City Did Not Improperly Exclude Adjacent Pending Residential/Commercial Development From Its EIR.

The trial court denied a group’s petition for writ of mandate to vacate certification of an environmental impact report [EIR]. Petitioners claimed the City wrongly defined the project to exclude the pending residential and commercial development on an adjacent property, and that the project is interrelated with the City’s development of a park. The appellate court affirmed, noting the two are separate projects with different proponents, serving different purposes, and that the EIR adequately analyzes the park’s environmental impact.  Banning Ranch Conservancy v. City of Newport Beach (Cal. App. Fourth Dist., Div. 3; December 12, 2012) 211 Cal.App.4th 1209.