Robin R. Baral
Overview
Robin Baral provides counsel to public and private entities in the areas of land use, environmental and water law, and public finance.
Robin’s land use practice focuses on long range planning for cities, counties, water agencies and private developers. He has extensive experience working with developers and local agencies to negotiate development agreements, process specific plans and other complex entitlement packages, conduct environmental review under CEQA and State Planning and Zoning Law, and establish viable tax and public finance mechanisms. He has worked on the planning, permitting, construction and financing of public and private projects totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars, such as groundwater and surface water treatment projects, solar and wind energy facilities, wastewater treatment plants, water bottling facilities, rail transloading facilities, and waste disposal facilities.
Robin’s environmental expertise is focused on helping clients develop permitting strategies for new and emerging technologies. He is particularly adept at providing strategic counsel in response to state legislative and regulatory mandates, ranging from housing policies to water management, waste disposal and recycling requirements.
Robin also works with developers and local agencies to implement finance mechanisms and ratemaking proceedings, through the adoption of Mello-Roos community facilities districts, impact fees, special assessments, and other voter-approved taxes.
Representative Experience
- Represented a Joint Powers Authority as a reviewing agency in connection with the processing of a 2,000-acre specific plan and 8,000-acre area plan.
- Represented a city in renegotiating a development agreement for a 600-acre development plan, involving five different market-rate and affordable-housing developers, and in the formation of a $90 million special tax district.
- Represented a county water district in the adoption of capacity fees to finance $175 million in water infrastructure.
- Defended a city in proceedings before the federal Surface Transportation Board, to preserve local land use authority in connection with a conditional use permit application to develop a crude-by-rail transfer facility.
Honors and Awards
- Northern California Rising Stars list: Land Use/Zoning, Environmental, Real Estate, Super Lawyers Magazine (2015-2020)
- Law School Honors Program, California Department of Justice, Division of Public Rights, Land Law section (2009)
Presentations and Publications
- Author, “Records Retention Policies and CEQA Compliance,” Urban Water Institute newsletter, October 2020
- Author, “Emergency Declarations vs. Environmental Laws: Ninth Circuit Blocks Use of Defense Funding for Border Wall Construction,” Meyers Nave Client Alert, October 20, 2020
- Author, “Records Retention Policies and CEQA Compliance,” Urban Water Institute newsletter, October 2020
- Contributing Author, California Land Use Practice, Chapter 21: Land Use Litigation, CEB, 2020
- Presenter, “Getting to Zero – A New Action Plan For Implementing A Truly Circular Economy For Waste Management In California,” 49th Annual Western Regional Symposium of the Solid Waste Association of North America, April 2020 (cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic)
Affiliations
- Urban Land Institute – Sacramento District (2012-current); Housing Committee (2018-current)
- Finance Committee, League of California Cities (2018-current)
- Member, Solid Waste Association of North America (2017-current)
- Founding Director, Leadership for Urban Renewal Network, Los Angeles (2009-2012)
Education
- Loyola Law School, Los AngelesJD, 2010,
(Intern, California Attorney General’s office Land Law Section, California Attorney General’s Law School Honors Program)
- University of California at BerkeleyBA, 2004