Hills for Everyone v. OSLIC Holdings LLC

The California Court of Appeal reversed a trial court’s finding that the analysis of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for a hillside residential development in the City of Brea was inadequate. On other issues, however, the appellate court largely affirmed the trial court’s judgment in favor of the petitioners challenging the project. With respect to the analysis of climate change impacts, the appellate court said the City of Brea had appropriately selected a significance threshold for project greenhouse gas emissions that was higher than one used for a similar residential project in 2010. The appellate court also said that the final environmental impact report for the project was not inadequate for failing to address the City’s Sustainability Plan, which the court said was not a regulation or requirement requiring an analysis of consistency under CEQA and was not detailed enough to serve as a basis for evaluating the project’s effects on greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the appellate court upheld the residential trip generation rate used by the City for its analysis of greenhouse gas impacts.