McBail & Co. v. Solano County Local Agency Formation Commission

By this opinion we decide that a Local Agency Formation Commission’s (LAFCO) denial of a petition for annexation must be based upon articulated reasons which have a rational connection to the purposes of the Cortese-Knox Local Government Reorganization Act of 1985 (CorteseKnox Act or Act) and that those reasons, in turn, be supported by substantial evidence in the record of the administrative hearing. In the matter before us we find that appellant Solano County LAFCO’s reason for denying respondents’ annexation petition—that it did not enhance the mission of Travis Air Force Base—was not rationally related to the purposes of the Act. We therefore affirm the trial court’s issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate remanding the matter to LAFCO for further proceedings. We reverse, however, to the extent that the trial court’s writ purports to limit LAFCO’s discretion in denying the petition on reconsideration.

Procedural Background

Respondents McBail & Company, Comstock Financial Chartered and Baumeister Von Altdorf, Ltd. (collectively referred to in the singular as McBail) are owners of real property located in unincorporated Solano County. They, along with the owners of…