Unions use CEQA and other environmental laws to blackmail developers. They demand control of all the workers and the workplace. If not given, the unions will sue, using CEQA to stop a project, costing the developers millions in some cases—like this one. In the midst of a housing shortage, the unions will stop the building of over 1,000 homes—just to mandate workers pay them bribes if they want to work and developers turn over their projects to the whims of the unions—and add 14-20% to the cost of the housing1 Why is California housing expensive?
Lo0ok for the union label.
“The project now on hold by a union-backed CEQA lawsuit would replace the old AMD campus with more than a thousand new homes.
Just when an environmental review cleared the way to build 1,076 new homes on a 34-acre site in Sunnyvale, a lawsuit stopped the project in its tracks.
The petition filed this week by the Laborers International Union of North America, Local 270, claims the city flouted the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by failing to consider how Irvine Company’s proposal would impact “indoor air quality and birds.”
“Indoor quality”? Birds? Think blackmail. Unions do it well.
CEQA Lawsuit Halts Irvine Company’s 1,076-Unit Housing Development in Sunnyvale
By Jennifer Wadsworth, Sam Jose Inside, 5/30/19
The project now on hold by a union-backed CEQA lawsuit would replace the old AMD campus with more than a thousand new homes.
Just when an environmental review cleared the way to build 1,076 new homes on a 34-acre site in Sunnyvale, a lawsuit stopped the project in its tracks.
The petition filed this week by the Laborers International Union of North America, Local 270, claims the city flouted the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by failing to consider how Irvine Company’s proposal would impact “indoor air quality and birds.”
The 25-page complaint is part of a broader trend of CEQA litigation delaying desperately needed housing development in Silicon Valley and throughout the state.
At its core, the landmark 1970 legislation requires public agencies to analyze the environmental impacts of developments and curb them if needed. But the law meant to protect the state’s natural resources has been used by outside groups to block even the kind of dense infill development cities need to become more sustainable.
Naturally, that can call into question stated concerns about the environment. Especially when the litigant has little to no record of environmental activism.
Local 270, for one, is no Sierra Club.
In the case against Sunnyvale and Irvine Company, the union claims the defendants should’ve conducted an environmental study of the cancer-causing effects of the composite wood typically used in home construction. Local 270 hired a certified industrial hygienist and mechanical engineer named Francis Offerman, who warned that formaldehyde-based glues in the wood could elevate the cancer risk of future residents.
Another expert hired by the union to weigh in on the project said the environmental review should have taken a closer look at the impact on birds. Wildlife biologist Shawn Smallwood identified as many as 36 special-status bird species in the vicinity while the city-authorized environmental review cited just four.
The biologist also criticized the report for neglecting to evaluate the project’s adherence to Sunnyvale’s avian-friendly design guidelines, which aim to prevent birds from hurtling into reflective windows.
“Dr. Smallwood estimated that the project would result in 509 bird deaths per year, an impact which was not discussed or analyzed in the [environmental impact report],” the lawsuit states. “To minimize the project’s impacts on birds, Dr. Smallwood suggested several feasible mitigation measures for the city to incorporate into the project.”
Irvine Company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Sunnyvale spokeswoman Jennifer Garnett said the city can’t weigh in on pending litigation.
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