Save Lincoln Place Apartments! Venice, California

About the CEQA Lawsuit and Case Pleadings

On June 8, 2006, the Lincoln Place Tenants Association (LPTA) filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles for failing to enforce the mitigation measures of AIMCO's redevelopment Plan of Lincoln Place Apartments as required by law under CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) and asking the City to withdraw their stamp of approval on the evictions. We are asking the City to declare that the eviction notices are illegal, just like the demolition permits were found to be illegal when the City gave them to AIMCO in 2003. The LPTA is also suing AIMCO for "piecemealing" CEQA, which is illegal.

In July 2005, the Court of Appeals said AIMCO cannot piecemeal CEQA by getting demolition permits without first complying with the mitigation conditions as they pertained to the buildings. Now AIMCO is piecemealing CEQA and not complying with the mitigation conditions as they pertain to the tenants. AIMCO wants to rid the property of tenants and then either sell the property or modify the current EIR (Environmental Impact Report required under CEQA). And the City refuses to stop the evictions, claiming that the Ellis Act, a state law, prevents them from acting. They also say that they cannot step in to protect the tenants under the Tract Map (AIMCO's redevelopment plan for Lincoln Place, which included the condition that AIMCO would not evict any tenants due to redevelopment) until AIMCO applies for a demolition permit.

The Court of Appeals required the trial court judge to void all demolition permits granted in 2003 and to place a permanent injunction on all future demolition permits until AIMCO complies with the pre-conditions on demolition as required by the Tract Map or unless those pre-conditions are modified or deleted following the issuance and consideration of a new supplemental EIR for the Lincoln Place redevelopment project.

The current CEQA lawsuit was before Superior Court Judge David Yaffe (the same trial court judge referred to above) on August 16, 2006, when the LPTA asked him to stop AIMCO from filing unlawful detainers against the current tenants for the reasons stated above. Judge Yaffe denied our request for an injunction and we immediately filed a Notice of Appeal and then a Writ of Supersedes, which is the same thing as an injunction in the lower superior court. Meanwhile, AIMCO said they would serve the current tenants with unlawful detainers on September 1, 2006.

The CEQA case on appeal will be heard along with the Marlin v. AIMCO case.

For additional background on the CEQA lawsuit, click here.

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