{"id":259891,"date":"2026-04-09T20:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/259891\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T20:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:16:11","slug":"judge-rejects-environmental-challenge-to-south-fresno-highway-99-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/259891\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Rejects Environmental Challenge to South Fresno Highway 99 Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Fresno judge dealt an environmental group a blow in its attempt to block a Highway 99 project.<\/p>\n

Fresno County Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Wilson ruled that Friends of Calwa and Fresno Building Healthy Communities filed their lawsuit too late to invoke the state\u2019s environmental review law.<\/p>\n

Wilson issued his decision Monday, April 6, after hearing arguments Jan. 9, ruling in favor of the defendant, Caltrans. He said that the plaintiffs missed a deadline to claim the project violated the California Environmental Quality Act \u2014 the landmark state law that, among other things, requires rigorous reviews of construction projects.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Caltrans plans to expand the Highway 99 interchanges at American Avenue and North Avenue in south Fresno from half-interchanges to full interchanges.\u00a0The $146 million project<\/a> is scheduled to begin in September 2027 and be completed by March 2031. The project would permanently close the Cedar Avenue\/Highway 99 interchange.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs, Wilson said, waited until the last day to file a CEQA lawsuit \u2014 March 8, 2023 \u2014 but filed it in federal court. The groups also filed a state court action in October 2023, seven months too late, according to state law.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for Friends of Calwa and Fresno BHC argued in court briefs that Caltrans waived its right to make a time-limit claim through its legal pleadings. Wilson disagreed.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Friends of Calwa and Fresno BHC) assert that the issue of the timeliness of their CEQA claims has either been resolved by the appellate court or waived by respondents\u2019 procedural error. The court disagrees. The statute of limitations is ripe for decision. Moreover, the evidence demonstrates that petitioners\u2019 decision to file suit only in federal court on the last possible day was objectively unreasonable,\u201d Wilson wrote in his 16-page opinion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Judge Criticizes Legal Maneuvers<\/p>\n

Wilson criticized Friends of Calwa and Fresno BHC\u2019s legal moves, writing that filing in federal court on the last day \u201cseriously prejudiced\u201d their case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not objectively reasonable for a party to exchange an absolute right to litigate their state law claims in state court for the mere possibility of raising such claims in federal court only with their opponent\u2019s cooperation and consent,\u201d Wilson wrote. \u201cUltimately, petitioners are the architects of their own misfortune.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their writ of mandate, the plaintiffs argued the state\u2019s transportation agency failed to adequately consider nearby residents in its environmental review. They asked the judge, unsuccessfully, to decertify the environmental impact report.<\/p>\n

Wilson ordered the case to continue as a non-CEQA case.<\/p>\n

This is the second time that the court ruled on the CEQA timeline issue. A judge ruled against Friends of Calwa and Fresno BHC in 2024. An appeal court sent the matter back to Fresno County Superior Court.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Proposed location of two Highway 99 interchange improvements. (Caltrans)
\nFuture of Case Unclear<\/p>\n

\"Geoffrey<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence demonstrates that petitioners\u2019 decision to file suit only in federal court on the last possible day was objectively unreasonable.\u201d \u2014 Judge Geoffrey Wilson<\/p>\n

The status of the case is unclear. The state court does not have a date scheduled after Wilson\u2019s ruling, although it did assign Judge Maria G. Diaz to hear future matters.<\/p>\n

The initial writ of mandate listed two other causes of action \u2014 discrimination in a government program, and violation of the state\u2019s duty to affirmatively further fair housing.<\/p>\n

The last note in the docket for the federal case said it is waiting for the CEQA ruling in the state case. A minute order filed Feb. 23 said the court acknowledged a motion to dismiss the federal case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the interest of judicial efficiency, the Court plans to hold that motion in abeyance until after the Fresno County Superior Court rules on the related CEQA claims, a decision that is anticipated by early April 2026. The parties are directed to file a joint status report within 14 days of the issuance of that decision providing their positions on the necessity of resolving the National Environmental Policy Act motion to dismiss,\u201d wrote federal judge Jennifer L. Thurston.<\/p>\n

Caltrans declined comment. Attorneys for Friends of Calwa and Fresno BHC did not return messages before publication of this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Fresno judge dealt an environmental group a blow in its attempt to block a Highway 99 project.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-259891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}