Construction of homes will be allowed to continue on the Sunrise Landing (Colusa Estates) housing project at Colusa Industrial Properties pending the outcome of the lawsuit filed by the Colusa County Board of Supervisors against the Colusa City Council 14 months ago.
Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Steven M. Gevercer on Feb. 24 denied the County of Colusa’s second motion for an injunction to halt construction until the court determines if further environmental review on the project is needed.
Following the 2015 annexation of Colusa Industrial Properties into the Colusa city limits, the Colusa Planning Commission and City Council, in 2016, approved a development agreement and subdivision map that substantially increased the number of single family homes proposed in the development from 84 to 180.
“The County’s primary concern in this litigation is the construction of some of the homes in an area that was originally designated as open space to create a safe area for the takeoff and landing of aircraft,” said County Counsel Richard Stout.
Despite city officials admitting that certain procedural processes were skipped when the Planning Commission and City Council allowed the developer to eliminate the high-density apartments to increase the number of single family homes, Colusa County has faced an uphill battle with the lawsuit because the statute of limitations for CEQA violations has expired.
“At what point is the County Board of Supervisors going to put a stop to this egregious waste of tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds that could be far better spent on our actual needs rather than a frivolous lawsuit filed years to late,” said Ed Hulbert, Colusa Industrial Properties chief executive officer, in a statement after the court’s Feb. 24 ruling.
The County, however, maintains that the City not only failed to comply with CEQA’s subsequent review requirements, the city failed to enforce mitigation measures adopted to offset the impacts of the development, and that its decision to override the Airport Land Use Commission in 2021 was in violation of the State Aeronautics Act.
While the court denied a limited injunction that would have ensured homes are not built before the case can be decided, Gevercer has directed counsel for the parties to meet and confer on a schedule so that a hearing on the merits can occur in the coming months, before construction of homes in within the area of concern.
The court and the parties have also discussed bifurcating the case such that the mitigation measure claim would be decided after the other issues, officials said.
No hearings have been set in the case, as of Tuesday.■