California Court of Appeal

In this case involving a challenge under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to certification of an environmental impact report (EIR) and approval of a project to build a new entertainment and sports center in downtown Sacramento, the trial court’s judgment dismissing plaintiffs’ challenge to the sufficiency of defendant-city’s EIR and approval of the downtown arena project, and denying plaintiff Saltonstall's motion to augment the administrative record, is affirmed, where: 1) under CEQA, defendant was allowed to engage in land acquisition for its preferred site before finishing its EIR, and so defendant did not prematurely commit itself to approving the downtown arena project before completing its environmental review; 2) defendant considered a feasible "no project" alternative; 3) the EIR's traffic study of the project's effects on traffic were not deficient; 4) mere speculation about possible crowd violence and its effect on the environment does not compel EIR review; and 5) review of trial court orders on Public Records Act motions may only be made by writ petition, not by direct appeal.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/19/2015
• Published 02/18/2015

Judges

• Hoch

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel