El Dorado Union High School District v. City of Placerville

This is an appeal by the City of Placerville (City) and Mace Lumsden and Lumsden, Inc. (Lumsden) from a judgment granting the El Dorado Union High School District’s (District) petition for writ of mandate and an injunction. The trial court set aside City’s approval of a tentative subdivision map for a proposed residential development and an environmental impact report (EIR) for that project, and prohibited City from allowing the project to proceed until an EIR is prepared analyzing the impact of the development on schools operated by District.

The dispositive issue on this appeal, not previously addressed in any jurisdiction, is whether the impact of increased student enrollment is cognizable under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.), 1 and the Guidelines issued by the State Resources Agency to implement CEQA (Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 14, § 15000 et seq., hereafter Guidelines). We conclude such an impact is within the purview of CEQA under the facts and circumstances of this case and affirm the judgment.

Facts

In 1979 Lumsden applied to City for a zoning change, tentative subdivision map and a grading permit for a…