Save Our Access v. City of San Diego

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.