743, provides that, except for roadway capacity projects, “a project’s effect on automobile delay shall not constitute a significant environmental impact.” Further, the SB 743 guidelines specify that generally, VMT is “the most appropriate measure of transportation impacts.” The guidelines apply prospectively, and apply statewide beginning July 1, 2020, unless an agency elects to be governed by them sooner. (For a detailed analysis, see our report on the SB 743 Guidelines.)…
Continue Reading Automobile Delay May Not Be Treated As a Significant Environmental Impact

A court could properly direct a city council to correct internal inconsistencies in its general plan resulting from adoption of an initiative.  Denham, LLC v. City of Richmond, 41 Cal. App. 5th 340 (2019).

The Richmond City Council adopted an initiative, approved by 10 % of the City’s voters, without alteration in accordance with Elections…

The City of Sacramento did not violate constitutional law or implied-in-law zoning contract when it approved a project with characteristics that deviated from the City’s zoning ordinance. Sacramentans for Fair Planning v. City of Sacramento, 37 Cal. App. 5th 698 (2019)

A developer sought approval to build a high-rise tower in Midtown Sacramento. The City’s…

The statewide concerns underlying the affordable housing provisions of the Surplus Lands Act superseded municipal home rule authority on the same subject and hence required charter cities to comply with the affordable housing provisions of the Act. Anderson v. City of San José, 42 Cal.App.5th 683 (2019).

This case addressed whether state constitutional authority…

A zoning ordinance providing for expedited oil and gas permitting where owners of the mineral estate cooperate with surface owners did not grant surface owners so much control as to offend the mineral owners’ due process. Nor did disparate treatment of mineral owner permittees violate equal protection where County had legitimate objective of encouraging cooperation…

The County of San Diego violated the Subdivision Map Act by approving residential development of land restricted to agricultural use under the Williamson Act when the development was neither closely related to nor necessary for agricultural use. Cleveland Nat. Forest Foundation v. County of San Diego, 37 Cal. App. 5th 1021 (2019).

Genesee Properties,…

Operators of an unlicensed alcohol and drug treatment facility in violation of a city’s zoning ordinance could not avail themselves of the California Health and Safety Code’s safe harbor provisions. City of Dana Point v. New Method Wellness, 39 Cal. App. 5th 985 (2019).

New Methods Wellness is licensed to offer mental health and…

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