Roseville Shopping Center Survives Challenge To Infill Exemption

A suburban-style Roseville shopping center properly qualifies for an Article 32 infill exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act, an appellate court has ruled in an unpublished decision. The shopping center’s exemption had originally been challenged by nearby residents because a fast-food restaurant was included, saying that was an “unusual circumstance” that permitted as exception to the exemption. When the fast-food restaurant was removed from the project, the residents switched to the argument that the possibility of traffic cutting through the adjacent neighborhood constituted an unusual circumstance. But the Third District Court of Appeal ruled for the city. While acknowledging that nearby residents feared cut-through traffic on Camino Real Way, an adjacent private road, the court wrote, “the record contains no factual foundation supporting the proposition that the approved project will create significant traffic-related safety issues for residents of the subdivision due to increased traffic on Camino Real Way from non-residents.” The case arose from a proposal to construct a Grocery Outlet supermarket that included three parcels allowing three separate businesses, including a fast-food restaurant with a drive-through. During the approval process, neighbors argued that the fast-food restaurant would create significant traffic and noise impacts that would disqualify the use of Article 32 exemption. However, the city concluded that it could not approve the fast-food restaurant and retain the Article 32 exemption. Subsequently the developer withdrew the fast-food restaurant from the project, though a future retail or restaurant development on that project remained possible. In court, the neighbors argued that the possibility of cut-through traffic was an unusual circumstance and that the city piecemealed the project by excluding the fast-food pad from its decision to apply the exemption.

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