On August 17, 2016, the California Supreme Court ordered the Fourth District’s opinion in People for Proper Planning v. City of Palm Springs (2016) 247 Cal.App.4th 640 to be depublished, rendering it unciteable and of no precedential effect. I posted two previous blog entries on the Court of Appeal’s original decision and its subsequent modification. My first post opined that the decision reached the correct result, but appeared “to misstate applicable review standards, overlook relevant case authorities, and mix and muddle land use planning law concepts with CEQA rules for assessing physical environmental impacts in a way that blurs important analytical distinctions.” Apparently thinking along similar lines, the Supreme Court appropriately chose to exercise its depublication power, thereby eliminating these concerns with the opinion’s questionable and quirky reasoning, while preserving its result.
