Press release from the Environmental Protection Information Center
A newly-formed group called “Citizens for a Better Eureka” have
filed litigation under the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) against the city of Eureka for releasing city-owned properties
for building affordable housing. Citizens for a Better Eureka argues
that the city has violated California’s most important
environmental law by failing to consider the environmental impacts of
housing development in underutilized parking lots. On behalf of the
Environmental Protection Information Center, Northcoast Environmental
Center, Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, Humboldt
Baykeeper and the Redwood Coalition for Climate and Environmental
Responsibility, we say, “Bullshit.” Not only is the lawsuit
frivolous, but it actively undermines much-needed housing and climate
action.
California
has properly recognized that infill development, like that moved
forward by Eureka, is both necessary to meet the state’s housing
crisis as well as a climate-smart strategy for community development.
By centrally locating new residences, infill development reduces
greenhouse gas emissions and reduces the threat to greenspace, like
farms and forests, by converting poorly-utilized urban areas to
higher, better uses.
The
lawsuit is based on the absurd claim that building housing on a few
downtown parking lots will lead to an array of impacts ranging from
traffic congestion to business closures and violent crime. In fact,
decades of research and evidence demonstrate that exactly the
opposite is the case, and the projects will help revitalize downtown
and lead to more walking, biking and bus riding. Even if this weren’t
the case, the types of “impacts” imagined by the petitioners are
legally excluded from being considered under CEQA. The petitioners
either lack a basic understanding of both the planning profession and
the law, or just believe that they can get their own way regardless
of the facts.
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