ELR Citation: 42 ELR 20240
No(s). H037545 (Cal. Ct. App. 6th Dist. Nov 27, 2012)

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision denying a petition challenging a city's certification of a final environmental impact report (EIR) for a project to amend the city's "sphere of influence" to include an undeveloped portion of a university campus in order to allow the city to provide extraterritorial water and sewer services to proposed new development. By failing to include the purpose of the project, the EIR misdescribed the project's objectives, which, in turn, skewed the city's consideration of alternatives. As a result, the EIR failed to consider any potentially feasible alternatives that would avoid or limit the significant environmental impact of the project on the city's water supply in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act.