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Mr. Herson is an environmental attorney and planner with over 35 years of experience. A recognized authority on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and natural resources law, he is co-author of three popular Solano Press desktop references: The CEQA Deskbook (2d edition), California Environmental Law and Policy: A Practical Guide, and The NEPA Book, as well as the four CEQA chapters in the California Environmental Law and Land Use Practice treatise. Mr. Herson advises public agencies on complex environmental and land use law matters.
Mr. Herson has prepared and reviewed hundreds of CEQA documents on land use and other public agency projects, both as an attorney and as a consultant prior to joining the Firm. These include General Plans; EIRs and RTPs/SCSs for AMBAG, SANDAG, and TCAG; EIRs for transportation projects such as the LAX Landside Access Modernization Program; and large land use projects such as the Centennial Specific Plan (Tejon Ranch, Los Angeles County) and Stanford’s 2019 General Use Permit (Santa Clara County). Mr. Herson provides in-depth guidance and review for priority topics such as land use, climate change, transportation, and air quality impact analysis. He also reviews regional and local plans for compliance with Government Code requirements, and for compliance with state guidance such as the RTP Guidelines and the General Plan Guidelines.
Mr. Herson is a leader in professional legal and planning associations. He has served on the Executive Committees of the State Bar and Sacramento County Environmental Law Sections. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP), and Past President of the American Planning Association California Chapter, and the California Planning Roundtable. In addition to his extensive project experience, Mr. Herson’s ongoing publishing and teaching roles require that he stay on top of the latest judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in planning and environmental law, knowledge he regularly shares with clients. Mr. Herson has conducted many CEQA and NEPA courses for UC Extensions. He serves as co-chair for CLE International’s Annual CEQA Update conference, currently in its fourteenth year and recognized as the state’s leading CEQA legal conference.
Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy
The Firm provided in depth legal advice to SANDAG’s project team and Board on two previous RTP/SCSs and their EIRs: the 2015 Regional Plan adopted in 2015, and the 2011 RTP/SCS. The Firm is currently providing similar services for the next update to the 2015 Regional Plan. For all three assignments, the Firm was closely involved in all steps of plan and EIR preparation, review, and adoption.
The Firm collaborated effectively with SANDAG staff, SANDAG leadership, and consultants, and provided constructive input on early plan and EIR deliverables (e.g., memoranda on technical methodologies, significance criteria, and mitigation measures). The Firm also played a key role in drafting language for plan and EIR sections, responses to Draft EIR comments, and decision documents, including EIR certification and project approval resolutions, CEQA findings, statements of overriding considerations, and mitigation monitoring and reporting programs.
As part of this past RTP work, the Firm also conducted legal research and prepared legal memoranda as directed by SANDAG’s Office of General Counsel. We also prepared highly detailed analyses of how the RTP/SCSs met all applicable legal requirements of transportation planning and environmental laws and regulations. We recommended changes to planning documents, e.g., SCS documentation, to assure compliance. The Firm also served as trial and appellate counsel for high profile legal challenges to the 2050 RTP/SCS EIR. See Cleveland National Forest Foundation, et al. v. SANDAG (2017) 3 Cal.5th 497; Cleveland National Forest Foundation, et al. v. SANDAG (2017) 17 Cal.App.5th 413.
SANTA CLARA VALLEY WATER DISTRICT
Santa Clara Valley Water District External CEQA Counsel
The Firm has represented Santa Clara Valley Water District as outside CEQA counsel since 2010. The firm has provided CEQA strategic advice, detailed CEQA document review, and litigation services for over 20 different water supply and flood management projects. Projects include EIR/EIS reviews for the San Luis Reservoir Low Point Improvement Project and the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Phase 1 Study, and EIR reviews for flood management projects on Berryessa and Penitencia Creeks. In addition, the firm is providing strategic CEQA advice and EIR review services for the District’s Fisheries and Habitat Collaborative Effort, a major long-term program intended to improve fish habitat and fish passage within the watersheds of the Coyote Creek, Stevens Creeks, and the Guadalupe River; proposed actions include modifications to reservoir operations to provide instream flows, restoration measures to improve habitat conditions and provide fish passage, and adaptive management.
CITY OF LOS ANGELES, LOS ANGELES WORLD AIRPORTS
LAX Landside Access Modernization Program EIR and Subsequent Litigation
As part of our long-standing role as special CEQA Counsel to Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), we reviewed the planning documents and associated EIR for the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Landside Access Modernization Program (LAMP), a multi-billion-dollar update to the ground transportation system at LAX, with an emphasis on providing alternative modes of transportation for accessing LAX. The project includes an Automated People Mover (an elevated and grade separated train system) designed to connect to (1) Metro’s 96th Street Connector Project and Green line extension, (2) Intermodal Transportation Facilities, and (3) a new Consolidated Rental Car facility. After the City certified the EIR in June 2017, a local parking shuttle operator challenged the certification on CEQA grounds. The Firm is currently representing the City and LAWA in this ongoing challenge.
