Porterville Citizens for Responsible Hillside Development v. City of Porterville

INTRODUCTION

Appellant and real party in interest Contour Development, Inc. (Contour), seeks to build a subdivision of 219 single-family homes (the housing project) on a hillside in the east side of the City of Porterville (City). Following preparation of an initial study, a mitigated negative declaration was prepared (the MND). After two public hearings, the city council passed a resolution adopting the MND and attached mitigation monitoring program, and a resolution approving the housing project’s tentative subdivision map (TSM).

Respondent and plaintiff Porterville Citizens for Responsible Hillside Development (PCRHD) filed a petition for writ of mandamus, alleging violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the Subdivision Map Act (SMA) (Gov. Code, § 66410 et seq.).

Contour requested that judicial notice be taken of the EIR (environmental impact report) prepared for the 1990 amendment of the City’s general plan (GPA EIR) and of an urgency ordinance concerning hillside development that was passed on the same date that the housing project was approved (Ordinance No. 1680). Contour did not proffer any evidence that either of these documents had…