Banning Ranch Conservancy v. City of Newport Beach

*1214 Opinion

Plaintiff Banning Ranch Conservancy appeals from the denial of its petition for a writ of mandate directing the City of Newport Beach (City) to vacate certification of an environmental impact report (EIR) for the development of Sunset Ridge Park.

Plaintiff contends the EIR wrongly defined the project to exclude the pending residential and commercial development on an adjacent property, Banning Ranch. It claims the park and development are one interrelated project to which the City is giving improper “piecemeal” review.

In addition, plaintiff asserts the EIR was substantively inadequate in five ways. It contends the EIR insufficiently analyzed the park’s cumulative traffic impact, growth-inducing impact, cumulative biological impact, impact on the California gnatcatcher’s habitat, and consistency with the California Coastal Act of 1976 (Coastal Act) (Pub. Resource Code, § 30000 et seq.).

We disagree with plaintiff’s contentions, and affirm. First, the EIR’s project definition properly excluded the neighboring development, which is not a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the park. The two are separate projects with different proponents, serving different…