Scott C. Smith

Partner

Irvine
5 Park Plaza
Suite 1500

TEL: (949) 263-6561
FAX: (949) 260-0972
Scott.Smith@bbklaw.com

General Bio
Environmental Law & Natural Resources
Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO)

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Practice

Scott C. Smith is a Partner in the Environmental Law and Natural Resources Practice Group with Best Best & Krieger LLP’s Irvine office. He specializes in land use, environmental and redevelopment law. He graduated valedictorian from Utah State University with a degree in Political Science and Spanish. Mr. Smith received his Juris Doctorate degree with honors from Brigham Young University Law School in 1985. He joined BB&K upon law school graduation.

            Mr. Smith serves as City Attorney for the Cities of Aliso Viejo and Lake Forest, and as general counsel to Helix Water District and the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission. Mr. Smith has presented papers to the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers on billboard abatement, the transfer of development rights and CEQA. He served from 1996 to 2004 on the Solana Beach School District Board of Education. He is a frequent lecturer on the Political Reform Act and governmental ethics, the Ralph M. Brown Act and environmental law.

            Mr. Smith has substantial expertise in matters relating to land use, planning and environmental law. He serves as general counsel to the California Chapter of the American Planning Association and has trained new planners for that organization. He is an instructor for the UCSD extension course on Land Use and Development Law and has lectured on CEQA to the California Association of Environmental Planners. He has expertise in the adoption and implementation of general and specific plans and in the negotiation and preparation of development agreements. He has special expertise in the area of transfer of development rights and planning under federal and state endangered species law. He has coordinated Best Best & Krieger’s role in the preparation of a Subregional Joint Water Agency Multiple Species Conservation Plan for the firm’s San Diego County water district clients and developed the agreements creating and implementing the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency.

Bar & Court Admissions

• California, 1985

Education

• JD, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
• BA, Utah State University, Logan, UT