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The Climate Litigation Database

Save Our Access v. City of San Diego

Geography
Date
2022
Document type
Litigation
Part of

About this case

Filing year
2022
Status
Trial court judgment in favor of City reversed.
Docket number
D084132
Court/admin entity
United StatesState CourtsCal. Ct. App.
Case category
State Law ClaimsState Impact Assessment Laws
Principal law
United StatesCalifornia Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
At issue
Challenge to the CEQA review conducted for the 2022 approval of a ballot measure to exclude the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning area from the Coastal Height Limit Overlay Zone, which generally imposes a 30-foot building height limit.

Documents

Filing Date
Type
Action Taken
Summary
Document
10/17/2025
Decision
Trial court judgment in favor of City reversed.
The California Court of Appeal reversed a trial court judgment in favor of the City of San Diego in a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) challenge to the City’s 2022 approval of a ballot measure to exclude the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning area from the Coastal Height Limit Overlay Zone, which generally imposes a 30-foot height limit for buildings. The appellate court discussed “a few nonexhaustive examples” of how the CEQA review failed to consider potential significant environmental impacts of substantially taller buildings, including failure to consider increased construction-related air quality and greenhouse gas impacts as a result of increased building heights.

Summary

Challenge to the CEQA review conducted for the 2022 approval of a ballot measure to exclude the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning area from the Coastal Height Limit Overlay Zone, which generally imposes a 30-foot building height limit.