CBLG Clients File Petition to Force Compliance with Habitat Conservation Plan and Ensure Permanent Preservation of Valuable Habitat

On June 24, 2025, on behalf of Preserve Wild Poway and the Sierra Club, Chatten-Brown Law Group filed a Petition for Writ of Mandate against the City of Poway and the City Council for the City of Poway seeking to force the City’s compliance with the Poway Subarea Habitat Conservation Plan, or PSHCP, which was intended to preserve the City’s most valuable habitats in perpetuity.

In the Petition, Chatten-Brown Law Group documented extensive evidence of the City’s failure to acquire lands for conservation, failure to re-zone lands acquired to a zoning designation that would ensure permanent protection, failure to update the in-lieu fee amount to serve as a deterrent for incompatible development, failure to maintain lands that the City identifies as already-preserved, failure to meet targets set by the PSHCP, and failure to adhere to the special design guidelines. As set forth in the Petition, each of these failures is a separate and distinct violation of the PSHCP’s requirements.
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As stated by Dave Hogan, Sierra Club San Diego Legal Chair, “In spite of repeated requests from state and federal agencies, the City of Poway has failed to uphold its promise to safeguard sensitive habitat lands . . . Simply put, Poway has refused carry out its obligations to protect nature.”  Jeff Schmidt, President of Preserve Wild Poway, added, “City leadership has willfully neglected its responsibilities. As a result, the City has failed to properly mitigate habitat loss due to development, irreparably damaged the reserve design, and imposed serious consequences on our regional wildlife.”

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