UC Davis properly conducted its environmental review of a hotel, conference center and academic complex planned for the south campus, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled this week in dismissing a lawsuit filed by a Davis resident against the project.

"We continue to believe that this project will be good for the campus and the community," said Sid England, director of campus environmental planning. The project is to include a 75-room hotel, 75,000-square-foot conference center and a three-story building to house the Graduate School of Management, University Relations offices and the campus Internship and Career Center.

In response to the lawsuit filed by Davis businessman Norman Rogers, Judge Bonnie Sabraw upheld the findings of UC Davis studies that showed that the hotel-conference center project would not cause blight to existing hotel properties in the city of Davis. The judge cited "substantial evidence" that the project "will not result in any significant economic impacts."

In reviewing the adequacy of the project description, Sabraw ruled that based on the record, "the court resolves all reasonable doubts on this issue in favor of the (UC) Regents."

"Mr. Rogers raised issues that are on the minds of many people," England said. "By going through the legal process, we were able to have an independent evaluation of the environmental review and are very glad the judge found in favor of the university."

The judge also found that Rogers' comments were received and considered by the UC Board of Regents before the board approved the project.

Rogers' lawsuit was filed last April. Due to the pending lawsuit and proposed project changes, the initial project developer withdrew in August. The university now plans to review its pool of semi-finalists and to select a new development team.

"This ruling allows the project to move forward," said project manager John Yates. "It's still too early to say what this means in the way of timing."