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Mark Ira Weinberger (1948 - 2005)

Mark Weinberger co-founded Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger in 1980, following five years practicing environmental law in the California Attorney General’s office. For 30 years he represented public agencies and community groups throughout California in a broad array of land use and environmental issues, including CEQA, community planning, resource protection and land conservation, air quality, coastal zone law, and Indian law.

Mark was a brilliant litigator and negotiator who had an enormous impact on the development of environmental and land use law in California.

As a litigator, his cases were instrumental in securing a number of important environmental victories throughout the state:

• In 1985, on behalf of the City of Carmel By-the-Sea, Mark successfully challenged approvals by the California Coastal Commission and County of Monterey of urban development on Odello Ranch East (right), just south of the Carmel River. The action was a critical step in preserving an urban limit line at the River and to maintaining scenic values at this gateway to Big Sur.

• Mark was lead counsel in two lawsuits that successfully challenged development of the 11,000-unit Dougherty Valley project in Contra Costa County and ultimately resulted in multiple agreements protecting local water supplies, limiting traffic growth, and mitigating impacts to open space.

• In litigation culminating in 1989, Mark and the firm successfully defended the County of Marin against constitutional challenges to its 60-acre zoning for agricultural lands. To this day, the County retains large-lot zoning for agricultural lands in West Marin, such as those shown here from Loma Alta Peak.

• For nearly a decade, Mark represented Orange County community groups in their efforts to preserve scenic open space in an area known as the Laguna Greenbelt. Following years of litigation, the firm negotiated an agreement with the Irvine Company that led to the establishment of the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and the protection of neighboring lands. 

• On behalf of a Marin County community group, Mark obtained a series of injunctions against the California State Department of Forestry, which had approved a permit to log old growth redwoods off of Lucas Valley Road. Mark’s successful litigation effort ultimately resulted in the purchase and permanent preservation of the redwood grove near the town of Nicasio.

Mark’s litigation was often at the forefront of emerging trends in the law.  He managed a series of cases in the late 1980s and early 1990s that clarified the scope of the electorate’s power to adopt local land use measures. He was lead counsel for the City of Walnut Creek in the state Supreme Court case Lesher Communications, Inc. v. City of Walnut Creek, 52 Cal. 531 (1990).

Mark was particularly well-known for his skill at negotiating agreements in complex land use disputes and developing innovative strategies for preserving open space and protecting environmental values. The following are just a few examples of his achievements:

• In response to Alameda County’s approval of a large scale residential development on open space lands, he led negotiations on behalf of the City of Livermore that resulted in cutting-edge multi-jurisdictional agreements creating land preservation incentives and establishing permanent urban growth boundaries.   For over a decade he guided the implementation of the program, which resulted in the creation of a land trust and the permanent preservation of thousands of acres in the South Livermore valley as agricultural open space.

• On behalf of the Colorado River Indian Tribes situated in the Mohave Desert, Mark helped settle longstanding quiet title litigation among numerous public and private entities relating to the movement of the course of the Colorado River, and helped protect invaluable resources such as the "intaglios" pictured at right. The cases culminated in the transfer of over 1,000 acres of agricultural land to the United States in trust for the Tribes.

• Mark represented a community organization in Contra Costa County in air district proceedings relating to an oil refinery, negotiating a settlement that assured a reduction in harmful emissions.

• Mark successfully challenged Alameda County’s approval of a massive expansion of the Altamont Landfill. He negotiated a settlement on behalf of the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton to reduce the expansion, limit imported waste, increase community participation, and create a fee program for open space acquisition and recycling education.

Mark began his legal career as an attorney in the environmental unit of the California Attorney General’s office in 1975, where he focused on coastal protection and logging regulation.  He played an important role in the emerging field of California environmental law, serving as lead counsel to one of the regional commissions of the California Coastal Commission, and assisting in the preparation of revisions to state forest practice rules, CEQA Guidelines, and General Plan Guidelines.

Mark received his undergraduate degree with honors from Stanford University where he was Editor in Chief of the Stanford Daily. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1974. He served three years on the California State Bar Committee on the Environment.