Calif. Likely To Have More CEQA 'Projects' Following Ruling

Law360 (August 21, 2019) Cities up and down California will likely need to do additional review under the California Environmental Quality Act after a decision earlier this week from the state's high court that a San Diego ordinance about medical marijuana facilities constituted a "project" under CEQA. The California Supreme Court said Monday that San Diego should have considered an ordinance allowing for medical marijuana cooperatives in certain commercial and industrial zones to be a project. Whether something is a project or not is the first question the CEQA process requires cities to answer, and experts say the decision to call such an ordinance a project will make other cities think twice on that aspect of the law. "San Diego jumped the gun. They tried to move forward without an environmental review in the face of a very clear opponent," said Heather Riley of Allen Matkins, who was not involved in the case, referring to plaintiff Union of Medical Marijuana Patients. "CEQA has a three-step process. The city exited the process at step one. The Supreme Court said the city should have determined this was a project, and gone on to step two. It's possible the zoning ordinance may have been exempt. San Diego never got to that stage. We just don't know what will happen at steps two and three," Riley said.