Make UC a Good Neighbor v. Regents of University of Cal.

BACKGROUND

A.

Each University of California campus periodically adopts a long range development plan, a high-level planning document that helps guide the university’s decisions on land and infrastructure development. (See Ed. Code, § 67504, subd. (a)(1); Make UC a Good Neighbor v. Regents of University of California (2024) 16 Cal.5th 43, 49 (Make UC II); Make UC a Good Neighbor v. Regents of University of California (2023) 88 Cal.App.5th 656, 666 (Make UC I), superseded by statute and reversed by Make UC II at pp. 48-49, 60-61, 64-66.) UC Berkeley’s 2021 development plan estimated it would add 12,070 students, faculty, and staff to the university’s population by the 2036-2037 academic year and planned for the addition of 11,730 student beds to university housing. (Make UC II, at p. 50; Make UC I, at p. 666.) This litigation centered on the adequacy of an environmental impact report, or EIR, for two separate-but- related projects: (1) the 2021 development plan, and (2) a site- specific student housing project at People’s Park. (Make UC II, at pp. 48, 50-51; Make UC I, at pp. 664-666, 668.)

Good Neighbor filed the operative petition for writ of mandate against the Regents of the…