Tahoe Tavern Property Owners Ass'n v. United States Forest Service

MEMORANDUM *

Tahoe Tavern Property Owners Association and Tavern Shores Owners Association (collectively “Associations”), two nonprofit organizations composed of homeowners, appeal from the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the United States Forest Service and the County of Placer, California. The Associations had filed their action for the purpose of challenging a decision by the Forest Service and Placer County to build a “transit center” on a site commonly known as the “64 Acres” in Tahoe City, California. We affirm.

(1) The Associations argue that the Federal Transportation Administration (“FTA”) and the Forest Service acted arbitrarily and capriciously 1 when they determined that the strictures of Section 4(f) of the Federal Transportation Act 2 need not be applied to the transit project in question here. We disagree. Our careful review of the lengthy record, which covers the time from which the Forest Service acquired the 64 Acres to the final approval of the use of that property, reveals that neither the FTA nor the Forest Service acted arbitrarily or capriciously in making the determination that the joint planning exception to Section 4(f) applied.…