Andrea Matarazzo is a founding partner of Pioneer Law Group, LLP, bringing to the firm over 20 years of professional experience in the land use arena. Andrea’s practice focuses on land use law and related environmental issues in California and the western United States. She assists developers, business owners, and public agencies in all aspects of project permitting and entitlements, environmental compliance, and litigation, particularly in connection with environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Her practice includes planning and zoning law, endangered species regulations, air quality, water supply and water quality mandates, wetlands, and other regulatory requirements.
Andrea has extensive experience litigating CEQA and NEPA matters as well as planning and land use disputes. As a recent example, she was lead CEQA counsel for the developer of the Sacramento Railyards in its successful defense against four separate CEQA lawsuits challenging the project entitlements (one of the largest urban infill projects in the country with over 2,000,000 square feet of office space entitlements and 12,000 residential units on 61 city blocks).
Andrea is a frequent speaker at professional conferences on CEQA and other various environmental topics, and is an active member of the community. She has taught land use planning law as an adjunct professor at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, and served on the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Tree Foundation and the Sacramento affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. She holds a bachelor’s degree in land use planning and is a California Registered Landscape Architect.
SEMINARS
- Water Council, U.S. Conference of Mayors: Meeting the Water Supply Challenge and California’s “Show me the Water” Laws (October 2010)
- California Water Quality and Its Impact on Water Supply: Addressing Water Supply Issues Under CEQA (July 2010)
- 2009 Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite: CEQA Update (October 2009)
- Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA): Overcoming Water Supply Uncertainty in Land-Use Planning (May 2009)
- Advanced CEQA Workshop: Critical Issues Update (June 2008)
- Wetlands Regulations: A Primer for Real Estate Attorneys (February 2007)
- Tools for Understanding CEQA (2005-2006)
- Legally Defensible Environmental Review Under CEQA (May 2004)
- California Land Use: Current Issues in Subdivision, Annexation, and Zoning Law (2001-2004May 2004)
- Advanced Zoning and Land Use in California (April 2004)
- Administration and Enforcement of Wetlands and Endangered Species Regulations (March 2004)
- Practical Guide to Zoning and Land Use Law in California (December 2003)
- Zoning and Land Use in California: CEQA Fundamentals and New Developments (June 2003)
ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVITIES
- California Bar Association, Environmental Law Section
- Sacramento County Bar Association, Environmental Law Section
- U.S. District Court, Eastern and Southern Districts; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Urban Land Institute
- American Society of Landscape Architects, Sierra Chapter
- American Planning Association, California Chapter (Conference Steering Committee, 2001)
ARTICLES
- CEQ Undertakes Two Additional Pilot Projects Aimed to Improve Efficiency of NEPA Review
- Program Satisfied CEQA for Amendment to Local Coastal Plan
- Federal Aviation Administration Failed to Take NEPA’s Requisite “Hard Look” at Whether a New Runway Had Indirect Effects Due to Increased Demand for Airport Operations
- Developers’ Abandonment of Project and City’s Rescission of Approval Rendered Judgment Moot for Purposes of Appeal
- Water District Failed to Show that Rate Structure Complied with Proposition 218 Requirements for Property-Related Fees
- Court of Appeal Overturns Use Permit and Variance for Synagogue Expansion Due to City’s Failure to Comply with City Charter and Topanga Findings Requirements
- Ninth Circuit Upholds Bureau of Reclamation’s NEPA Review of Proposed Lake Roosevelt Drawdown Project
- City’s Density Restriction Limiting Residential Development of 69-Acre Property Was Not an Illegal Spot Zone
- California Supreme Court Affirms That Common Sense “Is an Important Consideration at All Levels of CEQA Review.”
- Court of Appeal Allows CEQA Petitioner to Recover Attorney’s Fees Incurred to Exhaust Administrative Remedies Prior to Litigation.
- City’s Approval of a Hospital Expansion Project Did Not Violate CEQA or Local Ordinances.
- AB 320 Shifts Burden of Naming Real Parties in Interest from CEQA Petitioners to Lead Agencies
- California’s Anti-NIMBY Statute Protects All Residential Development Projects, Not Just Affordable Housing
- Community Water Coalition Loses Bid to Halt U.C. Santa Cruz Housing Expansion Based on LAFCO Process
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Issues Considerations for Case-by-Case Determination of Compensatory Mitigation Ratios for 404 Permits
- NEPA Does Not Require Supplemental Analysis of a Final Decision that Makes Only Minor Changes and is within the Range of Alternatives Discussed in the Draft EIS.
