An Orcutt-based activist group is one step closer to possibly filing a lawsuit against the city of Santa Maria over the Union Valley Parkway project.
On March 11, a law firm representing Orcutt Citizens for Better Environment submitted a written legal complaint to the Santa Maria City Council, alleging documents related to the proposed project are “seriously flawed” and violate California Environmental Quality Act guidelines. The group unsuccessfully sued the city over a similar form of the project in 2003.
On March 10, the City Council voted 4-1, with Councilwoman Hilda Zacarías dissenting, to approve a final Environmental Impact Report and a handful of other resolutions clearing the way for an extension of Union Valley Parkway across Highway 135 to Blosser Road. The project also proposes expanding the road by two lanes and adding a new freeway interchange at Union Valley Parkway and Highway 101.
According to the complaint prepared by Bradly S. Torgan of Truman and Elliott, LLP, “The piecemealing and flaws in the project description are so substantial as to render the final EIR legally inadequate.”
Correcting the flaws, the complaint said, requires the addition of significant new information to the report, as well as recirculation of the Santa Maria General Plan, which now includes the Union Valley Parkway project.
The complaint also claimed that the city failed to give the public enough time to review the draft EIR, and failed to properly consider project alternatives that are more environmentally friendly.
On March 17, the Santa Maria City Attorney’s office issued a memo to the City Council disagreeing with the group’s complaints.
The memo states that the public was allowed the reviewing time specified under law. The city was also said to have considered all environmental impacts and project alternatives in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act.
“An evaluation of the environmental effects of a proposed project need not be exhaustive. … The courts have looked not for perfection but for adequacy, completeness, and a good faith effort at full disclosure,” the memo reads.
This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 2, 2009.