Fear Not Law Articles: Friends of the Sierra Railroad v. Tuolumne Park and Recreation Dist.

Friends of the Sierra Railroad v

Friends of the Sierra Railroad v. Tuolumne Park and Recreation Dist.

Filed 1/12/07 Friends of the Sierra Railroad v. Tuolumne Park and Recreation Dist. CA5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

FRIENDS OF THE SIERRA RAILROAD,

Plaintiff and Appellant,

TUOLUMNE PARK AND RECREATION DISTRICT,

Defendant and Respondent;

TUOLUMNE BAND OF ME-WUK INDIANS,

Real Party in Interest and Respondent.

F050117

(Super. Ct. No. CV 51298)

OPINION

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Tuolumne County. William G. Polley and Eleanor Provost, Judges.

Remy, Thomas, Moose and Manley, Whitman F. Manley, Sabrina V. Teller, and Michele A. Tong for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Holland & Knight, Jerome L. Levine, Frank R. Lawrence, J. Michelle Hickey, Amanda J. Monchamp, and Timothy Q. Evans for Defendant and Respondents.

-ooOoo-

Tuolumne Park and Recreation District, a public agency, sold land containing a disused but historic railroad right-of-way to the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians without carrying out any environmental review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act. The Tuolumne Band owned surrounding property and was known to plan on developing it, but had never presented any development plans to any agency. The trial court denied a petition for a writ of mandamus directing the transferor agency to reverse its action. In this appeal, appellant Friends of the Sierra Railroad argues that the transfer fell within CEQA's definition of a â€

Description	Plaintiffs, a public agency, sold land containing a disused but historic railroad right of way to the Tuolumne Band of Me Wuk Indians without carrying out any environmental review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act. The Tuolumne Band owned surrounding property and was known to plan on developing it, but had never presented any development plans to any agency. The trial court denied a petition for a writ of mandamus directing the transferor agency to reverse its action. In this appeal, appellant argues that the transfer fell within CEQA's definition of a "project" requiring environmental review because it was reasonably foreseeable that the land would be developed and the development would have an impact on the historical resource. Court hold that the transfer was not a project requiring CEQA review because, although some development of the property surrounding the historical resource was reasonably foreseeable, review of conceivable impacts on the historical resource itself would have been premature in the absence of any concrete development proposals. The judgment is affirmed.
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