Netflix Project Lawsuit in Court Friday

is scheduled for a court hearing Friday at 9 a.m. in department 21 before Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Joseph Huber.

According to attorney Rachel Mansfield-Howlett, who represents the plaintiffs under the name of Los Gatos Citizens for Responsible Development, the hearing will decide the merits of the controversial case.

The complaint alleges the Los Gatos Town Council approved the Los Gatos Business Park project, where Netflix could possibly expand to in the future, on an inadequate mitigated negative declaration of environmental impacts.

a longtime Los Gatos resident and former Planning Commission member and planner with the City of San Jose, is the only named plaintiff.

Quintana has indicated the Citizens hope the town and the developer will conduct an environmental report on the project. The lawsuit challenges Los Gatos government's assertion that the development would not have an adverse impact on the environment.

Mansfield-Howlett explained the case has been briefed and oral arguments will be presented before Judge Huber who could rule from the bench or take it under submission for about 90 days to make a decision.

"All the documents that each of the parties prepared to tell their side of the case have been completed," Mansfield-Howlett said. "Now the only thing left to do is argue in front of the judge who will hear all our discussions."

Required settlement negotiations between both parties failed to yield any resolution, said Mansfield-Howlett, leaving attorneys for both sides preparing their documents to present them to the court to back up their arguments.

"What we're claiming is that this 20-year phased project should have received analysis and an EIR and the town prepared a very low level of environmental review and that's called a negative declaration," explained Mansfield-Howlett.

"Our claim is that there are impacts that have not been fully analyzed for decision mitigation measures or alternatives have not been implemented. We're asking the court to require the preparation of an EIR, which will consider those things," Mansfield-Howlett said.

who has been hired by the owners of the Los Gatos Business Park to develop the 21 acres of land being considered to build the new Netflix headquarters in the future. The property is located at the corner of .

Attorney Judith Propp said in an email that the town is represented by Attorney James Moose, senior partner of Remy Moose Manley LLP, an environmental law firm in Sacramento. 

Andrew Sabey, a partner with Cox, Castle & Nicholson, represents the project applicant, Los Gatos Business Park, LLC., Propp said.

It's expected Moose, Sabey and his clients will be present at the hearing, she added. 

"Our attorneys filed documents with the court that demonstrate that the Albright project environmental studies and proposed mitigations considered by the town met California Environmental Quality Act requirements," Propp said.

"The Albright project  is an in-fill project that takes an already developed, but underutilized site located on major transportation corridors and replaces it with a Class A office campus incorporating energy conservation and other green building features," she added.

Just weeks before the lawsuit was filed,