Land Use,
Environmental & Energy
Mar. 18, 2024
State Supreme Court must decide whether people are pollution under CEQA
Assembly Bill 1307 exempts social noise from CEQA as a significant environmental impact and simplifies the process for university housing projects. However, the challenge of balancing environmental protection with housing development continues.
Brandon Kline
Of Counsel, Best Best & Krieger
Shutterstock
According to Mark Twain, "Noise proves nothing. Often, a hen who has laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid."
With apologies to Twain, some might say he's wrong. They may argue that if a college student makes social noise--even a cackle--it is an environmental impact under the California Environmental Quality Act (Public Resources Code §§21000 et seq.) [CEQA]. On the other hand, others argue that CEQA's definition of "environmen...