Friends of Sierra Madre v. City of Sierra Madre

Opinion

BAXTER, J.

This case presents an issue important to local governments and those interested in historic preservation: whether an initiative ballot measure, generated by a city council rather than by voter petition, submitting to the voters an ordinance that removes a structure or structures from historic preservation status, is a project subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.). 1 We conclude that CEQA compliance is required when a project is proposed and placed on the ballot by a public agency. In so doing we reject defendants’…