Beverly Hills Unified School District v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

In May 2012, the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) approved the Westside Subway Extension Project (the Project), which will extend the Metro Purple Line heavy rail transit (HRT) subway system to the Westside of Los Angeles. As approved, the Project will add almost nine miles to the Purple Line, with seven new stations. One of those new stations will be located in Century City, at Constellation Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars (the Constellation station). To reach this station, the subway will travel through a tunnel to be constructed under Beverly Hills High School (the high school).

During the planning and environmental review process, the Beverly Hills Unified School District (School District) and the City of Beverly Hills (City) objected to the placement of the subway tunnel under the high school (or other properties located in Beverly Hills). Following Metro’s approval of the Project, School District and City filed petitions for writ of mandate in the trial court, challenging that approval. School District’s petition alleged that Metro failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources…