Westfield Downtown Plaza and a citizens' group lost legal challenges against the Railyards development, developer Thomas Enterprises and the city announced Monday.

The lawsuits against the city of Sacramento, the city's Redevelopment Agency and developer Thomas Enterprises argued that the poject's two environmental impact reports (EIRs) were inadequate and did not comply with the California Environmental Quality Act known as CEQA. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly ruled in favor of the city and developer on all points raised by the Downtown Plaza and three people represented by attorney Bill Kopper.

Those individuals — Robert Castro Jr., Linda Powers and Chris Rich — filed one lawsuit as the group Sacramento Citizens Concerned About the Railyards, whose acronym is SCCARY. Two are members of labor unions, Kopper said.

"This is good news," Mayor Kevin Johnson said in a statement issued by the city and developer. "We can now focus on the task of creating jobs and developing an area that will play a vital role in making Sacramento a world-class city."

The plaintiffs are not satisfied with the ruling because 10 to 15 issues they raised were not addressed, Kopper said.

"There were many important issues in the case that we feel got short shrift by the court," he said. "I think it was a very cavalier attitude as to what the adverse impacts of the project will be because there is such a desire to advance the success of the Railyards."

For example, questions raised by the California Office of Historic Preservation and the State Water Resources Control Board in draft EIRs weren't answered in the final EIRs, he said. With an EIR stating that 192,000 vehicle trips eventually will be generated by the Railyards daily, the California Department of Transportation requested that the project's impact on the freeways circling the central city be considered, but that was "brushed aside," Kopper said.

The judge also ruled the city does not need to analyze downtown intersections one by one to determine if there should be widening or other improvements to prevent the gridlock predicted by a traffic study, he said.

The city approved the Railyards Specific Plan in December 2007 for the 244-acre site north of downtown between the Sacramento River and the Alkali Flat neighborhood.

The $6-billion project is expected to add more than 12,000 residential units, 2.3 million square feet of office space, 1.4 million square feet of retail, nearly 500,000 square feet of mixed-use space and 46 acres of parks and other open space, all centered around the city's future regional transportation center and a cultural hub in the historic Southern Pacific railroad shops.

Suheil Totah, vice president for Thomas Enterprises, called the decision "another important milestone" for the project.

"We're very pleased the judge found that everything was done in accordance with the law," Totah said by phone. "He found both EIRs did what they were supposed to do."

The Westfield Group could not be reached for comment.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.