UKIAH >> Any action on the court case halting progress on the proposed Ukiah Costco warehouse has been delayed for at least another month.
According to recent filings in the case, which will be heard by the First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the appellant, Davis-based attorney William Kopper, requested more time to file his opening brief, which was previously due on Nov. 9.
According to the court’s website, Kopper requested and was granted more time to file that brief, which is now due on Dec. 8.
Kopper filed the appeal in July on behalf of a group called “Ukiah Citizens for Safety First,” after a Mendocino County Superior Court judge in May dismissed the lawsuit Kopper filed declaring that the Environmental Impact Report prepared for the Costco proposed for Airport Park Boulevard was inadequate.
The lawsuit was filed in early 2014 on behalf of four plaintiffs, two employees of Lucky and two employees of FoodMaxx, but all of them asked to be removed.
The only name still attached to both the group “Ukiah Citizens for Safety First” and the appeal is Kopper’s, as he has refused all requests to reveal any other names, only telling the Ukiah City Council the last time he appeared before it that there were “several” members.
Also according to the court’s website, the appeal was briefly in default in late July because Kopper “failed to deposit $100.00 fee” and had 15 days to rectify the situation. The payment was received by Aug. 7 and the case was removed from default.
If it is eventually built, traffic mitigations that include a revamp of the Highway 101 and Talmage Road interchange need to be completed, and it was expected that Kopper would file an appeal of the EIR for that project, as well. However, no appeal was filed before the deadline.
