San Franciscans Upholding the Downtown Plan v. City & County of San Francisco

In October 2000, the City of San Francisco (City), acting through its board of supervisors (the Board), planning commission, (the Commission), redevelopment agency (the Agency) and mayor, approved the expansion of the Yerba Buena Center Redevelopment Plan to include a massive redevelopment project (the Project) planned for the site of the former Emporium store in downtown San Francisco bounded by Market, Fourth, Mission and Fifth Streets (the Emporium Site Redevelopment Area). This appeal is from a judgment denying a mandamus writ petition filed by appellants San Franciscans Upholding the Downtown Plan, and five individual San Francisco residents, seeking to invalidate the Project on the grounds the City and its pertinent agencies, agents and representatives abused their discretion in certifying the Project environmental impact report (EIR), amending the Yerba Buena Center Redevelopment Plan, and approving the Project, all in alleged violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the San Francisco Planning Code (Planning Code), the San Francisco General Plan, and the California Community Redevelopment Law.

On appeal, appellants argue that the judgment…