Respect Life S. San Francisco v. City of S.F.

*452 The City of South San Francisco approved a conditional-use permit allowing an office building to be converted to a medical clinic for use by Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Inc. (Planned Parenthood), the real party in interest. The City determined that its consideration of the permit was categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, Public Resources Code section 21000 et seq uitur (CEQA). 1 Respect Life South San Francisco (Respect Life) and several individuals challenged the City's determination by petitioning for a writ of mandate in the trial court. The court denied the petition.

On appeal, Respect Life contends that the permit's consideration is not exempt from CEQA because the unusual-circumstances exception to CEQA's categorical exemptions applies. We are not persuaded. By pointing only to evidence that the permit will lead to protests, Respect Life fails to establish, as it must to prevail, that the City prejudicially abused its discretion by making an implied determination that there are no unusual circumstances justifying further CEQA review. Accordingly, we affirm.

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This case arose when the owner of an…