Enviro citizens’ group files suit to stop Marina’s most eco-friendly project.

Carmel Valley attorney Richard Rosenthal hasn’t seen a major Marina environmental impact report that he liked. Continuing a litigious tradition of challenging every recent Marina housing development, Rosenthal, who represents Save Our Peninsula Committee, is now suing Creekbridge’s Marina Station.

The citizens’ association filed suit April 3 citing the development’s inadequate EIR and shortcomings in mitigations for traffic, water and air quality impacts. Marina city officials are very familiar with the committee’s land-use concerns. The association has sued Fort Ord developments The Dunes on Monterey Bay (then called University Villages) and Cypress Knolls (now defunct). But Rosenthal says the city hasn’t got the message yet. “If they did their jobs adequately there wouldn’t be a need for lawsuits,” he says.

City officials counter that Rosenthal’s allegations are without merit and the lawsuits accomplish nothing other than project delays and lawyer payoffs. “I look at it as good way to collect attorney fees,” says Marina Mayor Gary Wilmot.

City Attorney Robert Wellington says neither Rosenthal nor committee members attended public hearings for Marina Station or other city developments. Instead, Rosenthal wrote letters criticizing both the project’s draft and final EIRs. “I’ve never seen them get involved,” Wellington says.

Rosenthal says he has legitimate concerns, considering that Marina has approved more than 3,600 new homes (sans Cypress Knolls) and all the added traffic will spill onto Highway 1.

Rosenthal contends that since Creekbridge will be paying into the city’s capital improvement fund, there is no guarantee the needed traffic mitigations will occur if there isn’t enough money. Plus, he says, the EIR needs to fully evaluate the project’s greenhouse gas emissions, although the city says there isn’t accepted methodology to do so.

Rosenthal brought up comparable EIR flaws in a 2004 lawsuit against Marina Heights. Next, Save our Peninsula Committee sued The Dunes, followed by Cypress Knolls. All of the lawsuits were filed on grounds of California Environmental Quality Act violations.

The Marina Heights lawsuit resulted in the project developer paying an additional $1.75 million to help low – and moderate-income residents buy homes. Marina Community Partners, developer of the Dunes, agreed to phase in mixed-use buildings within the Village Promenade, add seven more residential units, install roundabouts, develop walking and bike paths, and use waterless urinals in some buildings, among other sustainable measures. As part of the Cypress Knolls settlement,, the city agreed to add $10 million in improvements to the interchange at Imjin Parkway and Highway 1, and increase traffic impact fees. The Cypress Knolls developer agreed to pay Save Our Peninsula $110,000 in attorney fees; Marina Community Partners paid $307,800 in litigation costs. The Marina Heights settlement is confidential.

Overall, Wilmot says the settlements of Rosenthal’s lawsuits haven’t greatly changed the land-use components of the projects. And as in the case of the Dunes lawsuit, Wilmot says the courts have ruled in favor of the city and its developers. (The parties reached a settlement after Rosenthal filed an appeal).

The developers have reimbursed the city for its legal expenses and covered all settlement costs, city officials say. “Where the cost actually comes in is in the cost of the delay,” Wilmot says. “When projects don’t move forward, there is no additional property taxes coming into the city.” And, Wilmot says the city will get less money under profit-sharing arrangements because the litigation adds development expenses.

Save Our Peninsula’s lawsuit against Marina Station – while not surprising – challenges a project that was widely hailed as the city’s best development so far because of Creekbridge’s pedestrian-friendly and sustainable design. All single-family homes will be wired for solar panels and have energy-efficient appliances. Most residents will be able to walk five minutes to one of the development’s three town centers.

But Rosenthal says, “Just because something is called sustainable or green, it does have an impact on the environment.” The project will pave over roughly 320 acres of farmland and open space on Armstrong Ranch. The project’s EIR, the lawsuit says, fails to adequately evaluate the cumulative and growth-inducing impacts associated with adding 1,360 homes north of the city.

Still, other environmental groups back the project. Earlier in the planning process The local Sierra Club, LandWatch, and Councilman Ken Gray voiced concerns, including preserving habitat for sensitive species and two vernal ponds. Creekbridge and the groups settled, with the developer agreeing to redesign the project’s eighth phase, remove about 20 homes and preserve the ponds.

City officials say a similar agreement could have been made with Save Our Peninsula outside of court. Now it’s too late.