CEQA and NEPA Compliance

Related Practices

› CEQA and NEPA Compliance
› Density Bonuses & Inclusionary Ordinances
› Entitlement Support
› Housing Elements
› New State Housing Laws

CEQA COMPLIANCE
We provide ongoing advice to public agency and private clients regarding the environmental review required for public and private projects. We frequently advise on the use of exemptions and existing environmental documents to streamline environmental review. In addition, we review Environmental Impact Reports, negative declarations, and other environmental documents for adequacy, including emerging issues of greenhouse gases, toxic air pollutants, climate change and adaptation, and water supply, and draft findings to support the public agency’s decision. Although our goal when working with clients on CEQA issues is to provide the strongest defensible record in the hopes of avoiding the cost and time delays associated with CEQA, we also defend our clients when CEQA challenges are brought, including issues related to the appropriate level of CEQA review as well as the sufficiency of the environmental analysis. Recent cases include Cedar Fair L.P. v. City of Santa Clara, where we successfully defended the term sheet between the San Francisco 49ers and the City of Santa Clara from a CEQA challenge; and Housing Authority of the City of Sacramento V. Greenfair Homeowners Association, where we litigated CEQA issues involved in eminent domain. We remain at the forefront of recent climate change and other environmental legislation including SB 375 and understand its effects on the CEQA and development streamlining process.

NEPA COMPLIANCE
Many of the firm’s clients rely upon federal funding for completion of development projects. The firm’s attorneys are familiar with and provide advice to clients on compliance with NEPA as part of obtaining the necessary funding. In that capacity we have advised clients on the necessary level of NEPA review (whether categorical exclusion, FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact), or EIS (Environmental Impact Statement)); the preparation of the NEPA documents and completion of required NEPA studies; and the timing of obtaining NEPA review to insure timely funding of the development project.

Related Attorneys

Barbara E. Kautz

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Barbara E. Kautz Attorney bkautz@goldfarblipman.com 510-836-6336

Barbara E. Kautz practices in the areas of land use (especially housing-related land use), CEQA compliance, real estate, economic development, fair housing, and affordable housing. She has assisted public agency clients in a wide variety of matters including compliance with planning and zoning law, real estate transactions, redevelopment dissolution issues, loan and homebuyer documents for affordable housing, CEQA disputes, and compliance with the Fair Housing Act and Fair Employment and Housing Act. She represents nonprofit and for-profit developers regarding land use entitlements and real estate transactions.

Before becoming an attorney, Ms. Kautz worked for 30 years as a planner, planning director, community development director and assistant city manager, concluding her career as Community Development Director and Assistant City Manager for the City of San Mateo. During that period she served on the Board of Directors for the League of California Cities and on the Board of Directors for the American Planning Association, California Chapter.

Ms. Kautz is a frequent speaker at conferences, including those sponsored by the League of California Cities, American Planning Association, Housing California, and Nonprofit Housing Association for Northern California. She is the co-author of Local Government Financing Powers and Sources of Funding in the ABA Legal Guide to Affordable Housing(2005, update 2011) and author of In Defense of Inclusionary Zoning: Successfully Creating Affordable Housing, 36 U.S.F. Law Review 971 (2002).

Education

A.B., Stanford University, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
Masters in City Planning, University of California, Berkeley, Mellon Fellow
J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law, summa cum laude, Articles Editor, USF Law Review

Professional and Volunteer Affiliations

Fellow, American Institute of Certified Planners
Municipal Law Handbook Committee, League of California Cities
Urban Land Institute
Association of Environmental Professionals

Published Appellate Opinions

Latino Unidos del Valle de Napa y Solano v. County of Napa (2013) 217 Cal.App.4th 1160
Haro v. City of Solana Beach (2011) 195 Cal.App.4th 542
Trinity Park L.P. v. City of Sunnyvale (2011) 193 Cal.App.4th 1014
St. Vincent’s School for Boys v. City of San Rafael (2008) 161 Cal.App.4th 989

Colleen Wisel

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Dolores Bastian Dalton

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Erin Lapeyrolerie

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Estrella Lucero

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Gabrielle Janssens

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Heather Gould

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Jocelyn Portales

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Karen M. Tiedemann

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Karen M. Tiedemann Attorney ktiedemann@goldfarblipman.com 510-836-6336

Karen Tiedemann practices in the areas of real estate transactions, affordable housing, nonprofit organization, and environmental law.

Ms. Tiedemann advises public agencies and nonprofit housing developers on affordable housing matters. She represents numerous agencies and nonprofit corporations on the development, financing and management of low- and moderate-income projects and programs. Her affordable housing work includes advising clients on compliance with fair housing laws. Ms. Tiedemann is a frequent speaker on relocation and fair housing issues. She is also a co-author of Between the Lines, a Question and Answer Guide on Fair Housing in Supportive Housing, which was updated in 2010.

Ms. Tiedemann represents numerous housing cooperatives, providing advice on compliance with Davis-Stirling, the limited equity cooperative law, HUD financing, Department of Real Estate regulations, and other laws and regulations impacting cooperatives. She has also formed numerous limited equity cooperatives. Ms. Tiedemann is a frequent speaker on the formation and management of cooperatives.

Ms. Tiedemann has negotiated and drafted transaction documents for complex developments involving multiple uses, including transactions that involved the acquisition of numerous properties and the relocation of business and residential tenants. She also advises clients on compliance with environmental laws, including shepherding developments through CEQA.

Additionally, as general or special counsel to several public agencies, Ms. Tiedemann provides advice on compliance with the Brown Act, the Fair Political Practices Act and Public Records Act, as well as general law questions.

Education

A.B., University of California, Berkeley
Masters in City Planning, University of California, Berkeley
J.D., University of California, Berkeley School of Law, Order of the Coif honors
Associate Editor, Ecology Law Quarterly

Professional and Volunteer Affiliations

State Bar of California
California Center for Cooperative Development, Board Member

Lynn Hutchins

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M David Kroot

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M. Hickey

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Nazanin Salehi

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Rye P. Murphy

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Thomas H. Webber

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Thomas H. Webber Attorney twebber@goldfarblipman.com 213-627-6336

Thomas Webber’s practice is focused on community economic development, real estate, affordable housing, nonprofit and municipal law.

Mr. Webber represents numerous public agencies and nonprofit developers on mixed-use and commercial projects. He has negotiated and drafted disposition and development agreements, loan documents, and ground leases for complex mixed-use developments, including finance documents for new markets tax credit transactions. Mr. Webber’s work in this area involves structuring complex development transactions involving public and private partnerships, advising clients on public and private financing structures and all aspects of development issues, including CEQA-related and real property security issues.

Mr. Webber represented the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles on various aspects in the development of Staples Center, the Marriott Convention Center Hotel, and the new Broad Museum. He represents the City of Santa Clara in development of the new stadium to be home to the San Francisco 49ers, providing advice on financing, construction and operation issues related to the stadium.

He also represents public agencies and nonprofit organizations on the development, financing and management of affordable housing and mixed-use projects and programs that utilize state assistance, including MHP and MHSA financing, and federal assistance, including, tax credits and CDBG, NSP and HOME financing.

Mr. Webber also works with a wide variety of nonprofit entities, including school districts, affordable housing developers, and other charitable organizations providing legal guidance regarding nonprofit operations and administration, tax issues, as well as matters related to property, real estate, and other corporate and organizational matters.

Education

B.A., University of Massachusetts, Amherst
J.D., Golden Gate University School of Law

Previous Employment

Assistant to the City Attorney, Office of City Attorney, City of Oakland
Planner, Office of Economic Development and Employment, City of Oakland

Professional and Volunteer Affiliations

State Bar of California

Thomas J. Levendosky

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