Monday, June 9, 2008 7:58 PM PDT

Paul Jones
Staff Writer

The City of Novato recently won another round in its ongoing legal war against the North Coast Railroad Authority’s restoration of rail lines through the city. Monday, June 9, the First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected without comment an appeal by the North Coast Railroad Authority against an injunction by Judge James R. Ritchie. Ritchie’s decision, issued April 1, forced the NCRA to temporarily halt repair work on railway bridges and tracks between Lombard and Windsor, the so-called “Russian River” division of its rail-freight reactivation project, until the city’s suit against the NCRA was decided in court. The repair of railway signals was allowed to continue.

Ritchie’s decision was prompted by a suit against the NCRA by the city of Novato, which claims that the NCRA split a single project into two parts, the Russian River division and Eel River division, in violation of California Environmental Quality Act standards, in order to avoid completing the necessary environmental impact studies. The NCRA claims Novato filed its lawsuit almost six months too late.

Mitch Stogner of the NCRA said his agency was disappointed by the decision, but would continue to challenge the decision by other means.

“I’m not at liberty to discuss our options,” said Stogner, “Our position (continues to be) that the city of Novato missed the statute of limitations … We have had the support of the California Transportation Commission, and the State Attorney General’s office, who filed a brief on our behalf for the court of appeals.”

Dan Keen, city manager for Novato, said the case validated the city’s complaints against the NCRA.

“Obviously, the city has prevailed again in our efforts to get the NCRA to comply with CEQA,” said Keen, who said he was confident the city’s case would be validated in court. “We’re due in court for the hearing on the main case in August. What we’re seeking is for the court to direct them to prepare the EIR on the entire project, not just the Russian River division, which they’ve done.”

Keen said the city government believed the NCRA was disingenuous by not evaluating the whole impact of the Eel River and Russian River railway restoration and operation in one impact study, and produced documents he said confirmed the NCRA expected Humboldt Bay to be upgraded for large container ships, which would increase freight traffic through Novato over current estimates by the NCRA.