Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power v. County of Inyo

Discussion. Jennifer B. Henning for California State Association of Counties as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants. Michael N. Feuer, Joseph A. Brajevich, Julie C. Riley, Melanie A. Tory; Downey Brand, Christian L. Marsh and Kathryn L. Oehlschlager for Plaintiff and Respondent. -ooOoo- The County of Inyo (County) appeals from a judgment and issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate in a proceeding under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.).1 The trial court issued the writ of mandate after determining (1) County’s description of the activity constituting its project was too narrow and, thus, did not comply with CEQA and (2) the project, when properly defined, was not exempt from CEQA’s requirements. The project includes County’s use of condemnation proceedings to acquire fee simple title to three sites it leases and uses for landfills and County’s continued operation of the landfills. In arguing that the project was exempt from CEQA, County relied on the commonsense exemption and the existing facilities exemption. (See Guidelines, §§ 15061, subd. (b)(3) [commonsense exemption], 15301, subd. (a) [existing facilities…