Zinderman v. City of Los Angeles

A resident of Westwood, California, filed a petition challenging the City of Los Angeles’s approvals of an eldercare facility that included senior independent units, assisted living care units, and Alzheimer’s/dementia care units, as well as a daycare facility and other uses. The petitioner contended that the City Council incorrectly determined that the project qualified for streamlined environmental review in a Sustainable Communities Environmental Assessment (SCEA) under the California Environmental Quality Act. She alleged that the City relied on a too-broad definition of SCEA, which she alleged was intended to apply to predominantly residential projects that would generate persons likely to use transit as part of the State’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increased transit use.