EUREKA CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT v. CITY OF EUREKA

Filed 1/8/07; part. pub. & mod. order 2/1/07 (see end of opn.)

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

            In this matter, a school playground has become a neighborhood battleground.  This case arises from objections by appellants Eureka Citizens for Responsible Government (Eureka Citizens),^[1] James Emery, and Andrew and Ida Nash (collectively appellants) to use by the Eureka Church of the Nazarene (Church), and its related Redwood Christian School (School) (collectively applicant), of a portion of its property as a school playground (the Project).  Appellants contend that the City of Eureka (City) improperly granted post hoc approval of illegally constructed Project improvements, failed to properly apply and enforce its own land use ordinances, and failed to conduct an appropriate environmental review as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq. (CEQA)).  The trial court denied appellants' petition for writ of mandate seeking to overturn the City's approval of the Project.  We affirm.

I.  FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Church has occupied the property at 2039 ‘E' Street in Eureka for over 50 years.  For the past 26 years, the Church has operated the Redwood Christian School on its property.  The School, which is limited to 70 students in grades K-8, is located within a predominantly single family residential district,^[2] and therefore required a conditional use permit (CUP), which was granted by the City on March 18, 1980.^[3]  One of the conditions of the 1980 approval by the City was â€