Martis Camp Cmty. Ass'n v. Cnty. of Placer

53 Cal.App.5th 569

267 Cal.Rptr.3d 729

MARTIS CAMP COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.COUNTY OF PLACER et al., Defendants and Respondents;

Retreat At Northstar Association et al., Real Parties in Interest and Respondents.

Placer County Taxpayers for Safety, Environmental Quality, and Continued Access To Public Roads et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants,

v.County of Placer et al., Defendants and Respondents;

Retreat At Northstar Association et al., Real Parties in Interest and Respondents.

C087759

C087778

Court of Appeal, Third District, California.

Filed August 17, 2020

Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass, Harry O'Brien, Naomi Rustomjee, Scott C. Hall, and Mark L. Hejinian, San Francisco, for Plaintiff and Appellant Martis Camp Community Association.

Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis, Robert R. Moore, David H. Blackwell, and Michael J. Betz, San Francisco, for Plaintiffs and Appellants Placer County Taxpayers for Safety, Environmental Quality, and Continued Access to Public Roads, Seth B. Taube, Ted Ullyot, and Steve Anderson.

Office of the Placer County Counsel and Clayton T. Cook for Defendants and Respondents.

Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin, Louis A. Gonzalez, Jr., Brendan J. Begley, Zack Thompson, Sacramento; Hefner Stark & Marois, Timothy D. Taron, Sacramento, Chad E. Roberts ; Remy Moose Manley, Whitman F. Manley, and Nathan O. George, Sacramento, for Real Parties in Interest and Respondents.

KRAUSE, J.

At issue in this consolidated appeal is a decision by defendant County of Placer to partially abandon public easement rights in Mill Site Road, a road that connected two adjacent residential subdivisions: Martis Camp (previously known as Siller Ranch) and the Retreat at Northstar (the Retreat). As originally planned, the connection between Martis Camp and the Retreat was intended for emergency access and public transit vehicles only. When the developments were approved in 2005, the environmental documents assumed there would be no private vehicle trips between Martis Camp and the Retreat or the Northstar community beyond; Martis Camp residents wishing to drive to Northstar-at-Tahoe (Northstar) would use State Route (SR) 267. However, sometime in or around 2010, residents of Martis Camp began using the emergency/transit connection as a shortcut to Northstar.

In 2014, after efforts to have county officials stop Martis Camp residents from using the emergency access road failed, the Retreat owners filed an application requesting that the County Board of Supervisors (the Board) abandon the public's right to use Mill Site Road. In 2015, the Board approved a partial abandonment, thereby restricting use of Mill Site Road to Retreat property owners and emergency and transit vehicles, consistent with what was described and analyzed in the prior planning documents. These lawsuits followed.

The plaintiffs and appellants in this appeal are the Martis Camp Community Association (MCCA), a separate unincorporated association representing the interests of Martis Camp property owners, and three individual Martis Camp property owners (collectively, plaintiffs). Plaintiffs appeal the denial of their petitions for writ of mandate challenging the County's abandonment of Mill Site Road, as well as the dismissal (on demurrer) of the Martis Camp Homeowners’¹ inverse condemnation claim.² Plaintiffs are opposed by the County and its Board of Supervisors (collectively, the County), as defendants, and by the Retreat property owners and their homeowners association (collectively, the Retreat Homeowners), as the real parties in interest.³

On appeal, plaintiffs first argue the trial court erred in concluding there was no violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act ( Gov. Code, § 54950 et seq. ) (the Brown Act) where the County approved changes to the conditions of approval for the Martis Camp or Retreat projects without a properly noticed meeting. Second, they argue that the trial court erroneously denied the petitions because the County violated the statutory requirements for abandonment of a public road. Third, they assert the trial court erroneously denied the petitions because the County violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) ( Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq. ; Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15000 et seq. )⁴ when approving the abandonment. Fourth, plaintiffs contend the court improperly sustained a demurrer to the Martis Camp Homeowners’ inverse condemnation claim.

We affirm the portion of the judgment and order concluding that the County did not violate the Brown Act or the statutory requirements for abandonment of a public road, and affirm the dismissal of the Martis Camp Homeowners’ inverse condemnation claim, but reverse and remand as to plaintiffs’ CEQA claim.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Martis Camp and Retreat projects and the emergency access connection

Martis Camp is a private, gated community near Lake Tahoe that includes over 650 lots on nearly 2,200 acres. All of the roads in Martis Camp are private. The main roadway through the project is Schaffer Mill Road (formerly known as Siller Ranch Road), which begins at SR 267 and traverses the entire length of the community before terminating near the eastern boundary of Martis Camp.

Located immediately to the east of Martis Camp is the Retreat, a small residential subdivision within the larger Northstar development. The Retreat consists of 18 custom homesite lots on approximately 31 acres. Vehicles access the Retreat via Mill Site Road, which begins at or near the property's western boundary, passes through the subdivision, and then connects with public roads serving Northstar village and other developments to the east.

An emergency access road at the eastern edge of the Martis Camp property connects Schaffer Mill Road, the private road that runs through Martis Camp, with Mill Site Road, the (previously public) road that runs through the Retreat.

The decision to link Schaffer Mill Road and Mill Site Road via an emergency access connection can be traced back to the Martis Valley Community Plan (MVCP), the community plan adopted in 2003 to guide development within the Martis Valley area. In preparing the MVCP, County staff recommended a roadway network that would include a "through connection between Schaffer Mill Road and Northstar Drive." However, based on input from the community, the Board ultimately rejected this proposal. As adopted, the MVCP provides that the connection between Schaffer Mill Road and Northstar will not be open to public traffic and shall include "transit and emergency access only ." (Italics added.)

Consistent with the MVCP, when the application for Martis Camp was submitted in 2002, the project description and environmental impact report (EIR) did not contemplate that private vehicles would be able to access Mill Site Road via the emergency access road. Rather, the documents stated that access to the Martis Camp community would be provided by "one ingress/egress off" Schaffer Mill Road "near the northeast corner of the project site," and assumed that all private trips to or from Northstar would use the entrance/exit on Schaffer Mill Road and SR 267. The documents stated that the road connection between Martis Camp and Northstar would be used only for emergency access and local public transit. The transportation/circulation element of the EIR expressly stated that Martis Camp "residents wishing to go skiing at Northstar-at-Tahoe would need to access Northstar via SR 267 ." (Italics added.)

In response to public concerns about the potential for the emergency access link to become a "full access roadway," the final EIR stated that the roadway would be approved for "transit/emergency access only (consistent with the adopted [MVCP] )," and that any future decision to open the roadway would be a "separate project subject to its own environmental review process."

In January 2005, the County certified the final Martis Camp EIR and approved the project. The approved project conditions required construction of an emergency access road connecting to the adjacent Northstar project, which road is to be built "to the satisfaction of the serving fire districts and [County Department of Public Works]." The conditions required that the emergency access road be "designed and gated to meet District, County, and State standards," and include a "Knox box system, or equivalent" to provide access to the fire district. The conditions also required the developer to provide easements allowing use of Schaffer Mill Road and the adjoining emergency access road for transit/emergency purposes.

In February 2005, shortly after approving the Martis Camp project, the County approved the Retreat project. Like the Martis Camp EIR, the Retreat's EIR did not anticipate any private vehicle trips to/from Martis Camp over Mill Site Road. The Retreat EIR assumed the connection between the Retreat and Martis Camp would be used only for emergency access and public transit vehicles.

Because the roadway would be open only to transit through traffic, the EIR's transportation study concluded that traffic levels would "remain relatively low," resulting in only a "slight[ ] increase" in traffic volumes. The only private vehicle trips assigned to Mill Site Road were trips to/from the 18 lots within the Retreat subdivision. Based in part on this assumption, the County allowed nine driveway encroachments onto Mill Site Road and allowed a proposed ski trail to tie into Mill Site Road within the Retreat subdivision.

The Retreat's approved project conditions require the developer/owner to (1) extend Mill Site Road to the west property line "for a future emergency access/transit access road connection;" (2) dedicate an emergency access easement across Mill Site Road to the west property line; and (3) notify future lot owners in the Retreat about the "emergency access and transit corridor" along Mill Site Road.

The approved conditions required the dedication of a public road easement...