No Wetlands Landfill Expansion v. County of Marin

A public agency issued a permit for expansion of a landfill after considering and certifying as complete an environmental impact report (EIR) prepared pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.; hereafter CEQA). * 1 Community organizations filed a petition for a writ of mandate. The organizations claimed a right to appeal the EIR certification to the county board of supervisors, and also claimed that the EIR was inadequate and should be adjudged so by the superior court. The superior court resolved the first issue alone and issued a judgment directing the county board of supervisors to hear an administrative appeal of the EIR certification.

We reverse the judgment. Approval of the landfill permit, and certification of the EIR for that approval, is a power vested in a local enforcement agency not the county itself. The local enforcement agency is a distinct legal entity from the county. The county board of supervisors has no authority to approve or disapprove the project at issue and thus is not a “decisionmaking body” empowered to hear plaintiffs’ administrative appeal. (§ 21151, subd. (c); see *578 Guidelines, §§ 15090,…