Jan. 30, 2014
Kristina D. Lawson
See more on Kristina D. LawsonManatt Phelps & Phillips LLP | San Francisco | Transactional
"It's where a significant percentage of the legal hiccups come," she said. "CEQA compliance is something I'm very focused on, because it's usually the tool project opponents use to challenge a project."
A member of the Bay Area Council's CEQA Reform Task Force, Lawson also serves as vice chair of the League of California Cities' Environmental Quality Task Force, and, in 2013, was a member of the league's CEQA reform committee.
"One of my primary goals as a CEQA adviser and strategist is to obtain some certainty in the process," she said. "That's what our clients want - a level of certainty, how long something will take and what the costs will be. That is where reform should go."
Lawson is serving as land use counsel on a number of current projects.
Among them is Hydrogen Energy California, what she calls a clean and reliable alternative energy project that is designed to bring economic and environmental benefits to Kern County and the state.
Last year, she and the project team secured a key discretionary entitlement for the project from the county's Board of Supervisors.
The California Energy Commission now must weigh in on the proposed facility.
"This is going to be an important component of California's long-term climate strategy," Lawson said.
She also is serving as lead land use counsel to the Residences at Berkeley Plaza, a sustainable, transit-oriented, mixed-use development in downtown Berkeley.
"It's traditionally been one of the most difficult jurisdictions to process any project," Lawson said. "This will change what downtown Berkeley will look like and will bring a lot of new residents to downtown."
As for CEQA, Lawson said she doesn't foresee any significant reforms in the next year.
"There will be no game changing," she added. "There is just not the political will to do that. The interests are just too divergent at this time, and I don't see much middle ground emerging at this point."
- PAT BRODERICK
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