California Court of Appeals, First District, Third Division
[CERTIFIED
FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION[*]]
Mendocino
County Superior Court No. SCUKCVPT1463579 Honorable Jeanine
Nadel, Judge
Page 257
[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
Page 258
[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
Page 259
COUNSEL
Kopper
& Morgan, and William D. Kopper for Plaintiff and
Appellant.
Rapport
and Marston, David J. Rapport Armbruster Goldsmit &
Delvac, Damon P. Mamalakis and Dale J. Goldsmith for
Defendant and Respondent.
OPINION
Pollak,
J.
Plaintiff
Ukiah Citizens for Safety First (Citizens) appeals from the
denial of its petition for writ of mandate under the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources
Code, § 21050 et seq.), [1] challenging the
certification of an environmental impact report (EIR) by the
City of Ukiah and its city council (the city) for the
construction of a Costco Wholesale Corporation (Costco)
retail store and gas station. Citizens contends: (1) the EIR
did not properly identify and analyze potentially significant
energy impacts generated by the project; (2) the EIR’s
analysis of transportation and traffic impacts is inadequate;
(3) the EIR’s analysis of noise impacts is inadequate;
and (4) the project is inconsistent with applicable zoning
requirements.
We
agree with Citizens that the EIR fails to sufficiently
analyze potential energy impacts and that the adoption of an
addendum to the EIR subsequent to approval of the EIR and of
the project failed to comply with CEQA requirements. In the
unpublished portion of this opinion, we reject the remainder
of Citizens’ contentions. Accordingly, we shall reverse
the judgment and instruct that the petition for writ of
mandate be granted with respect to the analysis of energy
impacts of the project and affirm the trial court’s
decision in all other respects.
Page 260
Factual
and Procedural Background
On
February 1, 2011, Costco applied for a use permit to
construct a warehouse store and gas station (the project) on
a 15.33-acre site located in the southeast section of the
city. Because the project did not comport with current
zoning, Costco also sought to have the site rezoned.
On
January 30, 2013, the city released a draft EIR for the
project. In November 2013, following the period for public
comment, the city released the final EIR. The EIR describes
the project as a 148, 000-square-foot retail facility with a
bakery, pharmacy, optical center, hearing aid testing center,
food court, photo center, tire center, and a gas station with
16 pumps. The store would provide 608 parking stalls for
customer vehicles.
Among
other things, the EIR reports the project would increase
traffic volumes on area roadways resulting in significant
traffic impacts at identified intersections. The EIR includes
mitigation measures to reduce the impact, including
modifications to the impacted intersections, that will result
in acceptable conditions at the impacted intersections.
However, due to uncertainty of timing and funding of the
mitigation measures, the EIR concludes that the traffic
impacts of the project cannot be mitigated to a level that is
less than significant. The EIR also concludes that the
increase ...