Citizens for Amending Proposition v. City of Pomona

*1165 In June 1993, appellant City of Pomona (Pomona) entered into an agreement with non-party Regency Outdoor Advertising, Inc. (Regency). Pursuant to that agreement, Regency erected advertising billboards alongside several Pomona freeways. Shortly thereafter, in November 1993, the citizens of Pomona passed a ballot initiative, Proposition L (Prop. L), which prohibited the construction of additional billboards within city limits.

Pomona's agreement with Regency expired by its terms in June 2014. In July 2014, the Pomona city council adopted an ordinance purporting to amend the agreement by extending it for an additional 12-year term. Plaintiffs/Respondents Citizens for Amending Proposition L (Citizens), Vernon Price, and J. Keith Stephens (collectively, respondents) filed a petition for a writ of mandate and complaint for declaratory relief, alleging that the July 2014 "amendment" was in fact a new agreement for new billboards enacted in violation of Prop. L. The trial court agreed and granted the petition. It also awarded respondents attorney's fees pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5.

*1166 In this appeal, Pomona challenges these rulings on a variety of…