WOODWARD PARK HOMEOWNERS v. City of Fresno

Motschiedler, Michaelides & Wishon, James A. McKelvey and C. William Brewer, Fresno, for Real Party in Interest and Respondent.

WISEMAN, Acting P.J.

This case concerns the City of Fresno's approval of a new commercial development on vacant land near Woodward Park in Fresno. Invoking the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), two local organizations asked the superior court to set aside the city's approval. The court declined. We will reverse the superior court's decision. As we will explain, the city's actions violated CEQA and it must do the environmental review process over if it wants to approve the project.

One of CEQA's two major purposes is to require public agencies to adopt feasible mitigation measures to lessen the environmental impacts of the projects they approve. In this case, the project was expected to impact an already congested freeway interchange at State Route 41 and Friant Road. The city calculated a freeway impact fee of the kind frequently imposed on developments in other cities, but throughout almost the entire CEQA review process, the city took the position that it need not impose the fee or any other freeway mitigation measure. It took this…