Stopthemillenniumhollywood.Com. v. City of L.A.

• Decision Date: 31 July 2019
• Docket Number: B282319
• Citation: 251 Cal.Rptr.3d 296,39 Cal.App.5th 1
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: STOPTHEMILLENNIUMHOLLYWOOD.COM et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. CITY OF LOS ANGELES et al., Defendants and Appellants; Millennium Hollywood LLC, Real Party in Interest and Appellant.

39 Cal.App.5th 1

251 Cal.Rptr.3d 296

STOPTHEMILLENNIUMHOLLYWOOD.COM et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants,

v. CITY OF LOS ANGELES et al., Defendants and Appellants;Millennium Hollywood LLC, Real Party in Interest and Appellant.

B282319

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 3, California.

Filed July 31, 2019

The Silverstein Law Firm, Robert P. Silverstein, Pasadena, for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Kenneth Tom Fong, Office of the City Attorney for the Defendants and Appellants.

The Sohagi Law Group and Robert Tyson Sohagi for California State Association of Counties, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants.

Remy Thomas Manley, Whitman Fortescue Manley, Sacramento, and Sara Fox Dudley for League of California Cities, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants.

Cox, Castle & Nicholson, Michael Zischke, San Francisco, Alexander M. DeGood, Los Angeles, and Andrew Sabey, San Francisco, for Real Party in Interest and Appellant.

JONES, J.^*

INTRODUCTION

In this appeal, Millennium Hollywood LLC (Millennium), the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles City Council (City) (collectively appellants) challenge the trial court's ruling that the proposed development of a four-and-a-half-acre parcel straddling Vine Street in Hollywood, California (the project) failed to comply with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). ( Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq. )

Specifically, appellants challenge four aspects of that decision. First, they argue that the trial court's finding that the project description in the environmental impact report (EIR) failed to comply with CEQA's requirement for a stable and finite project description is incorrect as a matter of law. Appellants contend that this ruling conflicts with other cases allowing a flexible, general project description.

Second, appellants challenge the trial court's conclusion that the EIR's transportation impact analysis was fatally flawed because it failed to use the methodology directed by Caltrans, a responsible agency on this aspect of the EIR. Appellants assert that the City was within its sound discretion to use a methodology that did not consider the traffic impacts of the project on the 101 Freeway, located blocks away from the proposed development.

Third, appellants challenge the trial court's finding that the traffic impact analysis was unsupported by substantial evidence because it failed to consider the cumulative effects of existing developments and growth in Hollywood, and the NBC/Universal development project, located three miles from the site on the other side of the 101 Freeway.

Finally, appellants argue that the trial court erroneously concluded that the qualified condition of approval (Q Condition No. 1) impermissibly expanded the scope of the project well beyond the scope of the EIR's analysis. (See Los Angeles Mun. Code (LAMC), § 12.32, subd. (G)(2).) Appellants argue that the various land use approvals "unambiguously" limit any project uses to those that are entirely consistent with the EIR.¹

Stopthemillenniumhollywood.com, Communities United for Reasonable Development, and George Abrahams (collectively Stopthemillennium) cross-appeal from that portion of the trial court's decision regarding the draft EIR's disclosure of seismic impacts of the development. Specifically, the trial judge found that the draft EIR adequately disclosed and analyzed the then-known facts regarding faults and their proximity to the Millennium development site. Stopthemillennium appeals that ruling, arguing that the trial court erred in finding that the draft EIR performed its required legal obligation to inform the public about seismic conditions at the development site.

We find that the trial court did not err in concluding that the project description used by the City and Millennium failed to comply with CEQA's requirement of an accurate, stable and finite project description. Thus, on this ground, we affirm. As the project description is at the heart of the EIR process in this case, it is not necessary to reach appellants' and Stopthemillennium's other contentions.

BACKGROUND FACTS

The facts in this section are limited to the single basis upon which this decision rests—the legal sufficiency of the description of the project used in the EIR.²

The location of the proposed development at issue is a 4.47-acre site straddling Vine Street, south of Yucca Street, and north of Hollywood Boulevard. The site surrounds the historic Capitol Records Building in Hollywood.

A. The 2008 Proposal

On August 18, 2008, Millennium filed a master land use permit application with the City's planning department. The 2008 project was described as a mixed-use development, consisting of approximately 492 residential units, a 200-unit luxury hotel, 100,000 square feet of office space, a 35,000-square-foot sports club and spa, more than 11,000 square feet of commercial uses, and 34,000 square feet of food and beverage uses. The historic Capital Records Tower and Gogerty Building would be preserved and maintained as an office and music recording facility.

As an attachment to the application, Millennium described what it proposed to build and the purposes for which the buildings would be used. The 2008 project was to have three separate towers arising out of two low-rise buildings situated on the east and west sides of Vine Street. The new construction would "frame" the Capitol Records Tower, incorporating extensive and inviting open spaces and terraces located on the multi-tiered low rise buildings. In addition, Millennium proposed a high-rise observation deck at the top of the tallest tower in the 2008 project. In that application, Millennium requested a zone change to permit a sports club, and a variance to allow greater development density than was allowed under existing plans.

The 2008 project application specifically described what Millennium proposed to build. On the lot situated east of Vine (East Site), the new construction was to consist of a 12-story low-rise building, partially wrapped around seven stories of above-grade parking, on top of five stories of subterranean parking. The East Site buildings would integrate two ground floors and a 33-story residential tower that would rise out of the low-rise building to approximately 554 feet above street level, "creating a 45-story, 578,574 square foot structure that [would] be 584 feet above ground" at the highest point of the building.

On the lot situated west of Vine (West Site), Millennium proposed to build a four-story, two-tiered low-rise structure, comprised of a sports club with a spa as well as a hotel lobby. That low-rise structure would support two towers with four subterranean levels of parking, creating a 470,201 square-foot building. The two ground floors would be integrated at the mezzanine level. The larger tower, offset at an angle, would be approximately 482 feet above street level at the roof of the highest habitable floor, or 511 feet at the top of the roof-top parapet. The larger tower would have 34 stories of residential uses. The smaller second tower, also situated at an offset angle and located at the corner of Yucca and Ivar Streets, would be a 200-room luxury hotel, creating a 14-story structure that would be 218 feet above street level at the top of the roof. The residential tower would include 175 condominium units. In total, the completed project would be 1,163,079 square feet of floor area.

Detail was not omitted from the 2008 application. Millennium described the pedestrian plazas with "post card views" of the Capitol Tower, outdoor dining areas, lounge seating, a sun deck and a pool for the hotel. The entryway on Argyle Avenue "would be accented by an additional water feature and decorative ornamental planting." Detailed site plans, locations, and elevations for the buildings, architectural renderings of the buildings themselves, and the related features of the development were included.

Thereafter, the City Department of Building and Safety informed the developer that the proposed project's enclosed balconies would exceed the 6:1 floor area ratio (FAR) allowable under the City's general plan and would, therefore, require a variance. Millennium took no further action on the project until 2011.

B. The 2011 Proposal

Millennium submitted another master land use permit application to the City's planning department in April 2011. The 2011 proposal shared similarities with the 2008 proposal. The total project size was largely the same, and the proposed mixed-use nature of the development was preserved. Parking garages were described as both subterranean and above-grade. Proposed uses for the buildings were described (such as residential uses, hotel and commercial uses), but this application noted that "[t]he Project may alter the types or amounts of the uses from those listed above in compliance with the Land Use Equivalency Program and Development Standards." Missing from this application was any description or detail regarding what Millennium intended to build.³

This lack of detail about the proposed project and what it would look like and for what uses it would be built continued throughout the environmental review process. As described by Millennium's lawyer, "the [2011 project] is presented as a concept plan and several land use scenarios." The concept plan identified various components, including residential units, hotel, office, commercial, food and beverage, fitness center, and parking uses. The project description "is designed to create an impact ‘envelope’ within which a range of development scenarios can occur."

In its initial study, the City described the project to include the construction of 1,052,667 square feet of newly built floor area. The Capitol Records Tower and the Gogerty Building, which are within the project site, would be preserved and maintained as office and music recording facilities. The maximum floor area (existing buildings plus new construction) would total...