South County Citizens for Smart Growth v. County of Nevada

Petitioner South County Citizens for Smart Growth (Smart Growth) appeals from the trial court’s denial of its petition for writ of mandate in which Smart Growth alleged that the County of Nevada (the County) violated various provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) in approving a commercial real estate project in Nevada County. Smart Growth contends we must reverse the judgment because (1) the County failed to prepare and recirculate a revised draft environmental impact report (EIR) adding an alternative project proposal recommended by staff for the Nevada County Planning Commission (the staff alternative); (2) the County failed to make any findings regarding the feasibility of the staff alternative; and (3) the County relied on future traffic improvements that have not been approved yet in order to declare the revised project’s traffic impacts less than significant.

We conclude (1) the County did nor err in failing to prepare and recirculate a revised draft EIR adding the staff alternative, because the staff alternative was not “significant new information” within the meaning of the CEQA Guidelines; (2) the…