Camas Steinmetz is a partner, who specializes in land use, real estate and municipal law.  Her practice covers all aspects of the land use and development process including due diligence, acquisition, construction, strategic entitlement planning, environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and processing and obtaining entitlement permits and approvals including use permits, coastal development permits, site development permits, zoning and general plan amendments, subdivision and parcel maps, SB 9 lot splits, lot line adjustments, mergers, variances, annexations, design review and site development permits, and public right of way, street and easement vacations.  Camas represents corporate, individual, non-profit and public agency clients on a wide variety of projects including complex mixed-used office infill projects, life science campuses, hotels, alternative energy projects, private school campuses, fire stations, community centers, sea level rise protection and levee projects, senior, multifamily, affordable and density bonus housing projects, subdivisions, new home construction, boundary disputes, and accessory dwelling units.   Camas’ expertise includes CEQA, Subdivision Map Act, Local Coastal Act, Clean Water Act, Williamson Act, State Density Bonus Law, Brown Act, SB 9, Initiative and Referendum Law, Government Code, Education Code, and Planning and Zoning Law.

 

Prior to joining JSMF, Camas was a partner at Aaronson Dickerson Cohn & Lanzone (2011-2022), an associate at two national law firms, Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP (2007-2011) and Bingham McCutchen, LLP (2006-2007), and an associate at JSMF (2002-2006). Before graduating from law school, Camas served as a legal intern for the United States Department of Justice in the Environmental Enforcement Division and as a judicial extern for the Honorable Lawrence K. Karlton, United States District Court Judge, Eastern District, California.

 

Camas earned her law degree from the University of California, Davis and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a Palo Alto native graduating from Palo Alto High School (“Paly”), and a member of the State Bar of California and the San Mateo County Bar Association.  Earlier in her practice, Camas was named a Northern California Rising Star for Land Use & Zoning by Super Lawyers Magazine.