Torrey Hills Community Coalition v. City of San Diego (July 2, 2010) 186 Cal.App.4th 429, available at CourtWebsite.
In this case, Torrey Hills Community Coalition did not request a hearing in writing within 90 days of filing a writ petition alleging that the City of San Diego violated CEQA. The court held that Torrey Hills’ failure to make the request for a hearing in writing was a violation of CEQA, pursuant to Public Resources Code, section 21167.4, subdivision (a).
According to Torrey Hills, section 21167.4, subdivision (a), does not refer to a written request, and thus its oral request for a hearing before the deadline should have been considered sufficient. The court, however, found that when the subdivision (a), (b), and (c) are read together, as previously explained in County of Sacramento v. Superior Court (2009) 180 Cal.App.4th 943, it is clear that the request for a hearing under subdivision (a) must be in writing in order for the filing of the request -- pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c) -- to operate.
The court also rejected Torrey Hills’ argument that it would have been futile to file a written request for a hearing. First, the court found that Torrey Hills failed to show diligence, when the deadline to file the request lapsed. Additionally, despite the court clerk having stated a preference for not immediately “setting” the hearing date, section 21167.4 merely requires the petitioner to file a request for a hearing. It does not require the petitioner to obtain a hearing date, and pursuant to subdivision (c), a hearing date could have been obtained later upon application by any party. Thus, the court affirmed that Torrey Hills violated section 21167.4, subdivision (a), by not filing a written request for a hearing.
