San Elijo Ranch, Inc. v. County of San Diego

*610 Opinion

1. Basis for Appeal

The County of San Diego (County) appeals from the granting of a traditional writ of mandate issued at the request of San Elijo Ranch, Inc. (San Elijo) and the City of San Marcos (City) compelling the County to landscape its San Marcos landfill. San Elijo and the City contend that the County agreed to the landscaping requirements in its environmental impact statement (EIR) prepared by the County when it requested authority to expand the landfill. The City included those same requirements in the conditional use permit (CUP) it issued to the County authorizing the expansion.

The County raises the following issues: (1) did the City and San Elijo have to exhaust their administrative remedies before requiring issuance of a writ of mandate; (2) may mitigating provisions in an EIR be enforced by a writ of mandate.

We conclude that the California Integrated Waste Management Act (Waste Act) (Pub. Resources Code, § 40050 et seq.) 1 contains an extensive administrative structure to enforce conditions contained within the landfill permit issued to the County approving expansion of the San Marcos landfill and that San Elijo’s failure, to pursue first those…