Overwhelmingly-favored and thoroughly-vetted, popular mixed-use development project in Mission Bay faces yet another legal challenge by familiar foes
SAN FRANCISCO (July 25, 2016)—City Attorney Dennis Herrera today expressed confidence that San Francisco’s environmental review and approval process for the Golden State Warriors event center—which convincingly overcame a legal challenge in Superior Court last week—will again prevail on appeal. Opponents of the project, a group calling itself the Mission Bay Alliance, filed notice with the California Court of Appeal today that they intend to continue their legal challenge.
“This is a desperate appeal by a handful of opponents who’ve failed in every other attempt to kill this project, whether it has been at the decision-making level or in Superior Court,” Herrera said. “This event center is an important civic priority, which has been thoroughly scrutinized and has won overwhelming support every step of the way. I’m not surprised that the project foes are continuing to fight it, but I’m confident that our approval and review process will again easily pass muster in the Court of Appeal.”
Herrera, along with lawyers for the Commission on Community Investment and Infrastructure and the project sponsor, Golden State Warriors, successfully defended San Francisco in civil litigation that sought to invalidate a series of local approvals and permits authorizing the event center and mixed-use development. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Garrett L. Wong’s July 18 ruling decisively affirmed the validity of the city’s review and approval process, dealing yet another setback to project foes who filed multiple lawsuits to kill the long-awaited development.
The project’s centerpiece, an 18,500-seat home arena for the Golden State Warriors basketball team during the NBA season, would offer a year-round entertainment and recreation venue in San Francisco for a variety of uses that include concerts, family shows, sporting and cultural events, conferences and conventions. The project has won virtually unanimous support from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and an array of city commissions charged with planning, transportation, entertainment, public utilities and public works responsibilities. The Commission on Community Investment and Infrastructure gave its own unanimous backing following an exhaustive environmental review process, and Governor Jerry Brown has certified the development as an Environmental Leadership Project—one of only a handful of projects statewide to meet or exceed rigorous economic stimulus and environmental building standards.
The case is: Mission Bay Alliance et al. v. Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure et al., Sacramento County Superior Court, filed Jan. 7, 2016. Case documents are available at: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/.
Litigation Documents
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