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Alex Merritt

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Alex Merritt is a partner in the Real Estate, Energy, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in the firm's San Francisco office.

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Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley (2015) ___ Cal.4th ___, Case No. S201116

This week the California Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in the Berkeley Hillside case, which considered whether the City of Berkeley properly exempted a large single-family home on a hillside lot from CEQA review. The court’s lengthy opinion announced a new two-part test for the “unusual circumstances exception” to CEQA exemptions and the applicable standards of review. In doing so, the court not only reversed the First District Court of Appeal, but also resolved several other conflicting interpretations of the unusual circumstances exception. The case is important for agencies and developers because the new test will apply generally to categorical exemptions, and as discussed below, it suggests a strategy for defending against potential challenges to exemptions.
Continue Reading California Supreme Court Announces New Test for CEQA “Unusual Circumstances” Exception

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, South Pacific Division, has issued its “Final 2015 Regional Compensatory Mitigation and Monitoring Guidelines.”

The Guidelines will apply in the Corps’ San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Albuquerque districts, which together cover California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Texas.Continue Reading Corps Issues New Compensatory Mitigation Guidelines for California

People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; et. al., (11/05/14, 2:13-cv-00278-DB)

In a significant Endangered Species Act case, the Utah District Court has ruled that Congress may not regulate take of the threatened Utah prairie dog, a purely intrastate species, on non-federal land. The court found that the challenged regulation went beyond the scope of the Commerce Clause because it was a non-economic regulation and the take of prairie dog does not have a substantial effect on interstate commerce.Continue Reading District Court Strikes Down Regulation of Purely Intrastate Species on Private Land