The City of Davis acted within its rights when it decided to move a piece of playground equipment inside Arroyo Park, an appellate court ruled last month.
The City of Davis added a Sky Track zip line to the Arroyo Park playground in 2019. Nearby residents, including former mayor Joe Krovoza and his wife, quickly grew tired of the noise and complained to local officials.
The city commissioned noise studies to assess the equipment’s impacts and determined that relocating the Sky Track to another location within the park would reduce noise levels for nearby residences. The Krovozas were not satisfied with that determination and sued the city under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Due to “unusual circumstances,” the plaintiffs argued that the track’s relocation should not be exempt from CEQA. The Yolo County Superior Court disagreed, holding that the track’s relocation did not require further environmental review.
The plaintiffs appealed the ruling. On December 30, they were rebuffed again — this time by a unanimous decision of the Third District Court of Appeal.
“We nonetheless agree with the city that the violation of a standard in its noise ordinance alone (assuming but not deciding one could be proven here) does not constitute substantial evidence that the project will have a significant effect on the environment,” the court said in its published opinion.
The decision means the city can now move forward with its relocation plans for the zip line. It also affirms local governments’ broad discretion over projects that fall within established CEQA exemptions, and helps clarify the standards for applying exemptions in future cases.
Read more about the ruling at the Davis Enterprise.