Sierra Club v. West Side Irrigation District

The Sierra Club petitioned for writs of mandate to overturn two irrigation districts’ decisions to assign certain water rights to the City of Tracy. The Sierra Club alleged the districts violated the California Environmental Quality Act by using negative declarations instead of environmental impact reports to analyze the assignments’ environmental impacts. The trial court denied the petitions, and the Sierra Club appealed. We affirm.

FACTS

In 1993, real party in interest City of Tracy (City) adopted its general plan for directing land use and future development within the City and its sphere of influence. Forecasting large demand for development in the City, the general plan established the City’s policies for regulating growth anticipated to provide dwelling units and employment opportunities for nearly 130,000 new residents over the plan’s 20-year span. Such growth would almost quadruple the City’s 1990 population of 33,558.

Complying with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.), the City prepared an environmental impact report (EIR) that analyzed the significant environmental impacts such development could foreseeably…