California Court of Appeal

Trial court's judgment granting a writ of mandate, directing the City of Palo Alto to set aside its approval of a permit to demolish the historic Juana Briones House and to comply with CEQA before considering reissuance of the permit, is reversed where: 1) CEQA does not apply to the demolition permit at issue in this case because approval of that permit was a ministerial act; 2) under the plain language of the governing municipal code provision, the City had no authority to impose a permit conditions that would render it discretionary, and this conclusion is not altered by the possibility that a building permit will subsequently issue; and 3) there was no actionable procedural violation, either of CEQA or of the governing municipal code provision.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/22/2010
• Published 11/22/2010

Judges

• McAdams

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Gregory K. Klingsporn, Susan Brandt-Hawley