Christward Ministry v. Superior Court

Christward Ministry (Christward) appeals the denial of its petition for a writ of mandate to set aside the adoption of a general plan amendment creating a solid waste management facilities designation and applying it to the San Marcos landfill without an environmental impact report (EIR) by the City of San Marcos (City).

Facts

The City has eight separate planning areas including the 4000-acre South City planning area involved here. Christward owns 640 acres in the South City area which it uses as a religious retreat. Also within the South City area is the 202-acre San Marcos sanitary landfill. The landfill has been operated continuously since 1977 when the City approved an environmental impact report and special use permit for the landfill.

In 1984, the City’s staff proposed an amendment to the general plan (GPA 02-84) in response to legislation requiring local planning agencies to identify solid waste facility sites and to adopt guidelines for avoiding potential conflicts between solid waste facilities and surrounding land uses. The amendment proposed a solid waste management facilities plan designation for the South City area and applied the designation specifically…