A landmark CEQA suit challenged the City of Newport Beach’s approval of intensive urban development of Banning Ranch, the largest private open space remaining on the coast of Southern California. This 387-acre property lies within the ancestral homelands of local California Native American tribes, including the Acjachemen and Tongva peoples. It contains approximately 100 acres of marshes, mudflats, and riparian scrub and 67 acres of coastal sage scrub, with critical habitat for as many as five endangered species.
In 2017, the California Supreme Court overturned the EIR for the project. It found that the EIR failed to identify areas that might qualify as environmentally sensitive habitat areas (ESHA) under the Coastal Act, or to properly analyze the project’s impacts on those areas. After the conclusion of the litigation, efforts intensified to permanently preserve the land as open space. Banning Ranch is now permanently protected as a coastal park, known as the Frank and Joan Randall Preserve.