Stockton General Plan Litigation Leads to Adoption of Landmark Climate Action Plan
Photo credit: Eric Sonstroem, Flickr, CC BY 2.0 As a result of litigation filed by the firm challenging the City of Stockton’s General Plan update, and pressure from the state Attorney General’s office, the City agrees to prepare a Climate Action Plan, one of the earliest such plans in California. (Sierra Club v. City of Stockton […]
SMW Helps Defeat Nestle’s Controversial Water-Bottling Plant on McCloud River
Photo Credit: Curtis Knight After years of pressure from California Trout and Trout Unlimited, groups represented by the firm, the Nestle Company in 2009 agrees to withdraw its plans to build a water-bottling plant on the McCloud River, one of the greatest trout-fishing rivers in the world. Firm partner Rachel Hooper receives the California Lawyer’s […]
SMW Enforces Agricultural Conservation Easement
After years of litigation, the firm negotiates a groundbreaking settlement to enforce a conservation easement and preserve and enhance the agricultural productivity of Sonoma County’s Lower Ranch. (Sonoma Land Trust v. BBRRBR LLC (2008).)
SMW Successfully Challenges Sprawl Development on Agricultural Lands
The firm prevails in litigation challenging a sprawl development project in the San Joaquin/Sacramento Delta city of Oakley and enters into a settlement generating substantial mitigation fees for protection of agricultural land. (Greenbelt Alliance v. City of Oakley (2008).)
Historic Tejon Ranch Deal Preserves a Quarter of a Million Acres
In one of the largest conservation deals in California history, the firm, representing a coalition of conservation groups, negotiates an agreement in 2008 to preserve 240,000 acres of the historic Tejon Ranch, in Kern and Los Angeles Counties. SMW partners Richard Taylor and Bill White receive the California Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award […]
Donner Summit Recreation Lands and Open Space Protected
In 2008 the firm advises Sierra Watch and the Sierra Club in their successful efforts to stop urban development on open space and cross country ski trails on Donner Summit.
San Mateo County Coastal Open Space Protected
The firm advises on a master parks plan for the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District’s annexation of the entire San Mateo Coast in 2004. It then successfully defends the annexation in court. (Citizens for Responsible Open Space v. San Mateo County LAFCO, 159 Cal.App.4th 717 (2008).)
SMW Stops Massive Port of Stockton Expansion Project and Mitigates Environmental Impacts
The firm secures a federal injunction stopping the Port of Stockton’s hastily started expansion. After a second victory in state court, the firm in 2007 negotiates dramatic reductions in the project’s air and water pollution. (Deltakeeper v. Port of Stockton.)
SMW Stops 4-Lane Bridge Through Open Space Canyon in San Diego
In response to litigation by the firm, the City of San Diego rescinds its controversial decision to construct a bridge over Rose Canyon, a sensitive resource. Later, the City removes the bridge from its General Plan. (Friends of Rose Canyon v. City of San Diego (2007).)
Legislation Authorizes Infill on San Francisco Port Parking Lots
The firm drafts legislation for the Port of San Francisco, passed by the California Legislature in 2007 (SB 815), authorizing a broad range of housing and other urban uses on Seawall Lots that are vacant or used for surface parking, and creating new revenue opportunities to allow the Port to rehabilitate its threatened historic finger […]