RECENT CALIFORNIA DECISIONS

August 2007

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First District Affirms Ruling that Citizen Group Missed CEQA’s Statute of Limitations to Challenge Approval of Redevelopment Project
Citizens for a Megaplex-Free Alameda v. City of Alameda, et al.

On March 29, 2007, the First District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s denial of a petition for writ of mandate challenging the City of Alameda’s (Alameda) decision to adopt a mitigated negative declaration (MND) and approve a disposition and development agreement (DDA) for a redevelopment project. The project included rehabilitating a historic theater and constructing a multiscreen cineplex and adjacent parking structure. The court ruled that Public Resources Code § 21166 governed their review of Alameda’s subsequent decisions on the project, that the DDA was in fact an “approval” of a “project” under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.), and that substantial evidence supported the City’s decision not to prepare an EIR or to perform additional environmental review for later approvals.