CA Supreme Court Decision Proves There Is No Short Cut to CEQA

The California Supreme Court affirms that there is no shortcut to CEQA. Last week, the the court reversed an Appeals Court decision in Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, Inc. v. City of San Diego affirming that the establishment and location of medical marijuana consumer cooperatives are subject to CEQA.

“The Supreme Court’s holding reversing the Court of Appeal’s decision, which had upheld San Diego’s decision that its medical marijuana dispensary zoning ordinance was not a “project” for CEQA purposes, was the outcome I expected,” Art Coon, co-chair of the land use practice at Miller Starr Regalia, tells GlobeSt.com. “It really should not have surprised anyone familiar with this area of law, and was also the outcome signaled by the questions and comments of the Chief Justice and other justices at oral argument in the case.  Basically, the Court followed its own prior precedent—the 2007 Muzzy Ranch case and the CEQA “project” test it announced – which has been established California law for over a decade.  CEQA’s definition of “projects” within its scope at the “first tier” of its process is and always has been, unsurprisingly, intentionally broad and encompassing.”