McCann

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Margaret McCann appeals a judgment in favor of defendant City of San Diego (City) on McCann’s petition for writ of mandate and an order denying her request for a preliminary injunction. McCann challenges the City’s environmental review process related to its decision to approve two sets of projects which would convert overhead utility wires to an underground system in several neighborhoods. McCann’s primary concern is the need for the underground system to be supplemented with several above-ground transformers, which would be housed in three-foot-tall metal boxes in the public right-of-way. According to McCann, the City violated the California Environmental

Quality Act (CEQA), (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) 1 by failing to properly consider the environmental impact of these projects. The City determined one set of projects was exempt from CEQA, and adopted a mitigated negative declaration (MND) for the second set of projects. McCann asserts that the significant impact on the environment caused by the above- ground transformer boxes, and the projects as a whole, required the City to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) for both sets of…