California Court of Appeal

In plaintiffs' petition for a writ of mandate to vacate an Irrigation District's (District) approval of an agreement to provide water to a casino located on tribal land, trial court's grant of the petition is reversed and remanded for the sole purpose of ordering the trial court to mandate the District to conduct further proceedings in accordance with California Environmental Quality Act, but otherwise affirmed where: 1) with respect to the CEQA issues, the trial court correctly determined that the project did not qualify for the small projects categorical exemption because the project's unusual circumstances created a potential for environmental impact and thus triggered an exception to the categorical exemption; and 2) with respect to the issues surrounding the annexation conditions, the trial court correctly determined that the District had no authority to adjudicate the conditions' constitutionality or disregard their application to the proposed agreement.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/04/2012
• Published 10/04/2012

Judges

• Nicholson

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel