Cooper v. Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority

Opinion

EPSTEIN, J. —

Joan Cooper appeals the trial court’s dismissal of her petition for a writ of mandate. She challenges the Mountains Recreation and

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Conservation Authority’s (Authority) purchase of 662 acres of land in Topanga Canyon, maintaining the Authority overpaid for the parcel, violated the California open meeting law, popularly known as the Ralph M. Brown Act or the Brown Act (Gov. Code, § 54950 et seq.), and the California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.), and exceeded its powers under its joint powers agreement. She also contends the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors improperly allocated funds under Proposition A for the purchase. We find no error and affirm the judgment. In the published portion of this opinion, we conclude that the Authority did not exceed its power under the joint powers agreement. The other issues are considered in the unpublished portion of the opinion.

Factual and Procedural Background

Appellant, Joan Cooper is a taxpayer residing in Topanga Canyon, the site of the property at issue.

Respondents include: (1) the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (Conservancy), an entity governed by a board composed of eight voting members and two ex officio members within the Resources Agency (Pub. Resources Code, § 33200 et seq.); (2) the Authority, a joint public entity created pursuant to a joint powers agreement between the Conservancy and the Conejo and Rancho Simi park districts (Gov. Code, § 6500 et seq.);

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and (3) the County of Los Angeles, a public entity.

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Discussion

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IV

Appellant argues that under its joint powers agreement between the Conservancy and the park districts, the Authority is required to gain approval from the public works board to acquire property. Appellant bases her argument on the fact that the Conservancy is required to obtain approval