Pala Band of Mission Indians v. Bd. of Supervisors of San Diego Cty.

In 1994, San Diego County voters approved Proposition C, an initiative entitled the “Gregory Canyon Landfill and Recycling Collection Center Ordinance.” Proposition C amended the San Diego County General Plan (General Plan) and the San Diego County Zoning Ordinance (Zoning Ordinance) to designate an area known as “Gregory Canyon” for use as a privately owned solid waste facility. The initiative conditioned the development of the facility on approval from various state and federal agencies. The initiative placed the responsibility for obtaining the state and federal permits on the “Applicant,” defined as “Servcon-San Marcos, Inc. or its assignee or authorized representatives.”

Pala Band of Mission Indians (Pala), which owns property near the Gregory Canyon site, petitioned for a writ of mandate, requesting the court to declare the initiative invalid because several of its provisions violated the California Constitution and state law. Pala named the County of San Diego and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors (collectively County) as respondents/defendants, and named Servcon-San Marcos, Inc. (Servcon) as the real party in interest. The County and Servcon filed answers…