Court of Appeals to Rule on Transbay Terminal

News Articles
09/06/2005

There have been many legal roadblocks to building the new Transbay Terminal.  But after months of hearings, environmental reports, challenges and appeals, this legal wrangling phase of the project appears to be nearing an end.  Two of the three lawsuits standing in the way of the terminal were dismissed by San Francisco Supreme Court judges this summer, and a hearing on the final suit has been scheduled for September 20th.  If all goes well, the project could be free of legal challenges before Halloween.

In June, a lawsuit filed on behalf of homeowners near the terminal was dismissed.  The suit claimed that harm to property values and air quality would be caused by increased traffic in a bus staging area.  Then in August a judge dismissed a suit filed by business and property owners in the area claiming the environmental impact report did not properly consider alternative sites for the new terminal.

These two lawsuits got very little media attention, but the third suit, filed by a real estate developer, got plenty of attention when the city took over the property through an emminent domain action. The case is now set for a hearing on September 20 in the U.S Court of Appeals.  Again the issue is the environmental impact report, and whether or not it fairly assessed the impact on the developer’s project.  An earlier ruling allowed the Transbay Joint Powers Authority to move forward with the project while the appeal is being heard.  Now that a hearing is scheduled it’s likely the whole matter will  be resolved shortly.