Two advocacy groups, Make UC a Good Neighbor and People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group, challenged the environmental impact report (EIR) certified by The Regents for UC Berkeley’s 2021 long range development plan, which included a project to build student housing in and the People’s Park. They argued the EIR was deficient because it failed to assess noise impacts from “loud student parties” in nearby residential neighborhoods and failed to justify not considering alternative locations for the People’s Park project.
The trial court rejected the challenge and entered judgment for The Regents. The Court of Appeal reversed on both issues, holding that the EIR should have evaluated social noise and considered alternative sites. Both parties petitioned for review; the Supreme Court granted The Regents’ petition.
While the case was pending before the Supreme Court, the Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1307 as urgency legislation, amending CEQA to provide that social noise from residential project occupants is not a significant environmental effect, and that public institutions of higher education need not consider alternative locations for residential housing projects.
Horvitz & Levy served as co-counsel for The Regents before the California Supreme Court. We succeeded in persuading the Court to adopt a broad interpretation of the new CEQA amendments. The court unanimously held that the long range development plan qualified as a “residential project” within the meaning of the amendments, rejecting the opponents’ effort to limit the new law’s reach to only the specific People’s Park housing component. The Court also held that the statutory exemption from consideration of alternative locations plainly applied to the People’s Park project, as the Legislature had specifically tailored it with that development in mind. The Court declined to consider the opponents’ speculative arguments about future housing projects not before the Court.
The decision removed the final legal obstacle to the People’s Park housing development and affirmed that the Legislature’s efforts to streamline CEQA review for university housing will be construed broadly.
Make UC a Good Neighbor v. The Regents of the University of California A165451 
