Consolidated Irrigation District v. City of Selma

—In this proceeding under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.), 1 the trial court granted an irrigation district’s petition for a writ of mandate challenging a city’s use of a mitigated negative declaration in approving a 160-unit, 44-acre residential development.

The city appealed, arguing that the trial court erred by (1) concluding the irrigation district had standing to pursue this CEQA proceeding, (2) augmenting the record of proceedings with documents that were not submitted to the *191 city, (3) concluding the irrigation district’s claims were not barred by a failure to exhaust administrative remedies, and (4) determining that substantial evidence supported a fair argument that the proposed development might have a significant effect on the environment.

In the published portion of this opinion, we conclude that (1) the trial court’s finding that the documents it ordered included in the record of proceedings were submitted to the city is supported by substantial evidence and, therefore, the order to augment was properly granted; (2) the irrigation district had beneficial interests that might be affected by the…