Projects

Caltrain Electrification Project

Caltrain Electrification Project

The Caltrain Electrification Project consists of changing the diesel-powered locomotives and infrastructure for the commuter rail service between San Francisco and San Jose to electrified service to allow more frequent/faster trips, accommodate more passengers, and eliminate hundreds of thousands of pounds of carbon emissions annually. Part of the funding for the project comes from the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which will share the electrified track for its future high-speed rail service on the Peninsula. Caltrain certified a final EIR for the electrification project in January 2015. Opponents of high-speed rail in the South Bay sued, and Sabrina Teller and Elizabeth Pollock successfully defended the EIR in Contra Costa County Superior Court in August 2016. The project received its federal funding in 2017 and is expected to be constructed by 2020.

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority – Regional Connector

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority – Regional Connector

The Regional Connector Transit Corridor light-rail project provides the crucial missing link in the Los Angeles light-rail network. The 1.9 mile light-rail extension will connect the existing Metro Gold Line to the Metro Blue and Expo Lines through downtown Los Angeles, allowing passengers to travel across the county via light rail without needing to make transfers. The Regional Connector will help to create a sustainable light-rail transit system, improving air quality, reducing traffic congestion, and improving mobility. RMM has successfully defended the project in eight lawsuits in state and federal court alleging violations of CEQA, NEPA, and the Public Records Act, including in the Ninth Circuit case Japanese Village, LLC v. Federal Transit Administration, 843 F.3d 445 (9th Cir. 2016). Tiffany Wright is RMM’s lead attorney for Metro.

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority – Westside Subway Extension

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority – Westside Subway Extension

Metro’s Westside Subway Extension will extend the Purple Line nine miles west, from downtown Los Angeles to the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Hospital, traveling along the busy Wilshire corridor. The $7.8 billion project will provide a fast, reliable, high-capacity, and environmentally-sound transportation solution, serving as a primary connector between residential communities throughout Los Angeles County and the very dense regional job centers in the Westside. The Project will result in significant environmental benefits such as air quality improvements, congestion relief, economic development, and increased mobility. The project has drawn 10 lawsuits in state and federal court, alleging violations of CEQA, NEPA, the Public Records Act, the Public Utilities Code, and Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act. RMM has successfully defended Metro in those lawsuits, leading to the published opinion in Beverly Hills Unified School Dist. v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (2015) 241 Cal.App.4th 627. Tiffany Wright is RMM’s lead attorney for Metro.

Topock Groundwater and Soil Cleanup

Topock Groundwater and Soil Cleanup

Since 2006, Andee Leisy has worked with the Department of Toxic Substances Control and its environmental consulting team, Environmental Science Associates, on various environmental documents prepared pursuant to CEQA and involving the cleanup of Hexavalent chromium (chromium-6) from soil and groundwater originating from PG&E’s Topock Compressor Station site. The project area is sacred to over six Indian Tribes. DTSC certified a Subsequent EIR and approved the final groundwater remedy design in April 2018.

California High-Speed Rail Project

California High-Speed Rail Project

The California High-Speed Rail Project is a planned high-speed train system for intercity travel in California between the major metropolitan centers of Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area in the north, through the Central Valley, to Los Angeles and San Diego in the south. The California High-Speed Rail Authority retained RMM as outside counsel to represent the Authority alongside the California Attorney General’s Office to defend against CEQA litigation challenging the California High-Speed Rail Project in 2012. After preparing programmatic EIRs covering the statewide project as a whole and the San Francisco Bay Area, the Authority began preparing project EIRs for the individual rail segments. The first of these project EIRs to be certified was for the Merced-to-Fresno segment in 2012. Sabrina Teller assisted the state in successfully defending against a motion for preliminary injunction that would have precluded further planning, design, and construction of the first project segment while the case was pending. The case settled on the eve of trial in 2013, and construction of the first planned operating segment is well underway in and around Fresno. The Authority certified an EIR for the next project segment from Fresno to Bakersfield in 2014. Several lawsuits challenging that EIR were related in Sacramento County Superior Court, but the litigation was abated until early 2018 while the California Supreme Court considered relevant legal issues in Friends of Eel River v. North Coast Railroad Authority (2017) 3 Cal.5th 677.  Jim Moose, Sabrina Teller, Brian Plant, Laura Harris, Elizabeth Pollock, and Christopher Stiles continue to advise the Authority with respect to CEQA compliance for subsequent project segments as well as environmental permitting issues.

Rocklin Crossings Project

Rocklin Crossings Project

RMM represented retail developer Donahue Schriber during the environmental review process for, and litigation over, the Rocklin Crossings Retail project, located on Interstate 80 and Sierra College Boulevard in the City of Rocklin. Encompassing 55 acres, the project includes a Walmart as an anchor tenant and a Bass Pro Shop as another major tenant. The litigation over the project involved issues focused on urban decay, traffic impacts, air quality, and greenhouse gas emissions.

City of Santa Cruz

City of Santa Cruz

RMM has provided advice on CEQA and land use issues to the City of Santa Cruz since 1998. During that time period, RMM has assisted City staff and consultants with the preparation of environmental documents for major projects such as the City’s Beach and Laurel Area Plan, the City’s General Plan, and a proposed desalination plant that could be built and operated in tandem with the Soquel Creek Water District.

Sierra Vista Specific Plan

Sierra Vista Specific Plan

RMM worked as outside counsel to the landowner group that obtained approval of the Sierra Vista Specific Plan (SVSP) from the City of Roseville in 2010.  The SVSP covers a 1,624-acre area and authorizes the development of a mix of land uses, including 6,650 residential units, approximately 215 acres of commercial and office uses, approximately 60 acres of public/quasi-public, 267 acres of open space uses, 14 acres of paseos, and 90 acres of parks.

Elk Grove Unified School District

Elk Grove Unified School District

In the several years leading up to the Great Recession of 2008, the Elk Grove Unified School District was the second-fastest growing school district in California, and had to build several high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools to keep up with population growth in its service area. During that time period, RMM actively assisted the District with various environmental documents, including EIRs for joint high school/middle school complexes and mitigated negative declarations for elementary schools. In doing this work, RMM had to apply not only general CEQA principles, but also provisions of CEQA and the Education Code specific to school siting issues.