Koster

This is a CEQA case (California Environmental Quality Act; Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.; further undesignated section references are to this code). One recurring observation in CEQA cases is that agencies must confront environmental realities in public, because CEQA generally forces agencies to provide reasons for their actions. Where, as here, an environmental impact report (EIR) makes recommendations which the agency chooses to reject, the agency must explain its reasons and such reasons are subject to challenge in a court of law.

The Board of Supervisors for the County of San Joaquin (the Board) considered several options to accommodate population growth. The Board considered but rejected a proposal to limit growth to existing cities and included one new town and one newly “expanded community” (real parties in interest New Jerusalem and Riverbrook, or new towns, collectively New Jerusalem except where otherwise apparent) in a long-range general plan amendment (General Plan 2010). Appellants (collectively, Koster) filed a petition for a writ of mandate, seeking to overturn the Board’s findings which permitted the inclusion of these new towns in General Plan…