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In an unpublished ruling, an appellate court has found fault with the environmental impact report for the proposed aerial gondola from Los Angeles Union Station to Dodger Stadium and has ordered LA Metro to redo the EIR. The court found that LA Metro had not sufficiently analyzed noise impacts during the construction period and had failed to adequately consult with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, which has jurisdiction over the natural resources in several parks that would be affected by the gondola. But the 119-page ruling was not all bad news for LA Metro, however. The court ruled that a land use inconsistency with the Los Angeles State Historic Park near Chinatown was easily resolved with an amendment to the park’s general plan. The court also said Metro had properly analyzed alternatives, including increased bus service from Union Station to the stadium.

Opponents of downtown affordable housing in Eureka may have lost a ballot measure last fall, but they are continuing a barrage of litigation to try to stop conversion of three downtown parking lots to housing.

Reversing a lower court ruling, an appellate court has thrown out the City of Mount Shasta’s mitigated negative declaration for a charter school and ordered the city to do an environmental impact report. The ruling would seem to run counter to the current trend – at least in the legislature – to minimize the use of EIRs.

In his “May revise” budget for next year, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed creating the long-awaited state vehicle miles traveled mitigation program, with mitigation to be allocated on a region-by-region basis.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling involving the National Environmental Policy Act does not directly affect California’s environmental review process. But the NEPA ruling is likely, some lawyers say, to expand the gulf between NEPA and the California Environmental Quality Act.

Under fierce pressure from environmentalists and labor unions, the Senate has gutted Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB 607, a major California Environmental Quality Act reform bill, subject to additional negotiations.

As virtually every major media outlet in California has reported, SB 79 – Sen. Scott Wiener’s bill that would give significant land-use power to transit agencies – barely squeaked by in the Senate last week and is now in the Assembly.

A local jurisdiction can’t condition the completion of a permit application on environmental information not included in the permit’s application checklist.

A potentially important case involving the California Environmental Quality Act from Eureka has been published, meaning it can now be used as precedent in other cases.

State laws override local land-use ballot measures.

Significant reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act have been included in a “budget trailer bill; and could take effect as soon as next week. The bill also amends the Permit Streamlining Act to speed up ministerial projects. Although at tentative deal was announced Tuesday night as part of a budget agreement, the trailer bill still must be approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The legislative analysis of AB 130, the trailer bill, can be found here. Most of the CEQA provisions were moved over from Assemblymember Buffay Wicks’ AB 609. Most importantly, the bill significantly expands the CEQA exemption for infill development ; an exemption that is already being used more and more frequently by cities. Currently, to qualify for the exemption, a project must be less than 5 acres in size and 75% surrounded by urban development. The trailer bill expands the CEQA exemption to include projects of 20 acres or less. The projects can still be 75% surrounded by urban development ; but also applies to projects where 75% of the land within a ¼-mile radius of the site consists of urban development. This essentially brings neighborhood context into the definition of infill, rather than just the parcel. (Builder’s remedy projects seeking a CEQA exemption would still be limited to 5 acres.) The infill exemption applies only to projects of a certain density ; specifically, half of the so-called “Mullin densities; contained in SB 375. The minimum densities would be at least five units per acre for an unincorporated area in a nonmetropolitan county, 10 units per acre in a suburban jurisdiction, and 15 units per acre in a metropolitan jurisdiction. Any project below these densities would be subject to CEQA. To qualify for the exemption, projects still must conform with the local general plan and any specific plans. The trailer bill would also impose Permit Streamlining Act deadlines on ministerial approvals for the first time. Up to now, PSA deadlines have applied only to discretionary approvals. The trailer bill would impose a 60-day shot clock on ministerial projects.

In a new battle between the Tejon Ranch Company and environmentalists, an appellate court has ruled that Los Angeles County’s environmental impact report for the Centennial community in Antelope Valley was misleading because it tried to count “upstream” reductions in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the state’s cap-and-trade program.