California Court of Appeal

In an action by opponents of a real estate development project converting a horse farm into human housing with room for horses, asserting that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) required an environmental impact report (EIR) to be prepared instead of a mitigated negative declaration (MND), under which the city council voted unanimously to approve the project, the trial court's judgment that an EIR was necessary because there was substantial evidence that the project's elimination of the farm may have a significant impact on the city's horse-friendly "community character" is reversed where whether the project should be approved is a political and policy decision entrusted to city elected officials, and it is not an environmental issue for courts under CEQA.

Appellate Information

• Published 2016/03/09

Judges

• NARES

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel