Article 78 against Glendale homeless shelter dismissed by judge, Appeal expected

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In June of 2014, a coalition of organizations opposed to a homeless shelter at a site on Cooper Avenue off 78th Street in Glendale for 500 homeless people, filed a petition to the court through an Article 78 proceeding.

The coalition argued that the environmental assessment was flawed in its findings and far from complete in its studies of the impact of a facility of this size on the surrounding community and called for a new review.

The study submitted by AECOM, they argued, contained erroneous information, including basic information about schools that could have been verified on Google. One case in point was the number of children in the schools near the proposed shelter, and the other was the grades housed in those schools.

The information was outdated, but the judge in the case ruled that the guidelines in the manual do not point to a significant impact for purposes of environmental analysis. The coalition contends that if decisions on the shelter were made by the city based on the findings of this study, then the decisions are flawed and deeper study is needed.

In her October 22nd decision denying the Article 78 lawsuit, Judge Jennifer Schecter ruled it is not the role of the courts to weigh in on most of the issues raised, but stated that the agency seemed to procedurally satisfy  the considerations of environmental impact into planning and review.

The judge cited that they rely on the manual’s guidelines in determining whether the agency has met its obligations of giving a “hard look” and decided in this case they had, and that the study was sufficient to use in determining the impact of the proposed facility on the community.

Sources close to the coalition say they will appeal the decision.

Read the full decision here:

Article 78 Against Glendale Homeless Shelter Dismissed By Judge

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