Archives: May 2021

First District Court of Appeal Rejects CEQA Claims for Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies and Finds General Plan Arguments Not a CEQA Issue

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In Stop Syar Expansion v. County of Napa (2021) 63 Cal.App.5th 444, a partially published opinion, the First District Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s denial of a writ petition challenging the EIR for an expansion of Syar Industries, Inc.’s aggregate operation in Napa County. The court concluded that the petitioner, Stop Syar Expansion (SSE), failed to exhaust its administrative remedies because it did not comply with Napa County’s local appellate procedures. In addition, the court held that SSE’s argument that the project is inconsistent with the County’s General Plan was not a CEQA issue and SSE therefore failed to properly raise the issue. Further, the court determined that SSE’s argument lacked merit because the County had adequately addressed potential inconsistency issues and reached a reasonable conclusion that the project was consistent with the General Plan.

Exhaustion Doctrine

Citing Tahoe Vista Concerned Citizens v. County of Placer (2000) 81 Cal.App.4th 577 (“Tahoe Vista”), the court emphasized that the burden is on the petitioner in a CEQA case to demonstrate that it exhausted its administrative remedies prior to filing suit by complying with the procedures applicable to the public agency in question. SSE was therefore required to demonstrate that it complied with the procedures in chapter 2.88 of the Napa County Code of Ordinances by timely filing a notice of intent to appeal and timely submitting an appeal packet which specifically identified the grounds it raises in its petition. The court noted that a list of string-cites to the administrative record without explanation as to how each citation supports the assertion the public agency was fairly apprised of the asserted noncompliance with CEQA, is not sufficient to meet the petitioner’s burden.

Consistency with the County’s General Plan

The court also addressed SSE’s contention that the EIR failed to consider whether the project was consistent with the County’s General Plan. The court held that the issue, as presented by SSE, was not a CEQA issue. Thus, the mandate procedures provided for CEQA violations under Public Resources Code section 21168.9 did not apply. SSE was therefore required to assert this cause of action under Code of Civil Procedure section 1085 for ordinary mandamus. SSE failed to ask for leave to amend its writ petition to add a cause of action under section 1085 in the trial court, and therefore, the claim was not properly before the court.

Further, the court noted, the standard of review for an agency’s consistency determination with its own General Plan is highly deferential to the agency. Such a decision can only be reversed if it is based on evidence from which no reasonable person could have reached the same conclusion. The court concluded that SSE did not make any General Plan inconsistency arguments based on this applicable standard of review. The court rejected SSE’s contention that it was not challenging the County’s substantive consistency determination and that a different standard of review should apply because SSE had argued that the EIR failed to disclose inconsistencies with the General Plan.

Finally, even if SSE had made its arguments under the proper standard—which the court reiterated it did not—the court held that the County addressed the project’s consistency with the General Plan at length in both the EIR and in a “General Plan Consistency Analysis.” The court concluded by noting that it is not the court’s place to “micromanage” the County’s determination whether a project is consistent with its own General Plan.

More California Cities Eliminate Parking Minimums to Promote Low Carbon Transportation and Affordable Housing

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Cities in California are eliminating parking minimum requirements and beginning to implement parking maximums for new construction projects. The hope is that these changes will promote low carbon modes of transportation, such as public transit, biking, and walking and increase affordable housing.

Parking minimums are deeply rooted in planning regulations and city codes. Proponents of eliminating these requirements emphasize that parking minimums can contribute to an overreliance on automobiles, which stunts progress toward more walkable and public transit-oriented development and planning. There is also concern that parking minimums contribute to urban sprawl because the physical space required for parking forces new developments farther from city centers, and that parking minimums encourage less dense development. These concerns have prompted numerous cities throughout the state to revisit their parking policies.

For example, in January 2021, the Sacramento City Council voted to approve citywide zoning reforms in its General Plan, including abolishing parking minimums. Sacramento also pledged to begin studies on parking maximums. These changes will still need to be codified in the city’s zoning code, which will likely be voted on later this year. The city’s shift is designed to reduce car trips, allow more efficient use of land, and provide the density and ridership necessary to support more transit services, which will reduce vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and GHG emissions. Sacramento also hopes that reducing parking in the city will create more space for pedestrian, bicycle, and transit infrastructure, which will help incentivize those modes of travel over single-occupancy vehicles. Public comments at the City Council meeting included some criticism of increasing density, but most comments were supportive of the city’s decision.

Also in January 2021, City of Berkeley officials voted to eliminate off-street parking requirements for new developments. The city determined that parking minimum requirements often thwart the construction of new housing. The city’s changes include exceptions for neighborhoods at risk for fire danger and streets that are narrower than 26 feet. The city also implemented parking maximums in transit-rich areas. Off-street residential parking cannot be offered at a rate of more than 0.5 spaces per unit for projects located within 0.25 miles of a high-quality transit corridor.

In 2018, San Francisco passed an ordinance that eliminated parking minimums citywide, for all uses. Parking is no longer required for any new developments anywhere in San Francisco. Most use types are also prohibited from providing more than 0.5–1.5 spaces, depending on the zoning of the district.

Critics of the elimination of parking minimums are concerned about areas that lack public transit options. This concern is one of the reasons that some cities have not eliminated minimums. In Los Angeles, for example, the public transit system lacks service in many areas and provides much longer travel times than single-occupancy vehicles. Parking minimums in the city require most apartments to provide one or two parking spots per unit and commercial properties are required to have one space for every 100 to 200 square feet, which often amounts to more space for parking than the business itself. Los Angeles’ lack of public transit and sprawling landscape, however, make it more difficult for the city to implement city-wide changes to its parking requirements.

The current housing crisis is another reason some cities are revisiting their parking policies. The elimination of parking minimums for new developments can promote construction of affordable housing. Parking minimums are costly for developers and limit design options. Parking also takes up a substantial amount of space, which reduces the number of housing units that can be built for a given project. Fewer parking spaces could mean more units built per project, with more of those units being designated as affordable. Urban landscapes in California may become more affordable and less polluted as these trends continue to unfold throughout the state.