ELR Citation: ELR 20309
No(s). 73-277-E (S.D. Cal. Nov 6, 1973)

The court preliminarily enjoins the General Services Administration from beginning construction of a $4.5 million juvenile detention facility near a designated elementary school site in a planned, low-density residential area until a NEPA impact statement has been filed. The proposed facility constitutes a major federal action, and while its ecological effects will not be significant, its psychological and sociological effects on the community promise to be of such significance as to render arbitrary and capricious an agency threshold determination that full NEPA compliance is not required. The court finds that the agency's final environmental assessment accompanying the negative threshold determination appears to be a post hoc rationalization, and that the public notice given by the agency regarding this assessment was apparently inadequate. Where, as here, construction of a federal facility will arguably have a significant effect on the human environment, it is wiser to order preparation of an EIS initially and thus avoid the delay and uncertainty of trial and subsequent appeals. Proposed federal actions, the environmental impact of which is likely to be highly controversial, should be covered by NEPA impact statements in all cases, and a negative threshold determination concerning a proposed federal facility that deviates from local zoning procedures must be subjected to particular scrutiny.

Counsel for Plaintiffs
James R. Webb
Webb, Welles, Isaac & Freedman
1660 India Street
San Diego, CA 92101

John W. Witt City Attorney
Donald W. Detisch
John W. Wood Deputy City Attorneys
City Administration Building
202 C Street
San Diego, CA 92101

Ralph D. Stern Schools Attorney
Gerald A. Conradi Deputy Schools Attorney
4100 Normal Street
San Diego, CA 92103

Counsel for Defendants
Harry D. Steward, U.S. Attorney
Robert H. Filsinger
Howard A. Allen, Asst. U.S. Attorneys
U.S. Courthouse
325 West F Street, Annex A
San Diego, CA 92101