A Tulare County judge has ordered the City of Tulare to rescind its approval of a zoning ordinance update allowing certain industrial projects to move forward without environmental review under state law. 

The ruling comes after a year of litigation challenging the City of Tulare’s December 2024 update, which permitted some light and heavy industrial uses, including cold-storage and warehouse facilities, to be approved “by right” in designated zones. 

Petitioners argued the change wrongly relied on a “common sense exemption” under the California Environmental Quality Act and conflicted with the city’s 2014 general plan, which requires mitigation for air quality and public health impacts related to industrial development. 

“This decision means that the City will need to engage the public and conduct environmental review of its zoning ordinance update,” said Seth Alston, staff attorney with Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability. “This is a critical win for public health and the residents of Matheny Tract.” 

The consolidated lawsuits were brought on by the California Department of Justice and the Matheny Tract Committee, a resident-led group that represents the unincorporated community of Matheny Tract, just south of Tulare. 

The neighborhood is bordered on three sides by city limits and industrial zoned land, where residents have long raised concerns about truck traffic, noise and air pollution.

“We want it to be known that the City is harming us, our community,” said Hugo Trujillo, a member of the Matheny Tract Committee “We aren’t against development. We’re against projects that affect our health, with their traffic, their noise and above all for not taking into account the environmental impact. Going over our community and making decisions that affect us, without us.” 

Under the court’s order, the city must void the zoning update and complete environmental review before adopting similar changes in the future. While the decision does not stop specific projects, it requires compliance with state environmental law and health-protection measures before new industrial developments are approved.