California Court of Appeal

In plaintiffs' petition for a writ of administrative mandate challenging the decision of a county to approve a subdivision development proposed by developers, trial court's denial of the petition on the ground that the proposed subdivision was exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under the categorical exemption for in-fill development, is reversed and remanded where: 1) the project was not exempt from CEQA review as the county used the wrong legal standard in applying the exemption and substantial evidence does not show the proposed subdivision satisfied the exemption's criteria; and 2) trial court's order must be vacated as plaintiffs have demonstrated a prejudicial abuse of discretion as, when a failure to comply with the law subverts the purposes of CEQA by omitting information from the environmental review process, the error is prejudicial.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/07/2010
• Published 10/07/2010

Judges

• Jones

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Sabrina V. Teller, Richard E. Winnie