The State Supreme Court denied review October 22 in the major case of Citizens for a Sustainable Treasure Island v. City and County of San Francisco (Treasure Island Community Development). As discussed in the CP&DR July 2014 issue, the ruling upheld the massive environmental impact report for a $1.5 billion development plan on Treasure Island, the man-made island at the middle of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. As legal precedent the case is important for its holding that an EIR's original status as program-level or project-level doesn't matter as much as whether, practically speaking, it provides enough information to support necessary decisions.

No rent control end run via Costa-Hawkins in LA

California's Second Appellate District blocked an attempted end-run around Los Angeles rent control in Burien v. Wiley. The ruling was by the Second District's Division Five, in an opinion by Justice Sandy Kriegler joined by Justices Paul Turner and Richard Mosk. In Kriegler's summary, the case concerned a rent-controlled apartment building on Sawtelle Boulevard that received its original certificate of occupancy in 1972. The landlord converted it to condominiums and obtained a fresh certificate of occupancy in 2009. He then sought to exempt the building from rent control under the Costa-Hawkins Act by claiming an exemption for units with certificates of occupancy issued after 1995. The tenant who objected, James Wiley, would have faced a rent increase from $1,401 to $3000 per month. The court found "the exemption can only apply to certificates of occupancy that precede residential use of the unit." The case is at http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B250182.PDF.

In other legal news --

  • Alaine Patti-Jelsvik, an attorney with the Counsel Press filing service, posted a detailed commentary on the new California Rule of Court 8.701, which implements SB 743, saying it "severely shortened and tightened... filing and service requirements and procedure for appellate relief in CEQA cases."
  • The Point Reyes oyster war that you thought was already over had one more battle in early October. On October 6 the Marin Independent-Journal reported that Marin County officials asked the Coastal Commission to confirm the Drakes Bay Oyster business was shut down by federal courts without a consistency determination from the Commission. (Steve Kinsey, a Marin County Supervisor who is also chair of the Commission, criticized the Commission's role in the matter to the paper, while Amy Trainer of the Environmental Action Coalition told the paper there was no action requiring a consistency review, because the oyster beds' lease had simply expired.) But then, on the same day the I-J wrote that news, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported the oyster operation announced it had reached a settlement agreeing to shut down after all. The owners announced they would remove their oyster farm from federal wilderness property in Drakes Estero and would open a retail oyster business in nearby Tomales Bay. For prior coverage see http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3547.
  • The Supreme Court rejected a depublication request in the case of Citizens for a Green San Mateo v. San Mateo Community College District. The case was a June ruling by the First District Court of Appeal that said a community group raised its objection too late to be heard against the cutting of more than 200 mature trees on the College of San Mateo campus. For coverage see http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3518 and a discussion of the timing issue by William Abbott on his firm's land use weblog.