SMW Helps El Segundo Combat Adverse Airport Impacts from LAX
The firm negotiates a global settlement of a dispute over the expansion of the Los Angeles International Airport, limiting the size of the expansion, mitigating its impacts on neighbors, and assisting in the development of a long-term regional strategy to satisfy aviation demand through other airports in the Los Angeles area. (El Segundo v. Los […]
SMW’s Defense of Affordable Housing
Photo Credit: Satellite Affordable Housing Associates The firm successfully defends a challenge to an affordable housing project for low-income seniors in Berkeley. (Bowman v. City of Berkeley, 122 Cal.App.4th 572 (2004).)
Successful Defense of Transbay Transit Center
Photo credit: Sergio Ruiz, Flickr, CC BY 2.0 The firm and the San Francisco City Attorney’s office in 2005 successfully defend the Transbay Joint Powers Agency against challenges to its CEQA/NEPA compliance for the Transit Center, Downtown Rail Extension, and associated redevelopment.
SMW Advises Merced County on University Community Plan
Photo Credit: Qymekkam, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Assisted by the firm, Merced County in 2004 adopts the University Community Plan for the land uses and infrastructure necessary to support the new UC Merced campus.
Court Halts Unnecessary Roadway Expansion in Rural Ventura County
The firm prevails in a CEQA challenge to a roadway expansion that would have transformed the Town of Somis in rural Ventura County. Caltrans then agrees to a modest project alternative proposed by the firm’s traffic expert. (Save Our Somis v. Caltrans (2003).)
Relaxed CEQA Guidelines Rejected
In a groundbreaking appellate decision in a case brought by the firm, the appellate court overturns new CEQA guidelines adopted by the Wilson administration that would have weakened environmental review requirements across the state. (Communities for a Better Environment v. Cal. Resources Agency, 103 Cal.App.4th 98 (2002).)
Airport Expansion Requires Meaningful Noise Analysis
The firm succeeds in a CEQA challenge to a large expansion of the Oakland International Airport, obtaining a landmark appellate ruling that the environmental impact report must analyze the project’s severe noise impacts on nearby residents. (Berkeley Keep Jets Over the Bay Committee v. Bd. of Port Comm’rs, 91 Cal.App.4th 1344 (2001).)
SMW Helps Defeat Proposal to Weaken Zoning Protecting Placer County Timberlands
The firm assists Sierra Watch and Mountain Area Preservation in defeating a proposal in 2001 to amend Placer County’s zoning regulations to allow ski lifts and ski runs as “permitted uses” in the County’s Timberland Production Zones.
SMW Protects Stanford Foothills
Thanks to advocacy by the firm and its client Committee for Green Foothills, Santa Clara County in 2000 adopts an “Academic Growth Boundary,” limiting Stanford University’s ability to expand into the foothills for 25 years.
Successful Negotiations Protect American River Water Resources
The firm assists the Water Forum in its adoption in 2000 of a landmark agreement among multiple stakeholders that sets the allocation of water from the American River Watershed.