In Hilltop Group, Inc. v. County of San Diego (2024) 99 Cal.App.5th 890, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that plaintiff Hilltop Group, Inc. (“Hilltop”) could proceed with developing a recycling facility, over the objections of community groups and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors (“Board of Supervisors” or “Board”). The proposed North County Environmental Resources Project (“NCER Project” or “Project”) involved construction of a facility to process and recycle construction debris, wood, asphalt, and other inert material from construction projects. The Court found that Hilltop Group could use the County’s 2011 General Plan Update (“GPU”) and accompanying programmatic environmental impact report (“PEIR”) to comply with CEQA, under the exemption in CEQA Guidelines Section 15183. The Court issued a peremptory writ of mandate directing the County of San Diego (“County”) to set aside its decision requiring preparation of a separate EIR for the NCER Project.
The County adopted the GPU and certified the accompanying PEIR in 2011, intending the PEIR to be used to approve subsequent development activities that the County determined were within the scope of the PEIR, had “no new effects,” and required “no new mitigation measures.” Such qualifying projects would not require any additional environmental review documentation.
In 2012, Hilltop proposed the Project on an industrial-zoned parcel of land and prepared a mitigated negative declaration (“MND”) to use with the PEIR in order to proceed with the Project. In 2014, the County concluded further analysis was required to determine the extent of the Project’s environmental impacts. The County denied Hilltop’s request to rely on the MND and issued a notice of preparation of an environmental impact report (“EIR”) for the Project.
In 2015, Hilltop submitted a draft EIR with more than a dozen studies, assessments, and plans, concluding that mitigation measures...
