Families Unafraid to Uphold Rural El Dorado County v. BD., SUPERVISORS

[Opinion certified for partial publication. [1] ]

OPINION

DAVIS, J.

In this action, the City of Plymouth, the Foothill Conservancy, and an unincorporated association, Families Unafraid to Uphold Rural El Dorado County (also known as FUTURE) (collectively, the plaintiffs), have filed a petition for writ of mandate and a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against El Dorado County and its board of supervisors (collectively, County, or individually County and Board, as indicated). Plaintiffs allege the Board failed to comply with the County's draft general plan and with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in approving the "Cinnabar" residential subdivision project. Cook Ranch Partners (Cook), the real party in interest, is Cinnabar's developer.

Cinnabar is a planned development residential subdivision encompassing 566 lots on 7,868 acres of land (about 12 square miles), with an equestrian theme and nearly 2,900 acres of open space. The project site is in the southwestern portion of County and is currently used for grazing. The site is roughly six miles in length (north to south) and two miles in width. The northern boundary of the project site is about…