November 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 29

itas, California, owned by Defendant Cardiff School District. The
renovations intruded on 9 percent
to 14 percent of the land protected
by the Section 6(f)(3) boundary of
the park, replacing " grassy parkland and walking path with school
buildings, paved parking, a pickup
and drop-off area, and biofiltration
basins. " Plaintiff Save the Park is a
nonprofit organization comprised
of people who live near the park
and use it for recreation.
Save the Park sued the District,
seeking a preliminary injunction
to block any further construction
or demolition within the boundaries of their local park. In so doing,
Save the Park alleged an earlier approval of the renovation project by
NPS violated the LWCF.
In 1993, the District and the
City of Encinitas received renovation funding for the park under
the LWCF. As noted by the federal district court: " That funding
came with a string attached, which
provides the federal hook in this
case. " Specifically, Section 6(f)(3)
of the LWCF required the park to
be retained for public outdoor recreation unless the Secretary of the
Interior finds a proper substitution
of similar recreation properties. 54
U.S.C. § 200305(f)(3).
Save the Park initially sued the
District in state court, contending
that the District began renovating
the park without necessary approval from NPS. In November 2019,
the state court granted a preliminary injunction putting a stop to
construction in the 6(f)(3) boundary of the park.
In February 2020, the parties settled the state court action and the
state court dismissed the case. Under the settlement agreement, the

District agreed not to convert parkland without first obtaining NPS
approval. The agreement included
a general waiver of claims, but Save
the Park reserved the right to " use
any ruling issued and any evidence
obtained in the state court litigation to challenge any action taken
by NPS in connection with the
project. " For its part, the District
reserved the right to " challenge the
meaning, effect, or significance of
any rulings used by Save the Park
in such proceedings. "
On April 24, 2020, NPS approved conversion of the park and
construction resumed. Before filing this federal lawsuit, Save the
Park first sought to have NPS reconsider its approval. When it became clear that NPS's reconsideration would not occur quickly, on
June 12, 2020, Save the Park filed
a claim in federal district court to
halt construction activities in the
now-demolished park. In addition
to the School District, Save the
Park named as defendants: NPS,
Secretary of the Interior David
Bernhardt, Director of NPS David Vela and Director of the California Department of Parks and
Recreation Lisa Mangat.
In its lawsuit in federal district
court, Save the Park was seeking a
preliminary injunction to prevent
the District from engaging in further construction and renovation
activities within the LWCF-funded
boundary of George Berkich Park,
and from denying the public access
to the park for outdoor recreational
use. Save the Park maintained the
requested relief of a court-issued
injunction was warranted because
NPS's consent to the conversion
was not " properly-granted nor fully
reasoned. "

Preliminary Injunction
Requirements
As noted by the federal district court,
to prevail on its request for a preliminary injunction to temporarily halt
the District's renovation project,
Plaintiff Save the Park would have
to show all of the following:
(1) a likelihood plaintiff will succeed at trial in proving the merits of
the claim; (2) a likelihood of irreparable harm to the plaintiff in the
absence of preliminary injunction
relief; (3) the balance of the equities
tips in favor of the plaintiff; (4) an
injunction in favor of plaintiff is in
the public interest.

Likelihood of Success
on the Merits
Save the Park argued the federal
district court should set aside NPS's
" hasty " consent to the project in an
LWCF-funded park because NPS
approval was " arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion "
in violation of the Administrative
Procedure Act ( " APA " ), 5 U.S.C. §§
551 et seq.
As cited by the federal district
court, the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 551
et seq., required a federal court to
set aside an agency action if it is
" arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of
discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law, " " without
observance of procedure required
by law, " or " unwarranted by the
facts to the extent that the facts are
subject to trial de novo by the reviewing court. " 5 U.S.C. § 706(2).
Without making a final determination of this issue, based on the plaintiff 's complaint at this preliminary
stage of the proceedings, the federal
district court found Save the Park
was indeed likely to be able to show

PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N .O R G | N OV E M B E R 2 02 0 |

Parks & Recreation

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November 2020 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2020 - Parks & Recreation

November 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 1
November 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 2
November 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 3
November 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 4
November 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 5
November 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 6
November 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 7
November 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 8
November 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 9
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