Opinion
Plaintiff and appellant Van de Kamps Coalition filed a petition for writ of mandate and complaint for declaratory relief against respondents the Board of Trustees of Los Angeles Community College District (Board) and the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), alleging that the Board and the LACCD failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) in connection with the leasing of a campus site. The trial court sustained the demurrer without leave to amend on the ground that the action was time-barred.
We affirm. The decisions made in 2010 that appellant challenged in the petition and complaint were actions toward the implementation of a 2009 project approval and did not trigger the running of a new limitations period under Public Resources Code section 21167, subdivision (d).
On appeal from a judgment of dismissal following a demurrer sustained without leave to amend, we assume the truth of all well-pleaded facts, as well as those that are judicially noticeable, but not contentions, deductions or conclusions of fact or law. (Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. City of La Habra (2001)
The First CEQA Action
Appellant is an unincorporated association whose members first came together to save the historic Van de Kamps Bakery Building (Building or site) when a real estate developer proposed to demolish it and build a Home Base store. After the City of Los Angeles (City) prepared and certified an environmental impact report (EIR) for the project, the City Planning Commission denied approval. Appellant supported the LACCD’s acquisition of the site for the development of a satellite campus for Los Angeles City College. The LACCD completed the purchase of the two-acre site in 2001 through the issuance of Proposition 39 bonds.
During the next several years, the LACCD worked toward the construction and opening of a $72 million community college campus, comprised of the rehabilitated Building used for art studios and other classrooms and a new education building housing classrooms and a library. An EIR update and two addenda were prepared to analyze the environmental impacts of a satellite community college campus. Due to the state budget crisis, the LACCD realized by 2008 that it would be financially unable to operate the facility as a Ml satellite campus. But it recognized that there were a number of existing education and service providers that had the ability to operate on the site and present a comprehensive program of classes and training that could meet the community’s educational needs. In order to use the site for educational purposes, on My 15, 2009, the Board adopted resolutions which approved an interim use of the property and authorized a five-year lease of part of the Building to an outside tenant (Resolutions).
By way of the Resolutions, the Board determined, found and ordered that for a period of five years Los Angeles City College would have no programmatic or administrative responsibility for the operation of the facilities that had been constructed at the site; effective immediately, for a period of five years the LACCD would assume those responsibilities; the complex at the site would be renamed the Los Angeles Community College District Van de Kamp Innovation Center; and “[t]he District Office shall make the LACCD Van de Kamp Innovation Center space available on a rental basis to a variety
Also in 2009, the Board took certain actions in furtherance of the Resolutions. On November 4, 2009, the Board approved a $400,000 expenditure to Quatro Design Group for the purpose of redesigning the Building to meet the needs of the proposed new tenants. Further, on December 16, 2009, the Board approved the purchase of a neighboring property from the Portola Group (Portola Purchase Agreement); LACCD staff reported that the land was not for any particular project and the LACCD had no “ ‘current plans’ to develop the land . . . .”
On January 11, 2010, appellant filed a petition for writ of mandate (CEQA I) seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against the LACCD and others, challenging the adequacy of CEQA review for the July 15, November 4 and December 16, 2009 project approvals. Appellant alleged: “The actions on July 15, 2009 and November 4, 2009 were taken without any effort by the LACCD or its Board of Trustees to assess the potential significant environmental impact of the major changes being made to the land uses at the VdK Campus. For the action on December 16, 2009, contrary to substantial evidence in the record, the Board of Trustees adopted a resolution falsely claiming that the purchase of the land was ‘exempt from CEQA’ because the LACCD has ‘no current plans’ for the land.”
The Instant CEQA Action
Following the filing of CEQA I, the LACCD undertook additional actions in furtherance of the Resolutions. On May 26, 2010, the Board approved a lease with the City for a portion of the Building to be used for employment retraining. In July 2010 and again in October 2010, some of appellant’s members as individuals filed separate taxpayer petitions under Proposition 39 challenging the same actions alleged in CEQA I. (See Jackson v. Los Angeles Community College Dist. (Super. Ct. L.A. County, 2011, No. BS127587); Folsom v. Los Angeles Community College Dist. (Super. Ct. L.A. County, 2011, No. BS128994).)
The trial court denied appellant’s motion for leave to file a second amended petition in CEQA I to include claims based on the LACCD’s actions undertaken in 2010, which appellant claimed it discovered during the preparation of the administrative record. On November 19, 2010, appellant filed a second petition for writ of mandate and complaint for declaratory relief (CEQA II), and filed the operative first amended petition and complaint in February 2011.
Demurrer and Judgment
Initially, the trial court sustained with leave to amend the unopposed demurrer filed by the LACCD and the Board.
Appellant opposed the demurrer, arguing that the LACCD did not commit itself to a particular course of action until the later approvals in 2010. It also objected to judicial notice of correspondence.
Judgment was entered in June 2011 and this appeal followed. In September 2011, the trial court granted in part and denied in part the CEQA I petition, ruling that the change in tenants resulting from the Resolutions created the reasonable possibility of increased traffic impacts requiring environmental review but that the purchase of property from the Portola Group did not require further CEQA analysis.
DISCUSSION
Appellant contends the trial court erred in sustaining the demurrer without leave to amend, asserting that the allegations in CEQA II did not show on their face that the action was time-barred. We find no merit to this contention.
I. Standard of Review.
We review de novo a trial court’s sustaining of a demurrer, exercising our independent judgment as to whether the complaint alleges sufficient facts to state a cause of action. (Zelig v. County of Los Angeles (2002)
We apply the abuse of discretion standard in reviewing a trial court’s denial of leave to amend. (Blank v. Kirwan, supra,
II. The Trial Court Properly Sustained the Demurrer Without Leave to Amend on the Ground That Appellant’s Petition Was Time-barred.
A. 180-day Limitations Period.
In its petition, appellant alleged that the LACCD’s 2010 actions in furtherance of the Resolutions should be declared null and void because the LACCD failed to assess the potential significant environmental impacts resulting from the proposed changes in land use. Accordingly, appellant sought an order “compelling the LACCD to comply with CEQA and to prepare and approve a legally adequate supporting environmental document prior to consideration of any new resolutions, legislative actions or approvals concerning the proposed changes in use of the Northeast Satellite Campus to Los Angeles City College at the historic Van de Kamps Bakery.”
Public Resources Code section 21167, subdivision (d), provides that “[a]n action or proceeding alleging that a public agency has improperly determined that a project is not subject to [CEQA] . . . shall be commenced within 35 days from the date of the filing by the public agency . . . of. . . notice [of the determination].” However, where, as here, no such formal notice has been filed, “the action or proceeding shall be commenced within 180 days from the date of the public agency’s decision to carry out or approve the project. . . .”
The limitations period starts running on the date the project is approved by the public agency and is not retriggered on each subsequent date that the public agency takes some action toward implementing the project. (Citizens for a Megaplex-Free Alameda v. City of Alameda (2007)
To illustrate, in City of Chula Vista v. County of San Diego (1994)
B. Appellant Filed Its Petition More Than 180 Days After Project Approval.
We agree with the trial court’s reliance on Chula Vista, supra,
A “project” under CEQA is defined as “an activity which may cause either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, and which is any of the following: [][]... [f] (b) An activity undertaken by a person which is supported, in whole or in part, through contracts, grants, subsidies, loans, or other forms of assistance from one or more public agencies. [J] (c) An activity that involves the issuance to a person of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use by one or more public agencies.” (Pub. Resources Code, § 21065.) According to the CEQA Guidelines, a “project” refers to the activity that is being approved, which may include multiple discretionary approvals by governmental agencies. (Guidelines, § 15378, subd. (c).) “The term ‘project’ does not mean each separate governmental approval.” (Ibid.) “ ‘This definition ensures that the action reviewed under CEQA is not the approval itself but the development or other activities that will result from the approval.’ [Citation.]” (Megaplex-Free Alameda, supra,
Correspondingly, “ ‘ [a]pproval’ means the decision by a public agency which commits the agency to a definite course of action in regard to a project intended to be carried out by any person. The exact date of approval of any project is a matter determined by each public agency according to its rules, regulations, and ordinances. Legislative action in regard to a project often constitutes approval.” (Guidelines, § 15352, subd. (a).) In Save Tara v. City of West Hollywood (2008)
Here, the trial court properly determined that the July 15, 2009 Resolutions constituted the project approval for the purpose of CEQA review. At that time, the LACCD demonstrated its commitment to a project by directing that the LACCD “shall make the [site] available on a rental basis to a variety of service and educational entities” and authorizing the LACCD to negotiate and enter into a five-year lease agreement with Alliance. Appellant’s representatives were present at the meeting when the LACCD adopted the Resolutions, and expressed their concern about the lack of environmental review given the impacts triggered by the change in land use. Also in 2009, the LACCD approved a discretionary expenditure of $400,000 to the Quatro Design Group for the purpose of redesigning the Building interior and providing other services related to the implementation of the changed use of the Building. Over appellant’s objection, the LACCD additionally approved a resolution committing itself to the Portola Purchase Agreement, involving the acquisition of an adjacent property from the Portola Group.
The LACCD’s actions in 2009 constituted approval of a project, triggering the 180-day limitations period in Public Resources Code section 21167, subdivision (d), which means appellant’s November 2010 petition was untimely. (See Megaplex-Free Alameda, supra, 149 Cal.App.4th at pp. 105-106 [city’s resolution authorizing approval of a disposition and development agreement was a project approval for statute of limitations purposes, even though the agreement was thereafter subject to a number of discretionary approvals]; Chula Vista, supra,
On appeal, appellant argues that the May and July 2009 evaluation of traffic impacts was offered not to show a substantial change in the project, but rather, to show that the LACCD’s obligation to conduct an environmental review of those impacts was not triggered until it committed itself to a particular course of action by entering into a lease. Appellant relies on City of Vernon v. Board of Harbor Comrs. (1998)
Appellant also takes issue with the trial court’s reliance on Chula Vista, supra,
In any event, rather than relying on the language of the resolution in Chula Vista, supra,
Appellant further contends that the LACCD’s subsequent approvals in 2010 were each separate projects triggering a new limitations period. First, it contends that the inclusion of indemnification against CEQA I and the taxpayer lawsuits by amendments to the Portola Purchase Agreement was a subsequent project approval. Appellant alleged that in December 2009, the LACCD “approved a resolution legally committing itself to acquisition of the Portola/Denny’s Property,” expressly finding that the approval was exempt from CEQA. With respect to the amendments adding indemnification provisions, appellant further alleged: “The proposal to indemnify Portola in order for the purchase of the Portola/Denny’s property to move forward is a project within the meaning of CEQA because without the discretionary commitment of $500,000 in additional taxpayer funds, the purchase of the Portola/Denny’s Property could not be completed.”
The trial court properly determined that “the project is the purchase of the Portola Property and the addition of indemnification provisions are merely steps in furtherance of such project” that did not substantially change the overall project. Though appellant argues that the LACCD’s commitment of additional funds amounted to a separate project, the court in Citizens to Enforce CEQA v. City of Rohnert Park (2005)
Second, appellant alleged that on November 4, 2009, the LACCD approved an additional $400,000 for the Quatro Design Group to design construction changes. It further alleged that in connection with its November 2010 proposal to increase the Quatro Design Group contract by $298,416, the LACCD secretly approved the enclosure of a balcony to construct three rooms for workforce unemployment program tenants (balcony project) and
The trial court soundly rejected this argument, ruling that appellant “fails to allege how the addition of these design services and construction matters substantially changed the overall project, i.e., the renovation of the Van de Kamps Bakery building. Further any incidental and subsequent approvals such as interior remodeling or construction change orders are not ‘projects’ in and of themselves for purposes of CEQA, and cannot be properly treated as additional causes of action.” It concluded that neither the balcony project nor the driveway project triggered a new limitations period. We agree. As explained in Simi Valley Recreation & Park Dist. v. Local Agency Formation Com. (1975)
While CEQA’s substantive provisions are interpreted broadly to implement the legislative intent of strong environmental protection, this “does not mean that the same standard of liberality should necessarily be applied in interpreting the procedural requirements of [CEQA].” (Board of Supervisors v. Superior Court, supra,
C. The Trial Court Properly Exercised Its Discretion in Denying Leave to Amend.
Appellant did not oppose the LACCD’s first demurrer and instead elected to file an amended petition and complaint. Neither in its opposition to the demurrer nor on appeal has appellant suggested how it might further amend its petition and complaint to avoid the statute of limitations bar. Appellant bears the burden of demonstrating the manner in which its petition and complaint might be amended and showing how that amendment would change the legal effect of the pleading. (Goodman v. Kennedy (1976)
In view of appellant’s failure to meet its burden, we are guided by Delgado v. American Multi-Cinema, Inc. (1999)
The judgment is affirmed. The LACCD is entitled to its costs on appeal.
Boren, P. J., and Ashmann-Gerst, J., concurred.
Notes
The trial court ultimately sustained the LACCD’s demurrer without leave to amend to the Folsom action on the ground it was untimely under the 60-day limitations period in the
Appellant also named as real parties in interest the City of Los Angeles; Community Career Development, Inc.; Worker Education and Resource Center, Inc.; Catholic Charities; Los Angeles City College Workforce Development Division; Quatro Design Group; and Portola Ventures, Inc., none of which are parties to this appeal.
Unless separate references are necessary for clarity, hereafter the LACCD and the Board will be referred to singularly as the LACCD.
Though the record does not reflect the trial court’s ruling on the LACCD’s judicial notice request, the trial court’s specific reference to certain documents in the statement of decision, coupled with handwritten notations on the request, suggest that the trial court took judicial notice of all documents except correspondence.
Regulations guiding application of CEQA are found in title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, section 15000 et seq. They are often, and hereafter will be, referred to as the Guidelines. “ ‘In interpreting CEQA, we accord the Guidelines great weight. . . .’ [Citation.]” (Communities for a Better Environment v. South Coast Air Quality Management Dist. (2010)
We note that the trial court’s subsequent ruling in CEQA I confirms that the July 2009 Resolutions constituted project approval triggering the need for environmental review.
Appellant’s allegations preclude it from relying on an exception to strict adherence to the 180-day time limit where a public agency “attemptfs] to hide changes in approved projects and then claim[s] invulnerability from suit based on the short limitations period.” (Board of Supervisors v. Superior Court (1994)
In view of our conclusion, we need not address the alternative ground relied on by the trial court that CEQA II was duplicative of CEQA I. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 430.10, subd. (c) [authorizing demurrer on the ground “[t]here is another action pending between the same parties on the same cause of action”].) Nor need we address the LACCD’s argument raised for the first time on appeal that appellant’s action is untimely under the validation statutes, Code of Civil Procedure section 860 et seq. (See Bridgeford v. Pacific Health Corp. (2012)