Another New Lawsuit Aimed At California High-Speed Rail Project
A proposed high-speed rail project in California that would link the cities of San Jose and San Francisco hit a roadblock, as the city of Brisbane and Baylands Development Inc. sued the California High Speed Rail Authority in an effort to stop the project.
The lawsuit alleges that the project violates California’s Environmental Quality Act, more commonly referred to as a CEQA, as reported by the San Francisco Business Times.
This is the second such lawsuit the project has generated, with the previous suit originating out of Millbrae, challenging the transit authority over land the city planned to develop housing on.
The Brisbane lawsuit alleges that the development of a 121-acre light maintenance facility utilized by the Rail Authority would nix a large portion of planned developments, which included residential and commercial properties, from developer Baylands.
"We believe that they have failed to comply with state law, CEQA. They've failed to adequately study the impacts of the project on on our community — everything from noise to pollution, to the removing of toxins in the landfill, and they have failed to take into account the development project that is under review for that area," Brisbane City Manager Clay Holstine said in comments to the Business Times.
Baylands won approval in 2005 to redevelop the Brisbane Baylands, a project including 6.5M SF of commercial space with over 2,000 homes, developed on property the Rail Authority plans to acquire for the project.
