Lawyers defend Saggio fees

<p>Attorneys who convinced a judge the Saggio Hills environmental study was deficient argued Friday that the $758,000 they were awarded in fees for their work was not “outrageous.”</p><p>In seeking to convince Sonoma County Judge Robert Boyd to finalize his award for that amount, the attorneys said their work will force the city to give an in-depth review to flaws they identified in the proposed luxury resort and housing project.</p><p>“An entire hillside will be reviewed,” said attorney Rachel Mansfield-Howlett. “A number of people have said it will avoid a Fountaingrove-type development on the side of Healdsburg,” she said, referring to the ridgeline homes in Santa Rosa that have been controversial for their visibility.</p><p>But attorneys for the developers and the City of Healdsburg argued the award was based on “grossly inflated” and padded fees, particularly in light of the plaintiff's “limited success” in challenging the environmental impact report.</p><p>Boyd last week tentatively awarded more than $460,000 in fees to Mansfield-Howlett for more than 800 hours she spent on the case, applying a “1.75 multiplier” that boosted her hourly rate from $300 to $525.</p><p>He applied a similar formula to attorney Janis Grattan, awarding her almost $210,000 for more than 400 hours she put in.</p><p>The judge has 90 days to issue his final decision, including whether to reduce the award that shocked some Healdsburg City Council members.</p><p>Healdsburg is technically a defendant in the lawsuit, although Saggio Hills developers earlier agreed to indemnify the city and be responsible for paying any court fees and judgments.</p><p>Attorneys for the developers Friday argued their opponents should be paid “under $100,000” for their time.</p><p>They said the judge had essentially found only three areas of deficiency in the environmental document among nine that were alleged, and the opposing attorneys should not be compensated for the time they spent on issues the court dismissed.</p><p>“The time spent on unsuccessful issues needs to be eliminated,” said developers' attorney Daphne Beletsis.</p><p>Attorneys for the city and the developers also have been opposed to Grattan receiving any compensation, since she is a petitioner for the case and married to Warren Watkins, who heads up the group that brought the lawsuit, Healdsburg Citizens for Sustainable Solutions.</p><p>In granting the tentative award, Boyd wrote that it was brought with considerable risk by attorneys for the petitioners who worked on complex issues with no assurance of payment.</p><p>Boyd on Friday gave little indication of how he might rule, other than to invite argument on whether he should separate out the time the attorneys spent on issues in which they did not prevail.</p><p>But Mansfield-Howlett said she and her colleagues should be compensated for all the hours they spent on the case.</p><p>“To be a zealous advocate, you must raise every issue. You shouldn't be docked for raising those issues,” she said.</p><p>Boyd last year upheld key provisions in the environmental impact report for Saggio Hills, but said it was flawed in several areas. He ruled that it failed to study the water demand associated with replanting of more than 4,000 oak seedlings; failed to consider aesthetic impacts on a nearby public open space area; and did not consider a sufficient range of alternatives, including a smaller project.</p><p>But he dismissed many of the opponents' claims, including that the EIR failed to adequately address the impacts of traffic and greenhouse gases, as well as that it failed to factor in federal fish protections in calculating water supply.</p><p>Boyd said little Friday other than to note that he is not expressing any opinion whatsoever on the merits of the Saggio Hills project itself and whether it was good or bad.</p><p>His role, he said, has been to decide whether the California Environmental Quality Act guidelines were followed in approving the project.</p><p>Saggio Hills developers Robert Green and Tony Korman were present at Friday's hearing, but declined to comment on the case, or if it has affected the financing for the project, which proposes a 130-room five-star hotel resort and 70 high-end homes.</p><p>Green noted that Friday was five years to the day that his company bought the property and indicated the developers intend to see it through.</p><p>“We're not going anywhere,” he said.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.</p>