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Updates and Articles

SMW Advises on Transbay Transit Center Funding District

Photo credit: Fullmetal2887, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons In 2015 the firm advises the Transbay Joint Powers Agency in helping San Francisco create a Mello-Roos Community Facilities District that requires developers to pay a special tax to fund the Transit Center's rooftop park, Downtown Rail Extension, and other infrastructure in the Transit Center District.

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Our WorkSeptember 14, 2015

SMW Assists Five Cities in Successful Opposition to Dangerous Freeway Extension

Photo credit: Ken Lund, Flickr In 2015 the firm represents South Pasadena and four other cities in opposing a plan by Caltrans and the L.A. Metropolitan Transportation Authority to extend the SR-710 freeway under the City of Pasadena. Thanks in large part to the firm's critique of the environmental impact report for the project, the transportation agencies select another alternative, which maximizes the efficiency of...

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Our WorkSeptember 10, 2015

SMW Chairs Conservation Law Forum

In 2015, firm partner Tamara Galanter begins chairing and helping organize the Conservation Law Forum for the California Council of Land Trusts.

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Our WorkSeptember 9, 2015

Solar Energy Project Ground Lease

On behalf of Marin Clean Energy, California’s first community choice aggregation agency, the firm negotiated a ground lease with Chevron, Inc. for the financing and construction of a 10 Megawatt solar energy project on brownfields in the City of Richmond at the Chevron Refinery.

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Our WorkDecember 21, 2014

Columbia State Historic Park Protected From Mine Expansion

In response to litigation by the firm, Tuolumne County agrees to rescind its approval of the expansion of a limestone mine near Columbia State Historic Park and to prepare an environmental impact report for the project. (Central Sierra Env'l Resource Ctr. v. Tuolumne County (2014).)

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Our WorkNovember 25, 2014

SMW Prepares Ballot Measure to Fund Open Space Protection

In 2014, voters approve a parcel tax measure sponsored by the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority and drafted by the firm.

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Our WorkOctober 7, 2014

Victory for Environmental Justice in Southern California

The firm successfully defends the South Coast Air Quality Management District's regulation of airborne arsenic and other toxic air pollutants against a challenge by a lead acid battery recycling facility in a predominantly low-income, Latino neighborhood in Vernon, California. Following the firm's victory in Los Angeles Superior Court, the facility shuts down in 2015. (Exide Technologies, Inc. v. SCAQMD (2014).)

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Our WorkOctober 6, 2014

SMW Drafts and Defends Anti-Fracking Initiatives

In 2014 the firm drafts initiatives in Santa Barbara and San Benito Counties that ban the use of land for fracking. The San Benito measure passes, and subsequent litigation challenging the measure fails. In 2016, Monterey County voters pass an anti-fracking measure drafted by the firm. The firm is defending the Monterey measure from multiple oil industry lawsuits.

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Our WorkSeptember 14, 2014

SMW Advises Orinda With Senior Affordable Housing Development Process

The firm advises Orinda in its successful 2014 collaboration with the developer of a 67-unit, senior affordable apartment complex on the City's former library site.

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Our WorkSeptember 14, 2014

SMW Advises Alameda on Reuse of Naval Air Station

In 2014, advised by the firm, the City of Alameda approves a major project for reuse of the former Naval Air Station site (Alameda Point) as a mixed-use, transit-oriented community with affordable housing and hundreds of acres of parks and open space. The project is based on the firm's work since 1996 regarding site cleanup, environmental permitting, and historic resources.

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Our WorkSeptember 14, 2014

SMW Litigation Stops Massive Resort on Dyer Mountain

After years of litigation by the firm on behalf of the Mountain Meadows Conservancy, Sierra Watch and the Sierra Club, the developer of a large ski resort on Dyer Mountain in rural Lassen County abandons the project. The Lassen County Board of Supervisors then rescinds the project approvals. (Mountain Meadows Conservancy et al. v. Lassen County (2014).)

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Our WorkSeptember 10, 2014

Landmark Settlement Agreement Ends Decades of Dispute over Mono Basin Streams

Assisted by the firm, the Mono Lake Committee negotiates a settlement agreement requiring the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to restore habitat and fisheries in four tributaries to Mono Lake.

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Our WorkOctober 8, 2013
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