Upland Community First v. City of Upland

I. INTRODUCTION

In April 2020, defendant and respondent the City of Upland (City) approved the

development of a 201,096 square-foot “warehouse/parcel delivery service building,” to

be located on 50.25 acres near the Cable Airport (the project). As the lead agency for the

project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Pub. Res. Code, § 21000

et seq. 1), the City passed a resolution adopting a mitigated negative declaration (MND)

for the project (§ 21064.5; 14 Cal. Code Regs. (“CEQA Guidelines”) § 15369.5). In

related resolutions, the City approved an airport land use compatibility request, a site plan

and design review, lot line adjustment, and development agreement for the project. There

is no confirmed tenant for the project.

Plaintiff and appellant Upland Community First (UCF) filed a petition for a writ of

mandate and complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief, asking the superior court to

order the City to set aside the MND and other project approvals. Among other things,

UCF claimed the project violated CEQA (§ 21000 et. seq.) because a fair argument could

be made that the project would have significant impacts on greenhouse gas…