(Sacramento, CA) – Save Our Capitol! today issued the following statement after filing an appeal with the California Third District Court of Appeal in the matter of Save Our Capitol! vs. California Department of General Services and Joint Committee on Rules of the California State Senate and Assembly:
“No one is questioning the dire need to improve the historic Capitol Annex; however, we maintain, with supporting evidence, that the Capitol Annex Project violates at least two fundamental tenets of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), including approving the project without adequately considering feasible alternatives and mitigation measures, and making fundamental changes to the project after the close of the public comment period.
“Egregiously, substantial changes were made to the project after the release of the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR), depriving the public and decision-makers of the opportunity to consider the project’s impacts on historic, cultural, and biological resources, aesthetics, and traffic. The EIR also failed to consider feasible alternatives that would lessen the project’s impacts, as required by CEQA.
“Although the EIR is replete with deficiencies—including an unstable project description and conclusions that are unsupported by substantial evidence—the failure to consider alternatives is, on its own, fatal to the Project approval as it violates Public Resources Code, § 21002.
“We are asking the court to enforce CEQA’s statutory requirement—which mandates the long-term protection of California’s built and natural environment—and reverse the Order and Judgment. There is no urgency to proceed with the unvetted Capitol Annex Project which disregards CEQA’s requirement of transparency and its protections for the public interest.”
A hearing on the case before the Third Appellate District is scheduled for November 14, 2022.
About Save Our Capitol!
The purpose of Save our Capitol! is to preserve the site of the historic Capitol and its surrounding Park as the center and symbol of Californians’ right to truth, transparency, and trust in self-governance. Follow Save Our Capitol! on Twitter and act to #StopTheDemolition by visiting www.saveourcapitol.org.