Schellinger Brothers v. City of Sebastopol (Dec. 2, 2009, A122972) __ Cal.App.4th __
The one-year period for certification of an EIR after a project’s application is deemed complete, as set forth in Public Resources Code section 21151.5, is not a mandatory jurisdictional deadline. A lead agency’s failure to act pursuant to this deadline does not result in certification of the EIR and approval of a project by operation of law.
In this case, a developer appealed a lower court's dismissal of its petition for writ of mandamus, which would have required the City of Sebastopol (“City”) to certify the EIR and approve a subdivision project for the development of 182 single-residential housing units. The developer had revised the scope of the project numerous times, and several years passed without certification of the EIR.
The Court of Appeal held that the one-year period for certification of an EIR set forth in Public Resources Code section 21151.5 was not a mandatory jurisdictional deadline. The City’s failure to act on the EIR did not result in the automatic approval of the developer’s project by operation of law. The statutory deadlines do not constitute a categorical or jurisdictional bar to preparing and certifying EIRs that take more than 365 days after a project’s application is deemed complete.
Accordingly, the court noted that a writ could not issue under either of the mandamus statutes or under Public Resources Code section 21168.9 to compel the exercise of a lead agency’s duty in a particular fashion. The court further found that the developer's action was unreasonably delayed and that the developer had essentially acquiesced to the City’s delay. Thus, the developer was thus barred by the doctrine of laches for seeking relief due to its delay.
