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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 01101989 - 2.1 THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Adopted this Order on January 10, 1989 , by the following vote: AYES: Supervisors Powers, Fanden, McPeak NOES: Supervisor Torlakson ABSENT: Supervisor Schroder ABSTAIN: None ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUBJECT: Adoption of County CEQA Guideline Amendments The Board received the attached report dated January 6, 1989 and amended County CEQA Guidelines from the Community Development Director. Dennis Barry, Community Development Department, advised that the proposed amendment to allow the Zoning Administrator to hold hearings on environmental impact reports (EIR' s) would provide a savings in clerical costs and reduce potential delays in the hearing process. Fred Caploe, representing the City of Pittsburg, ex- pressed concerns relative to the legal authority for the Zoning Administrator to hold such hearings. Tom Stewart, representing Land Waste Management Company, urged that the current policy relative to project hearings be continued and that the proposed amendments not be adopted. Avon Wilson, Chair of the Solid Waste Commission, urged the Board to continue with the current hearing process. Supervisor Tom Torlakson commented on the potential confusion in the public' s mind relative to an amended process and also expressed concerns about the legal aspects of the proposed amendment. He stated that for these reasons he was not in favor of the proposal. Supervisor Tom Powers noted that the proposed procedure is similar to one followed by the Federal government on environ- mental impact reports for large Federal projects. Victor J. Westman, County Counsel, advised that the procedure of having someone other than the body hearing the enti- tlement hear comments on the draft EIR is not unusual but is followed by many cities and counties in the State. Supervisor McPeak advised that she and Supervisor Fanden had shared the proposed procedure amendment with staff of the California Waste Management Board and the Attorney General' s Office, and no concerns were raised by either agency. There being no further discussion, IT IS BY THE BOARD ORDERED that the attached amended County CEQA guidelines are ADOPTED. hereby cera'";,that this is a true and correct copy of €r3 m,7 ^ ;n:ren and antc=,•e,i on the ti;?res of the cc: Community Development Director Uon.sd of Supervisors on the dace s1towrin. County Counsel County Administrator Ai pa-'*�+ - -•' �o� /989 theSoard ct ,.!; Ni o€ ;-,aunty Administrator TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FROM: Harvey E. Bragdon ��'lt Director of Community Development ra �a DATE: January 6, 1989 County SUBJECT: Adoption of County CEQA Guideline Amendments � �1� SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATIONS(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS Adopt the attached Guidelines for Administering the California Environmental Quality Act as the local guidelines for the County of Contra- Costa, thereby delegating to the Director of Community Development the authority to assign responsibilty for holding hearings on environmental documents to any division of the Planning Agency. FISCAL IMPACT Slight positive fiscal effect due to savings on clerical overtime costs if the recommendation is implemented. BACKGROUND/JUSTIFICATION The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires that local agencies adopt guidelines for administering the act. Furthermore, CEQA requires local agencies to .prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prior to carrying out or approving a project which may have a significant effect on the environment. While the statute requires that the agency consider and respond to substantive comments received during the noticed review period, there is no requirement in law for the holding of a public hearing to take testimony on the adequacy of the EIR. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE- RECOMMEND_ATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECO TI OFOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER r SIGNATURE(S) : CTION OF BOARD ON APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVIS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A UNANIMOUS (ABSENT ) TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN AYES: N ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ON THE ABSENT: ABSTAI MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. cc: Community Development ATTESTED County Counsel PHIL BATCHELOR, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR BY , DEPUTY i r The state CEQA Guidelines, which are binding upon all local agencies, contain provisions for the agency to delegate the responsibilities for administering the various activities required by the statute. In order to maximize citizen participation in the CEQA process, the County has included in its guidelines provisions for holding such hearings. It has heretofore been the practice of the County to hold these hearings before the Planning Commission. Holding the hearings before the Planning Commission requires that time which could be spent on the review of projects is devoted to the environmental review process, thus cumulatively contributing to some delay in the project hearing process. In addition, in order for the Commission to hear the EIR, clerical staff must be paid overtime in order to cover the hearing. Further, supplemental staff time must be devoted to holding the hearing on the EIR. In order to reduce the potential for delays in the hearing process, the costs of clerical overtime and the support staff burden, it is recommended that the Director of Community Development be delegated the authority to determine which branch of the Planning Agency will hold the hearing on the adequacy of EIR' s. Such a change would allow the Director to assign this task to the Zoning Administrator, who could act in much the same way as the Planning Commission does in holding the EIR hearings. This change would allow the Director the discretion to direct the EIR hearing to the Planning Commission in the instances which he felt were appropriate, while substantially reducing the burden on the Commission for hearing all EIR' s. Contra , Costa County GUIDELINES FOR ADMINISTERING THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT Contra Costa County 1 !" r r TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. APPLICATION 1 II. PURPOSE 1 III. POLICY 1 IV. ORGANIZATION 2 Article 1. General Concepts General Concepts 3 Policies 5 Time of Preparation 5 Terminology 6 Amendments 6 Article 2. General Responsibilities General 7 Duty to Minimize Environmental Damage and Balance Competing Public Objectives 7 Office of Planning and Research (OPR) 7 Delegation of Responsibilities 8 Article 3. 'Authority Authority Provided by CEQA 9 Authority to Mitigate 9 Authority to Disapprove Projects 10 Authority to Approve Projects Despite Significant Effects 10 Authority to Comment 10 Fees 10 Article 4. Lead Agency Lead Agency Concept 11 Criteria for Identifying the Lead Agency 11 Shift in Lead Agency Designation 12 Designation of Lead Agency by Office of Planning and Research 12 Article 5. Preliminary Review of Projects and Conduct of Initial Study Preliminary Review 13 Review for Exemption 13 Notice of Exemption 14 Initial Study 14 Determining Significant Effect 16 Mandatory Findings of Significance 18 t t Page Article 9. Contents-of Environmental Impact Reports General 35 Information Document 35 Table of Contents or Index 35 Summary 35 Project Description 36 Environmental Setting 36 Environmental Impact 37 Limitations on Discussion of Environmental Impact 39 Effects not Found to be Significant 39 Organizations and Persons Consulted 39 Cumulative Impacts 39 Economic and Social Effects 40 Contents of Final Environmental Impact Report 40 Article 10. Considerations in Preparing EIRs and Negative Declarations Writing 42 Page Limits 42 Interdisciplinary Approach 42 Emphasis 42 Forecasting 42 Speculation 42 Degree of Specificity 42 Technical Detail 42 Citation 43 Use of Registered Professionals in Preparing FIRS 43 Incorporation by Reference 43 Standards for Adequacy of an EIR 44 Tiering 44 Use of an EIR from an Earlier Projects 45 Article 11. Types of FIRS General 47 Project EIR 47 Subsequent EIR - 47 Supplement to an EIR 48 Addendum to an EIR 48 Multiple and Phased Projects 49 EIR as Part of a General Plan 49 Staged EIR 49 Program EIR 50 Master Environmental Assessment 51 Joint EIR-EIS 53 i R Page r Article 17. Exemption•for Certified r State Regulatory Programs General 67 List of Certified Programs 67 Substitute Document 68 Use of an EIR Substitute By a Responsible Agency 69 Article 18. Statutory Exemptions General 70 On-Going Project 70 Feasibility and Planning Studies 70 Ministerial Projects 71 Emergency Projects 71 Projects Which Are Disapproved 71 Early Activities Related to Thermal Power Plants 72 Olympic Games 72 Rates, Tolls, Fares, and Charges 72 Responses to Revenue Shortfalls 73 Specified Mass Transit Projects 73 Article 19. Categorical Exemptions Categorical Exemptions 74 Relation to Ministerial Projects 74 Exemptions 74 Revision to List of Categorical Exemptions 74 Existing Facilities 74 Replacement or Reconstruction 76 New Construction or Conversion of Small Structures 76 Minor Alterations to Land 77 Minor Alterations in Land Use Limitations 78 Information Collection 78 Actions by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of Natural Resources 78 Actions by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of the Environment Inspections 78 Loans 78 Accessory Structures 79 Surplus Government Property Sales 79 Acquisition of Lands for Wildlife Conservation Purposes 79 Minor Addition to Schools 79 Minor Land Divisions 79 Transfer of Ownership of Land In Order to Create Parks 80 Y y r Page Person 89 Private Project 89 Project 89 Public Agency 90 Rare and Endangered Species 90 Responsible Agency 91 Significant Effect On The Environment 91 State Agency 91 Substantial Evidence 91 Tiering 92 Trustee Agency 92 Urbanized Area 92 Appendix: Archaeological Impacts 1 i I. APPLICATION These guidelines are applicable to Contra Costa County and special districts and agencies governed by the Board of Supervisors. They have been prepared'to be consistent with and to supplement the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the State Guidelines. II. PURPOSE The purpose of these guidelines is to set forth definitions, procedures, and criteria to be used by Contra Costa County in implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act, Public Resources Code, Section 21000, et seq. (CEQA), and Chapter 4.5 of the Government Code, Sections 65920, et seq. The legally required preparation, review, and comment procedures for environmental documents provide the opportunity for• citizens, all professional disciplines and .public agencies to critically evaluate the environmental document and the manner in which technical data are used. III. POLICY A. INFORMATIONAL DOCUMENT. An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is an in- formational document which, when fully prepared in accordance with CEQA and these Guidelines, will (1) Inform governmental decision makers and the public about the potential, signifi- cant environmental effects of proposed activities.. (2) Indentify ways that environmental damage can be avoided or significantly reduced. (3) Prevent significant, avoidable damage to the environment by requiring changes in projects through the use of alternatives or mitigation measures when the govern- mental agency finds the changes to be feasible. (4) Disclose to the public the reasons why a governmental agency approved the project in the manner the agency chose. (5) Evaluate public and private projects with the same level of environmental review. The information in an EIR constitutes evidence that Contra Costa County shall consider along with any other information which may be presented. While major consideration is given to preventing environmental damage, it is recognized that Contra Costa County has obligations to balance other public objectives, including economic and social factors, in determining whether and how a project should be approved. Economic or social information may be included in an EIR or may be .presented in whatever forin the County desires. If not related to a physical change, either directly or indirectly, the economic or social effects shall not be significant effects on the environment. 1 7 7 � t B. EARLY PREPARATION. An EIR is a useful planning tool to enable environmental constraints and opportunities to be considered before project plans are finalized. EIRs should be prepared as early in the planning process as possible to enable environmental . considerations to influence project programming and/or design. C. APPLICABILITY. These Guidelines have only general application to the diverse projects undertaken or approved by Contra Costa County or agencies administered by the County and shall be interpreted in terms of specific projects to the extent necessary to carry out state or County policies. Actions by the Board of Supervisors which compy with CEQA and the State Guidelines but deviate from the strict application of these County Guidelines shall prevail over these Guidelines. IV. ORGANIZATION These guidelines are adopted from the State CEQA Guidelines. For ease of reference, the section numbers of the comparable State Guidelines are shown .in parenthesis in the left hand margin of these guidelines. 2 z f r Article I. General Concepts (15002) (a) GOVERNMENTAL ACTION. CEQA applies to governmental action. This action may ., involve: (1) Activities directly undertaken by the County or special districts governed by the Board, (2) Activities financed in whole or in part by a governmental agency, or (3) Private activities which require approval from the County. (b) PRIVATE ACTION. Private action is not subject to CEQA unless the action involves governmental participation, financing, or approval. (c) PROJECT. A "project" is an activity subject to CEQA. The term "project" has been interpreted to mean far more than the ordinary dictionary definition of the term. (d) TIME FOR COMPLIANCE. A governmental agency is required to comply with CEQA procedures when the agency proposes to carry out or approve the activity. (e) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORTS AND NEGATIVE DECLARATIONS. An environ- mental impact report (EIR) is the public document used by the County to analyze the significant environmental effects of a proposed project, to identify alternatives, and to disclose possible ways to reduce or avoid the possible environmental damage. An EIR is prepared when the County Community Development Department finds that there is substantial evidence that the project may have a significant effect on the environment. When the County Community Development Department finds that there is no substantial evidence that a project may have a significant effect on the environment, it will prepare a "Negative Declaration" instead of an EIR. (f) SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THE ENVIRONMENT. A significant effect on the environ- ment is defined as a substantial adverse change in the physical conditions which exist in the area affected by the proposed project. (See Section 15381). An EIR must be prepared when a project may have a significant effecton the environment. (See Section 15081)., Further, when an EIR identifies a significant effect, the County, if approving the project, must make findings on whether there are feasible ways available to avoid or reduce the adverse environmental effects. (See Section 15191). (g) METHODS FOR PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT. CEQA requires more than merely preparing environmental documents. The EIR by itself does not control the way in which a project can be built or carried out. Rather, when an EIR shows that a project would cause substantial adverse changes in the environment, the County must respond to the information by one or more of the following methods: (1) Changing a proposed activity; (2) Imposing conditions on the approval of the activity; 3 r (3) Adopting plans or ordinances to control a broader class of activities to avoid the problems; , (4) Choosing an alternative way of meeting the same need; (5) Disapproving the project; (6) Finding that changing or altering the project is not feasible; (7) Finding that the unavoidable significant environmental damage is acceptable as provided in Section 15089. (h) DISCRETIONARY ACTION. CEQA applies in situations where the County can use its judgment in deciding whether and how to carry out or approve a project. A project subject to such judgmental controls is called a "discretionary project". (1) Where the law requires the County to act on a project in a set way without allowing the agency to use its own judgment, the project is called "ministerial", and CEQA does not apply. (See Section 15368). „. (2) Whether the County has discretionary or ministerial controls over a project depends on the authority granted by the law providing the controls over the activity. Similar projects may be subject to discretionary controls in one city or county and only ministerial controls in another. (See Section 15357). (i) PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT. Under CEQA, the County must solicit and respond to comments from the public and other agencies concerned with the project. (j) THREE STEP PROCESS. The County Community Development Department will normally take up to three separate steps in deciding which document to prepare for a project subject to CEQA. (1) In the first step the County Community Development Department examines the project to determine whether the project is subject to CEQA at all. If the project is exempt, the process proceeds no further. The Department may prepare a notice of exemption. (Section 15261). (2) If the project is subject to the CEQA process, the County Community Development Department, or other County Department takes the second step and conducts an initial study (Section 15063) to determine whether the project may have a significant effect on the environment. If originating outside the County Community Development Department, the originating department then submits the initial study to the Community Development Department for review. If the initial study shows that the project will not have a significant effect, the County Community Development Department prepares a negative declaration. (Section 15070 et. seq.). (3) If the initial study shows that the project may have a significant effect, the County Community Development Department takes the third step and causes an EIR to be prepared. (Section 15080 et. seq.). 4 r � (15003) POLICIES. In addition to the policies declared by the Legislature concerning environmental projection and administration of CEQA in Sections 21000, 21001, 21002, and 21002.5 of the Public Resources Code, the courts of this state have declared the following policies to be , implicit in CEQA: (a) The EIR requirement is the heart of CEQA. (County of Inyo v. Yorty, 21 Cal. App. 3d 795). (b) The EIR serves not only to protect the environment but also to demonstrate to the public that it is being protected. (c) The EIR is to inform other govenmental agencies and the public generally of the environmental impact of a proposed project. (d) The EIR is to demonstrate to an apprehensive citizenry that the agency has, in fact, analyzed and considered the ecological implications of its action. (e) The EIR process will enable the public to determine the environmental and economic values of their elected and appointed officials thus allowing for appropriate action come election day should a majority of the voters disagree. (f) CEQA was intended to be interpreted in such manner as to afford the fullest possible protection to the environment within the reasonable scope of the statutory language. (15004) TIME OF PREPARATION. (a) Before approving a project subject to CEQA, the County Decision Making Body (including the County Zoning Adminstrator, County and Area Planning Commissions and/or the Board of Supervisors) shall consider a final EIR or negative declaration or another document authorized by these guidelines to be used in the place of an EIR or negative declaration. (b) Choosing the precise time for CEQA compliance involves a balancing of competing factors. EIRs and negative declarations should be prepared as early as feasible in the planning process to enable environmental considerations to influence project program and design and yet late enough to provide meaningful information for environmental assessment. (1) With public projects, at the earliest feasible time, project sponsors shall in- corporate environmental considerations into project conceptualization, design, and planning. (2) With private projects, the County shall encourage the project proponent to incorporate environmental considerations into project conceptualization, design, and planning at the earliest feasible time. (c) The environmental document preparation and review should be coordinated in a timely fashion with the existing planning, review, and project approval processes being used by the County. 5 r (15005) TERMINOLOGY. The following words are used to indicate whether a particular subject in the Guidelines is mandatory, advisory, or permissive: (a) "Must" or "shall" identifies a mandatory element which the County is required to follow. (b) "Should" identifies guidance provided by the Secretary for Resources based on policy considerations contained in CEQA, in the legislative history of the statute, or in federal court decisions which California courts can be expected to follow. The County is advised to follow this guidance in the absence of compelling, countervailing considera- tions. (c) "May" identifies a permissive element which is left fully to the discretion of the County. (15007) AMENDMENTS. (a) These guidelines will be amended from time to time to match new developments relating to CEQA. (b) Amendments to the guidelines will apply prospectively only. New requirements in amendments will apply to steps in the CEQA process not yet undertaken by the effective date of amendments. For example, if a Draft EIR is in preparation and the requirements for circulation of the draft are changed, the draft to be circulated must meet the new requirements. However, in the same case, amendments to the requirements for an initial study would not apply, since the step in the CEQA process had already been undertaken by the effective date of the amendment. 6 Article 2. General Responsibilities (15020) GENERAL. The County of Contra Costa is responsible for complying with CEQA and these Guidelines. The agency must meet its own responsibilities under CEQA and shall not rely on comments from other public agencies or private citizens as a substitute for work CEQA requires the County as a lead agency to accomplish. For example, the County is responsible for the adequacy of its environmental documents, and shall not rely on public comments to correct defects in its own documents. (15021) DUTY TO MINIMIZE ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE AND BALANCE COMPETING PUBLIC OBJECTIVES. (a) CEQA established a duty for public agencies to avoid or minimize environmental damage where feasible. (1) In regulating public or private activities, agencies are required to give major consideration to preventing environmental damage. (2) A public agency should not approve a project as proposed if there are feasible alternatives or mitigation measures available that would substantially lessen any significant effects that the project would have on the environment. (b) In deciding whether changes in a project are feasible, an agency may consider specific economic, environmental, legal, social, and technological factors. (c) The duty to prevent or minimize environmental damage is implemented through the findings required by Section 15091. (d) CEQA recognizes that in determining whether and how a project should be approved, a public agency has an obligation to balance a variety of public objectives, including economic, environmental, and social factors and in particular the goal of providing a decent home and satisfying living environment for every Californian. An agency shall prepare a statement of overriding considerations as described in Section 15093 to reflect the ultimate balancing of competing public objectives when the agency decides to approve a project that will cause one or more significant effects on the environment. (15023) OFFICE OF PLANNING AND RESEARCH (OPR). (a) OPR is responsible for the preparation and development of the original principles, objectives, criteria, and definitions to implement CEQA, prior to adoption by the Secretary for Resources. OPR also shall consider proposals for categorical exemption and from time to time shall make appropriate recommendations to the Secretary for Resources. (b) The State, Clearinghouse in the Office of Planning and Research shall be responsible for distributing environmental documents to state agencies, departments, boards, and . commissions for review and comment. (c) Notices of Determination, Notices of Exemption and Notices of Completion are filed with the Office of Planning and Research. 7 y r (d) Upon request of a lead agency or a project applicant, OPR shall provide assistance in identifying the various responsible agencies and any federal agencies which have responsibility for carrying out or approving a proposed project. (e) OPR shall ensure that State responsible agencies provide the necessary information to lead agencies in response to notices of preparation within 45 days after receiving a notice of preparation. (15025) DELEGATION OF RESPONSIBILITIES. (a) The County Community Development Department is the County agency responsible for the administration of CEQA for the County and agencies administered by the County. As such, the Department is assigned certain duties, including but not limited to the following: (1) Determining whether a project is exempt. (2) Conducting an initial study, or reviewing initial studies conducted by other County departments. (3) Preparing a negative declaration or EIR. (4) Determining that a negative declaration has been completed within a period of 105 days. (5) Preparing, or causing preparation of responses to public comments. (6) Filing of notices. (b) County decision making bodies are responsible for: (1) Determining that a final EIR complies with CEQA, (2) Certifying that the decision making body has reviewed and considered an EIR or negative declaration. (c) Where an advisory body such as a Planning Commission is required to make a recommendation on a project to the decision making body, the advisory body shall also review and consider the final EIR or negative declaration. . 8 i a Article 3. Authority (15040) AUTHORITY PROVIDED BY CEQA. (a) CEQA is intended to be used in conjunction with discretionary powers granted to public agencies by other laws. (b) CEQA does not grant an agency new powers independent of the powers granted to the agency by other laws. (c) Where another law grants an agency discretionary powers, CEQA supplements those discretionary powers by authorizing the agency to use the discretionary powers to mitigate or avoid significant effects on the environment when it is feasible to do so with respect to projects subject to the powers of the agency. Prior to January 1, 1983, CEQA provided implied authority for an agency to use its discretionary powers to mitigate or avoid significant effects on the environment. Effective January 1, 1983, CEQA provides express authority to do so. (d) The exercise of the discretionary powers may take forms that had not been expected before the enactment of CEQA, but the exercise must be within the scope of the power. (e) The exercise of discretionary powers for environmental protection shall be consistent with express or implied limitations provided by other laws. . (15041) AUTHORITY TO MITIGATE. (a) Within the limitations described in Section 15040, the County has authority to require changes in any or all activities involved in the project in order to lessen or avoid significant effects on the environment. (b) When the County acts as'a responsible agency for a project, 'it shall have more limited authority than a lead agency. As a responsible agency, it may require changes in a project to lessen or avoid only the effects, either direct or indirect, of the activities which the agency will be called on to carry out or approve in connection with the project. (c) With respect to a project which :includes housing development, a lead or responsible agency shall not reduce the proposed number of housing units as a mitigation measure or alternative to lessen a particular significant effect .on the environment if that agency determines that there is another feasible, specific mitigation measure or alternative that would provide a comparable lessening of the significant effect. 9 a } a a (15042) AUTHORITY TO DISAPPROVE PROJECTS. The County may disapprove a project if necessary in order to avoid one or more significant effects on the environment that would occur if the project were approved as proposed. As described in Section 15041, a lead agency has broader authority to disapprove a project than does a responsible agency. A responsible agency may refuse to approve a project in order to avoid environmental effects of the activities which the responsible agency would be called on to carry out or approve. (15043) AUTHORITY TO APPROVE PROJECTS DESPITE SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS. The County may approve a project even though the project would cause a significant effect on the environment if the County makes a fully informed and publicly disclosed decision based on findings that there is no feasible way to lessen or avoid the significant effect and other countervailing policies involving economic, social, technical, or other benefits outweigh the policy of reducing or avoiding significant environmental impacts of the project. These findings must be supported by substantial evidence. (15044) .AUTHORITY TO COMMENT. Any public agency. or other person or entity may submit comments to the County concerning the environmental effects of a project being considered by the County acting as a lead agency. (15045) FEES. (a) The-County acting as a lead agency for preparing EIRs and negative declarations for projects to be carried out by any person other than the County itself may charge and collect a reasonable fee from such person.or entity, in order to recover the estimated costs incurred in preparing the EIR or negative declaration. Where the EIR is prepared by a consultant under contract to the County the project applicant shall be responsible for incurred costs, including any administrative fee which may be retained by the County to cover costs associated with supervision and coordination of preparation of the EIR. Preparation of the EIR shall not begin until the requisite fees have been deposited with the County. (b) The County may charge and collect a reasonable fee from members of the public for a copy of an environmental document not to exceed the actual cost of reproducing a copy. 10 Article 4. Lead Agency rr (15050) LEAD AGENCY CONCEPT. (a) Where a project is to be carried out or approved by more than one public agency, one public agency shall be responsible for preparing an EIR or negative.declaration for the project. This agency shall be called the lead agency. (b) Except as provided in Section 15168(c), the decision making body of each responsible agency shall consider the lead agency's EIR or negative declaration prior to acting upon or approving the project. The County decision making body with discretionary approval authority, when acting as a responsible agency shall certify that it has reviewed ar�d considered the information contained in the EIR or negative declaration on the project. (c) The determination of the lead agency of whether to prepare an EIR or a negative declaration shall be final and conclusive on.all persons, including responsible agencies, unless: (1) The decision is challenged as provided in Section 21167 of the Public Resources Code, (2) Circumstances or conditions change as provided in Section 15162, or (3) A responsible agency becomes a lead agency under Section 15052. (15051) CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFYING THE LEAD AGENCY. Where two or more public agencies will be involved with a project, the determination of which agency will be the lead agency shall be governed by the following criteria: (a) If the project will be carried out by the County, it shall be the lead agency even if the project would be located within the jurisdiction of another public agency. (b) If the project is to be carried out by a nongovernmental person, the lead agency shall be the public agency with the greatest responsibility for supervising or approving the project as a whole. (1) The lead agency will normally be the agency with general governmental powers, such as a city or County, rather than an agency with a single or limited purpose such as an air pollution control district or a district which will provide a public service or public utility to the project. (2) Where a city prezones an area, the city will be the appropriate lead agency for any subsequent annexation of the'area and should prepare the required environmental document at the time of the prezoning. The Local Agency Formation Commission, shall act as a responsible agency. (c) Where more than one public agency equally meets the criteria in subsection (b), the agency which will act first on the project in question shall be the lead agency. 11 (d) Where the provisions of subsections (a), (b), and (c) leave two or more public agencies with a substantial claim to be the lead agency, the public agencies may by agreement ' designate an agency as the lead agency. An agreement may also provide for cooperative efforts by two or more agencies by contract, joint exercise of powers, or similar devices. (15052) SHIFT IN LEAD AGENCY DESIGNATION. (a) Where the County acting as a responsible agency is called on to grant an approval for a project subject to CEQA for which another public agency was the appropriate leEd agency, the County shall assume the role of the lead agency when any of the following conditions occurs: (1) The lead agency did not prepare any environmental documents for the project, and the statute of limitations has expired for a challenge to the action of the appropriate lead agency. (2) The lead agency prepared environmental documents for the project, but the following conditions occur: (A) A subsequent EIR is required pursuant to Section 15162, (B) The lead agency has granted a final approval for the project, and (C) The statute of limitations for challenging the lead agency's action under CEQA has expired. (3) The lead agency prepared inadequate environmental documents without consulting with the responsible agency as required by Sections 15072 or 15082, and the statute of limitations has expired for a challenge to the action of the appropriate lead agency. (b) When the County assumes the duties of a lead agency under this section, the time limits applicable to a lead agency shall apply to the actions of the County. (15053) DESIGNATION OF A LEAD AGENCY BY OFFICE OF PLANNING AND RESEARCH. (a) If there is a dispute over which of several agencies should be the lead agency for a project, the disputing agencies should consult with each other in an effort to resolve the dispute prior to submitting it to OPR. If an agreement cannot be reached, any public agency, or the applicant if a private project is involved, may submit the dispute to OPR for resolution. (b) OPR shall designate a lead agency within 21 days after receiving a completed request to resolve a dispute. (c) Regulations adopted by OPR for resolving lead agency disputes may be found in Title 14, California Administrative Code, Sections 16000, et seq. (d) Designation of a lead agency by OPR shall be based on consideration of the criteria in Section 15052 as well as the capacity of the agency to adequately fulfill the requirements of CEQA. 12 i r l T f 1 1 1 Article 5. Preliminary Review of Projects and Conduct of Initial Study (15060) PRELIMINARY REVIEW. (a) The County Community Development , Department is allowed 30 days to review for completeness applications for permits or other entitlements for use. While conducting this review for completeness, the agency should be alert for environmental issues that might require preparation of an EIR or that may require additional explanation by the applicant. (b) Except as provided in Section 15111 after accepting an application as complete and determining that the project.is subject to CEQA, the County Community Development Department shall begin the formal environmental evaluation of the project. Accepting an application as complete does not limit the authority of the County Community Development Department to require the applicant to submit additional information needed for environmental evaluation of the project. (c) If the County Community Development Department can determine that an EIR will be required for a project, it may skip further initial review of the project and begin work directly on the EIR process described in Article 9, commencing with Section 15080.. In -the absence.of an initial study, the County Community Development Department shall still focus .the EIR on the significant effects of the project and indicate briefly its reasons for determining that other effects would not be significant or potentially signif icant. (15061) REVIEW FOR EXEIMPTION. (a) As part of the preliminary review, the County Community Develop-re-It DepLrtment shall determine whether a particular activity is exempt from CEQA. (b) Possible exemptions from CEQA'include: (1) The activity is not a project as defined in Section 15377. (2) The project has been granted an exemption by statute (see Article 18, commencing with Section 15260) or by categorical exemption (see Article 19, commencing with Section 15300). (3) The activity is covered by the general rule that CEQA applies only to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. (c) After determining that a project is exempt, the County Community Development Department may prepare a notice exemption as provided in Section 15062. Although the notice may be kept with the project application at this time, the notice shall not be filed with OPR or the County Clerk until the project has been approved. 13 (15062) ,NOTICE OF EXEMPTION. (a) When the County Community Development Department decides that a project is exempt from CEQA and the decision making body approves or determines to carry out the project, the agency may file a notice of exemption. The notice shall be filed, if at all, after approval of the project. Such a notice shall include: (1) A brief description of the project, (2) A finding that the project is exempt, including a citation to the State Guidelines section under which it is found to be exempt, and (3) A brief statement of reasons to support the finding. (b) When the County approves an applicant's project, either the County or the applicant may file a notice of exemption. The notice of exemption filed by an applicant shall contain the information required in subdivision (a) above, together with a certified document issued by the public agency stating that it has found the project to be exempt. This may be a certified copy of an existing document or record of the public agency. (c) When a state agency files this notice, the notice 'of exemption shall be filed with the Secretary for Resources. Copies of all such notices shall be posted on a weeky basis at the Office of the Secretary for Resources, Room 1311, 1416 Ninth Street, Sacramento, California. The notices will remain posted for at least 30 days. (d) When the County Community Development Department files this notice, the notice of exemption will be filed with the County Clerk of the county or counties in which the project will be located. Copies of all such notices will be available for public inspection and a list of such notices shall be posted on a weekly basis in the office of the County Clerk. Each such list shall re-nain posted for a period of 30 days. (e) The filing of a notice of exemption starts a 35 day statute of limitations period on legal challanges to the agency's decision that the project is exempt from CEQA. If a notice of exemption is not filed, a 180 day statute of limitations will apply. (15063) INITIAL STUDY. (a) Following preliminary review, the lead agency, shall conduct an initial study to determine if the project may have a significant effect on the environment. If the lead agency can determine that an EIR will clearly be required for the project, an initial study is not required by may still be desirable. (1) All phases of project planning, implementation, and operation must be considered in the initial study of the project. (2) To meet the requirements of this section, the lead agency may use an initial study or a similar analysis prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. 14 (b) RESULTS. (1) If the agency determines that there is substantial evidence that any aspect of the project, either individually or cumulatively, may cause a significant effect on the environment, regardless of whether the overall effect of the project is adverse or beneficial, the lead agency shall either:. (A) Prepare an EIR or (B) Use a previously prepared EIR which the lead agency determines would adequately analyze the project at hand. (2) The lead agency shall prepare a negative declaration if the agency perceives no substantial evidence that the project or any of its aspects may cause a signifiant effect on the environment. (c) PURPOSES. The purposes of an initial study are to: (1) Identify whether a project may have any potential environmental impacts thereby enabling the County Community Development Department to decide whether to prepare an EIR or negative declaration; (2) Enable an applicant or the County to modify a project, mitigating adverse impacts before an EIR is required, thereby enabling the project to qualify for a negative declaration; (3) Assist the preparation of an EIR, if one required by: (A) Focusing the EIR on the effects determined to be significant, (B) Identifying the effects determined not to be significant, and (C) Explaining the reasons for determining that potentially significant effects would not be significant. (4) Facilitate environmental assessment early in the design of a project; (5) Provide documentation of the factual basis for the'finding in a negative declaration that a project will not have a significant effect on the environment; (6) Eliminate unnecessary EIRs; (7) Determine whether a previously prepared EIR could be used with the project. (d) CONTENTS. An initial study shall contain in brief form: (1) A description of the project including the location of tine project; (2) An identification of the environmental setting; (3) An identification of environmental effects by use of a checklist, matrix, or other method; 15 ' 1 (4) A discussion of ways to mitigate the significant effects identified, if any; (5) An examination of whether the project would be consistent with existing zoning, plans, and other applicable land use controls; (6) The name of the person or persons who prepared the initial study and if prepared by another department, the Community Development Department representative who reviewed the initial study. (e) SUBMISSION OF DATA. If the project is to be carried out by a private person or private organization, the County Community Development Department may require such person or organization to submit data and information which will enable the lead agency to prepare the initial study. Any person may submit any information in any form to assist the County in preparing an initial study. (f) The Director of Community Development is authorized to prepare forms for use as an initial study. A previously prepared EIR may also be used as the initial study for a later project. (g) CONSULTATION. As soon as the County has determined that an initial study will be required for the project, the County shall consult informally with all responsible agencies and all trustee agencies responsible for resources affected by the project to obtain the recommendations of those agencies as to whether an EIR or a negative declaration should be prepared. During or immediately after preparation of an initial study for a private project, the County may consult with the applicant to determine if the applicant is willing to modify the protect to reduce or avoid the significant effects identified in the initial study. (15064) DETERMINING SIGNIFICANT EFFECT. (a) Determining whether a project may have a significant effect plays a critical role in the CEQA process. (1) When a lead agency determines that there is substantial evidence that a project may have a significant effect on the environment, the agency shall prepare a draft EIR. (2) When a final EIR identifies one or more significant effects, the lead agency and each responsible agency shall make a findng under Section 15091 for each significant effect and may need to make a statement overriding considerations under Section 15093 for the project. (b) The determination of whether a project may have a significant effect on the environment calls for ,careful judgement on the part of the public agency involved, based to the extent possible on scientific and factual data. An iron clad definition of significant effect is not possible because the significance of an activity may vary with the setting. For example, an activity which may not be significant in an urban area may be significant in a rural area. (c) In determining whether an effect will be adverse or beneficial, the lead agency shall consider the views held by members of the public in all areas affected. If the lead 16 } 1 } agency expects that there will be a substantial body of opinion that considers or will consider the effect to be adverse, the lead agency shall regard the effect as adverse if that opinion is supported by substantial evidence. Before requiring the preparation of an EIR, the-lead agency must still determine whether environmental change itself might be substantial: (d) In evaluating the significance of the environmental effect of a project, the lead agency shall consider both primary or direct and secondary or indirect consequences. (1) Primary consequences are immediately related to the project such as the dust, noise, and traffic of heavy equipment that would result from construction of a sewage treatment plant and possible odors from operation of the plant. (2) Secondary consequences are related more to effects of the primary consequences than to the project itself and may be several steps removed from the project in a chain of cause and effect. For example, the construction of a new sewage treatment plant may facilitate population growth in the service area due to the increase in sewage treatment capacity and may lead to an increase in air pollution. (e) Economic and social changes resulting from a project shall not be treated as significant effects on the environment. Economic or social changes may be used, however, to determine that a physical change shall be regarded as a significant effect on the environment. Where a physical change is caused by economic or social effects of a project, the physical change may be regarded as a significant effect in the same manner as.any other physical change resulting from the project. Alternatively, economic and social effects of a physical change may be used to determine that the physical change is a significant effect on the environment. If the physical change causes adverse economic or social effects on people, those adverse effects may be used as the basis for determining that the physical change is significant. For example, if a project would cause overcrowding of a public facility and the overcrowding causes an adverse effect on people, the overcrowding would be regarded as a significant effect. (f) The decision as to whether a project may have one or more significant effects shall be based on information in the record of the lead agency. (1) If the lead agency finds there is substantial evidence in the record that the project may have a significant effect on the environment, the lead agency shall prepare an EIR. Said another way, if a lead agency is presented with a fair argument that a project may have a significant effect on the environment, the lead agency shall prepare an EIR even though it may also be presented with other substantial evidence that the project will not have a significant effect. (2) If the lead agency finds there is no substantial evidence that the project may have a significant effect on the environment, the lead agency shall prepare a negative declaration. (3) A determination by the County as to whether or not a project may have a significant effect on the environment shall be based upon substantial evidence in the record. Public controversy over the environmental effects of the project does not require preparation of an EIR if there is no substantial evidence before the County that the project may have a significant effect on the environment. (g) In marginal cases where it is not clear whether there is substantial evidence that a project may have a significant effect on the environment, the lead agency shall be guided by the following factors: 17 (1) If there is serious public controversy over the environmental effects of a project, the lead agency shall consider whether there is substantial evidence in the record which indicates that the effect or effects subject to the controversy may be . significant and if so, shall prepare an EIR. Controversy unrelated to an environ- mental issue does not require preparation of an EIR. (2) If there is disagreement between experts over the significance of an effect on the environment, the lead agency shall treat the effect as significant and shall prepare an EIR. (h) If an air emission or water discharge meets the existing standard for a particular pollutant, the lead agency may presume that the emission or discharge of the pollutant will not be a significant effect on the environment. If other information is presented suggesting that the emission or discharge may cause a significant effect, the lead agency shall evaluate the effect and decide whether it may be significant. (15065) MANDATORY FINDINGS OF SIGNIFICANCE. The County Community Development Department shall find that a project may have a significant effect on the environment and thereby require an EIR to be prepared for the project where any of the following conditions occurs: (a) The project has the potential to degrade the quality of the environment, substantially reduce the habitat of a fish or wildlife species, cause a fish or wildlife population to drop below self-sustaining levels, threaten to eliminate a plant or animal community, reduce the number or restrict the range of a rare or endangered plant or animal, or eliminate important examples of the major periods of California history or prehistory. (b) The project has the potential to achieve short-term environmental goals to the disadvantage of long-term environmental goals. (c) The project has possible environmental effects which are individually limited but cumulatively considerable. As used in the subsection, "cumulatively considerable" means that the incremental effects of an individual project are considerable when viewed in connection with the effects of past projects, the effects of other current projects, and the effects of probable future projects. (d) The environmental effects of a project will cause substantial adverse effects on human beings, either directly or indirectly. 18 I� ( r ,r .Article 6. Negative Declaration Process r r (15070) DECISION TO PREPARE A NEGATIVE DECLARATION. A proposed negative declaration shall be prepared for a project subject to CEQA when either: (a) The initial study shows that there is no substantial evidence that the project may have a significant effect on the environment, or (b) The initial study identified potentially significant effects but: (1) Revisions in the project plans or,proposals made by or agreed to by the applicant before the proposed negative declaration is released for public review would avoid the effects or mitigate the effects to a point where clearly no significant effects would occur, and (2) There is no substantial evidence before the agency that the project as revised may have a significant effect on the environment. (15071) CONTENTS. A negative declaration circulated for public review shall include: (a) A brief description of the project, including a commonly used project name, if any; (b) The location of the project and the name of the project proponent; (c) A proposed finding that the project will not have a significant_ effect on the environment; (d) An attached copy of the initial study documenting reasons to support the finding; and (e) Mitigation measures, if any, included in the project to avoid potentially significant effects. (15072) PUBLIC NOTICE. (a) Notice, that the County proposes to adopt a negative declaration shall be provided to the public within a reasonable period of time prior to adoption by the lead agency of the negative declaration. Notice shall be given to all organizations and individuals who have previously requested such notice and shall also be given by at least one of the following procedures: (1) Publication at least one time by the County in a newspaper of general circulation in the area affected by the proposed project. (2) Posting of notice by the lead agency on and off site in the area where the project is to be located. (3) Direct mailing to owners of property contiguous to the project as such owners are shown on the latest equalized assessment roll. 19 (b) Additional notice may also be given by other means as appropriate and at the discretion of the Community Development Department, such as posting for 10 working days in the lobby of the offices of the Contra Costa County Community Development Department; '4th Floor, North Wing, County Administration Building, Pine and Escobar Streets, Martinez, California. (15073) PUBLIC REVIEW OF A NEGATIVE DECLARATION. (a) The County Community Development Department shall provide a public review period for a proposed negative declaration. The noticed public review period shall be long enough to provide members of the public with sufficient time to respond to the proposed finding before the negative declaration is approved. (b) A copy of the notice with the proposed negative declaration shall be sent to every responsible agency and trustee agency concerned with the project and every other public agency with jurisdiction by law over resources affected by the project. (c) Where one or more state agencies will be a responsible agency or a trustee agency or will exercise jurisdiction by law over natural resources affected by the project, the lead agency shall send copies of the negative declaration to the State Clearinghouse for distribution to the state agencies. (d) When a negative declaration is submitted to the State Clearinghouse for review by state agencies, the public review period shall not be less than 30 days unless a shorter period is approved by the State Clearinghouse. (15074) CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL OF NEGATIVE DECLARATIONS. (a) Any advisory body of a public agency making a recommendation to the decision-making body shall consider the proposed negative declaration before making its recommenda- tion. (b) Prior to approving the project, the decision-making body of the lead agency shall consider the proposed negative declaration together with any comments received during the public review process. The decision-making body shall approve the negative declaration if it finds on the basis of the initial study and any comments received that there is no substantial evidence that the project will have a significant effect on the environment. (15075) NOTICE OF DETERMINATION. (a) After deciding to carry out or approve a project for which a negative declaration has been approved, the County Community Development Department shall file a notice of determination. (b) The notice of determination shall include: (1) An identification of the project including its common name where possible and its location. (2) A brief description of the project. 20 (3) The date on which the agency approved the project. (4) The determination of the agency that the project will not have a significant effect ' on the environment. (5) A statement that a negative declaration has been prepared pursuant to the provisions of CEQA. (6) The address where a copy of the negative declaration may be examined. (c) The notice of determination shall be filed with the County Clerk. If .the project requires a discretionary approval from any state agency, the notice of determination also shall be filed with Office of Planning and Research. (d) The filing of the notice of determination with the Secretary for Resources or the County Clerk starts a 30 day statute of limitations on court challenges to the approval under CEQA. 21 r r ' Article 7. EIR Process (15080) GENERAL. To the extent possible, the EIR process will be combined with the existing planning, review, and project approval process used by the County. (15081) DECISION TO PREPARE AN EIR. The EIR process starts with the decision to prepare an EIR. This decision will be made either during preliminary review under Section 15060 or at the conclusion of an initial study after applying the standards described in Section 15064. (15082) DETERMINATION OF SCOPE OF EIR. (a) NOTICE OF PREPARATION. Immediately after deciding that an environmental impact report is required for a project, the County shall send to each responsible agency a notice of preparation stating that an environmental impact report will be prepared. This notice shall also be sent to every federal agency involved in approving or funding the project and to each trustee agency responsible for natural resources affected by the project. (1) The notice of preparation shall provide the responsible agencies with sufficient information describing the project and the potential environmental effects to enable the responsible agencies to make a meaningful response. At a minimum, the information shall include: (A) Description of the project, (B) Location of the project indicated on an attached map, and (C) Probable environmental effects'of the project. (2) To send copies of the notices of preparation to responsible agencies, the County shall use either certified mail or any other method of transmittal which provides it with a record that the notice was received. Copies of the notice of preparation to be sent to interested agencies, organizations, and individuals may be distributed by first class mail and receipt need not be documented. (3) The County Community Development Department may begin work on the draft EIR immediately without awaiting responses to the notice of preparation. The draft EIR in preparation may need to be revised or expanded to conform to responses to the notice of preparation. The County Community Development Department shall not circulate a draft EIR for public review before the time period for responses to the notice of preparation has expired. (b) RESPONSE TO NOTICE OF PREPARATION. Within 45 days after receiving the notice of preparation under subparagraph (a), the County, acting as a responsible agency, shall provide the lead agency with specific .detail about .the scope and content of the environmental information related to the County's area of statutory responsibility which must be included in the draft EIR. The response at a minimum shall identify the significant environmental issues and possible alternatives and mitigation which the County will need to have explored in the draft EIR. If the County fails by the end of 22 the 45 day period to provide the lead agency with either a response to the notice or a well justified request for additional time, the lead agency may presume that the County has no response to make. < < (c) MEETINGS. In order to expedite the consultation, the lead agency, a responsible agency, a trustee agency, or a project applicant may request one or more meetings between representatives of the agencies involved to assist the County Community Development Department in determining the scope and content of the environmental information which the responsible agency may require. Such meetings shall be convened by the County as soon as possible, but no later than 30 days after the meetings were requested. On request, the Office of Planning and Research will assist in convening meetings which involve state agencies. (d) STATE CLEARINGHOUSE. When one or more state agencies will be a responsible agency or a trustee agency, the County Community Development Department shall send a notice of preparation to each state responsible agency and each trustee agency with a copy to the State Clearinghouse in the Office of Planning and Research. The State Clearinghouse wily ensure that the state responsible agencies and trustees reply to the lead agency within the required time. (e) IDENTIFICATION NUMBER. When the notice of preparation is submitted to the State Clearinghouse, the state identification number issued by the Clearinghouse shall be the identification number for all subsequent environmental documents on the project. The identification number should be referenced on all subsequent correspondence regarding the project, specifically on the title page of the draft and final EIR and on the notice of determination. (15083) EARLY PUBLIC CONSULTATION. Prior to completing the draft EIR, the County Community Development Department may also consult directly with any person or organiza- tion it believes will be concerned with the environmental effects of the project. This early consultation may be called scoping. The purpose of this early consultation is to identify the range of actions, alternatives, mitigation measures and significant effects to be analyzed in depth in the EIR. The County shall conduct such scoping if requested by the project applicant within 30 days of the County's determination that an EIR is required. The County may recover' the costs of scoping from the project applicant. Scoping will be necessary when preparing an EIR/EIS jointly with a federal agency. Where scoping is used, it should be combined to the extent possible with consultation under Section 15082. (15084) PREPARING THE DRAFT EIR. (a) The draft EIR shall be prepared directly by or under contract to the County Community Department. The required contents of a draft EIR are discussed in Article 9 beginning with Section 15120. (b) The County Community Development Department may require the ,project applicant to supply data and information both to determine whether the project may have significant effect on the environment and to assist the lead agency in preparing the draft EIR. The requested information should include an identification of other public agencies which will have jurisdiction by law over the project. (c) Any person, including the applicant, may submit information or comments to the County Community Development Department to assist in the preparation of the draft EIR. The County must consider all information and comments received. The information or comments may be included in the draft EIR in whole or in part. 23 1 f 1 1. r 1 r (d) The County Community Development Department may choose one of the following arrangements or a combination of them for preparing a draft EIR. (1) Preparing the draft EIR directly with its own staff, and/or the staff of other County departments. (2) Contracting with another entity, public or private, to prepare the draft EIR. (3) Using a previously prepared EIR. (e) Before using a draft prepared by another entity, the County Community Development Department shall subject the draft to its own review and analysis. The draft EIR which is sent out for public review must reflect the independent judgment of the County Community Development Department. The County is responsible for the adequacy and objectivity of the draft EIR. (15085) NOTICE OF COMPLETION. (a) As soon as the draft EIR is completed, a notice of completion must be filed with the Secretary for Resources. (b) The notice of completion shall include: (1) A brief description of the project, (2) The proposed location of the project, (3) An address where copies of the draft EIR are available, and (4) The period during which comments will be received on the draft EIR. (c) The notice of completion will provide the basis for information published by the Secretary for Resources in an EIR Monitor. Where the EIR will be reviewed through the state review process handled by the State Clearinghouse, the cover form required by the State Clearinghouse will serve as the notice of completion, and no notice of completion need be sent to the Office of Planning and Research. (15086) CONSULTATION CONCERNING DRAFT EIR. (a) The County shall consult with and request comments on the draft EIR from: (1) Responsible agencies, (2) Trustee agencies with resources affected by the project, and (3) Other state, federal, and local agencies which exercise authority over resources which may be affected by the project. (4) Other County departments impacted by the project. (b) Comments by responsible agencies shall be limited to substantive issues which are within the agency's area of expertise or involve permit approval by the responsible agency. 24 (e) The County may consult directly with any person who has special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved. r (15087) PUBLIC REVIEW OF DRAFT EIR. (a) The County Community Development Department shall provide public notice of the availability of a draft EIR at the same time as it sends a notice of completion to the Office of Planning and Research. Notice shall be given to all organizations and individuals who have previously requested such notice and shall also be given by at least one of the following procedures: • (1) Publication at least one time in a newspaper of general circulation in the area affected by the proposed project. (2) Posting of notice by the County Community Development Department on and off the site in the area where the project is to be located. (3) Direct mailing to owners of property contiguous to the project as those owners are shown on the latest equalized assessment roll. (b) Additional notice may also be given by other means as appropriate and at the discretion of the Community Development Department, such as: (i) Providing copies of the draft EIR to the Contra Costa County Library and other library systems as appropriate. (ii) Posting the notice of completion in the lobby of the offices of the. Contra Costa County Community Development Department, 4th Floor, North Wing, County Administration Building, corner of Pine and Escobar Streets, Martinez, California. _(c) In order to provide sufficient time for public review, review periods for draft EIRs should not be less than 30 days nor longer than 90 days except in unusual .situations. The review period for draft EIRs for which a state agency is the lead agency or a responsible agency shall be at least 45 days unless a shorter period is approved by the State Clearinghouse. ,(d)' Public agencies shall use the State Clearinghouse to distribute draft EIRs and negative declarations to state agencies for review and should use areawide clearinghouses to distribute the documents to regional and local agencies. (e) The County Community Development Department shall maintain a "contacts list" containing the name, address and the telephone number of interested individuals and organizations, as well as local state and federal agencies which may be responsible or trustee agencies. (f) Public hearings may be conducted on the environmental documents for a project. The Director of Community Development shall determine which division of the Planning Agency will hold such hearings. 25 (15088) EVALUATION OF AND RESPONSE TO COMMENTS. (a) The County Community Development Department shall evaluate comments received from persons who reviewed the draft EIR and shall prepare a written response. The Department shall respond to comments received during the noticed comment period and any extensions and may respond to late comments. (b) The written response shall describe the disposition of significant environmental issues raised (e.g., revisions to the proposed project to mitigate anticipated impacts or objections). In particular, the major issues raised when the County's position is at variance with recommendations and objections raised in the comments must be addressed in detail giving reasons why specific comments and suggestions were not accepted. There must be good faith, reasoned analysis in response. Conclusory statements unsupported by factual information will not suffice. (c) The response to comments may take the form of a revision to the draft EIR or may be a separate section in the final EIR. Where the response to comments make important changes in the information contained in the text of the Draft EIR, the County should either revise the text in the body of the EIR or include marginal notes showing that the information is revised in response to comments. (15089) PREPARATION OF FINAL EIR. The County Community Development Department shall prepare a final EIR before the County approves the project. The contents of a final EIR are specified in Section 15132 of these guidelines. (15090) CERTIFICATION OF FINAL EIR. The County decision making body shall certify that: (a) The final EIR has been completed in compliance with CEQA; and (b) The final EIR was presented to the decision-making body of the lead agency and that the decision-making body reviewed and considered the information contained in the final EIR prior to approving the project. (15091) FINDINGS. (a) The County shall not approve or carry out a project for which an EIR has been completed which identifies one or more significant effects of the project unless it makes one or more written findings for each of those significant effects, accompanied by a brief explanation of the rationale for each finding. The possible findings are: (1) Changes or alterations have been required in, or incorporated into, the project which mitigate or avoid the significant environmental effects as identified in the final EIR. (2) Such changes or alterations are within the responsibility and jurisdiction of another public agency and not the County. Such changes have been adopted by such other agency or can and should be adopted by such other agency. (3) Specific economic, social, or other 'considerations make infeasible the mitigation measures or project alternatives identified in the final EIR. 26 (b) The findings required by subsection (a) shall_,be supported by substantial evidence in the record. < < (c) The finding in subsection (a)(2) shall not be made if the County - has concurrent jurisdiction with another agency to deal with.identified feasible mitigation measures or alternatives. (d) When an EIR covers multiple aspects of a project (general plan amendment, rezoning, subdivision, etc.), the required findings will be related to the approval currently under consideration; subsequent approvals may require additional findings. (15092) APPROVAL. (a) After considering the final EIR and in conjunction with making findings under Section 15091, the County may decide whether or how to approve or carry out the project. (b) The County shall not decide to approve or carry out a project for which an EIR was prepared unless either: (l) The project as approved will not have a significant effect on the environment, or (2) The County has: (A) Eliminated or substantially lessened all significant effects on the environment where feasible as shown in findings under Section 15091, and (B) Determined that any remaining significant effects on the environment found to be unavoidable under Section 15091 ,are acceptable due to overriding concerns as described in Section 15093. (c) With respect to a project which includes housing development, the County shall not reduce the proposed number of housing units as a mitigation measures if it determines that there is another feasible specific mitigation measure available that will provide a comparable level of mitigation. (15093) STATEMENT OF OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS. (a) CEQA requires the decision maker to balance the benefits of a proposed project against its unavoidable environmental risks in determining whether to approve the project. If the benefits of a proposed project outweight the unavoidable adverse environmental effects, the adverse environmental-effects may be considered "acceptable". (b) Where the decision of the County allows the occurrence of significant effects which are identified in the final EIR but are not mitigated, the County must state in writing the specific reasons to support its action based on the final EIR and/or other information in the record. This statement may be necessary if the agency also makes a finding under Section 15091(a)(2) or (a)(3). 27 (c) If the County makes a statement of overriding considerations, the statement should be included in the record of the project approval and should be mentioned in the notice of determination. (15094) NOTICE OF DETERMINATION. (a) The lead agency shall file a notice of determination following each project approval for which an EIR was considered. The notice shall include: (1) An identification of the project including its common name where possible and its location. (2) A brief description of the project. (3) The date when the County approved the project. (4) The determination of the County whether the project in its approved form will have a significant effect on the environment. (5) A statement that an EIR was prepared and certified pursuant to the provisions of CEQA. (6) Whether mitigation measures were made a condition of the approval of the project. (7) Whether findings were made pursuant to Section 15091. (8) Whether a statement of overriding considerations was adopted for the project. (9) The address where a copy of the EIR and the record of project approval may be examined. (b) If the County is the lead agency, the notice of determination shall be filed with the County Clerk. If the project requires discretionary approval from a state agency, the notice of determination shall also be filed with the Office of Planning and Research. (c) The filing of the notice of determination and the posting of a list of such notice starts a 30-day statute of limitations on court challenges to the approval under CEQA. (15095) DISPOSITION OF A FINAL EIR. (a) File a copy of the final EIR with the appropriate planning agency of any city, county, or city and county where significant effects on the environment may occur. (b) The County Community Development Department shall include the final EIR as part of the regular project report which is used in the existing project review and budgetary process. (c) The County shall retain one or more copies of the final EIR as public records for a reasonable period.of time. 28 r r • s (d) The County shall require the applicant to file a copy of the certified, final EIR with each responsible agency. (15096) PROCESS FOR A RESPONSIBLE AGENCY. (a) GENERAL. As a responsible agency, the County complies with CEQA by considering the EIR or negative declaration prepared by the lead agency and by reaching its own conclusions on whether and how to approve the project involved. This section identifies the special duties the County will have when acting as a responsible agency. (b) RESPONSE TO CONSULTATION. As a responsible agency, the County shall respond to consultation by the lead agency in order to assist the lead agency in preparing adequate environmental documents for the project. By this means, the County will ensure that the documents it will use.will comply with CEQA. (1) In response to consultation, the County Community Development Department shall explain its reasons for recommending whether the lead agency should prepare an EIR or negative declaration for a project. Where the County disagrees with the .lead agency's proposal to prepare a negative declaration for a project, it should identify the significant environmental effects which it believes could result from the project and recommend. either that an EIR be prepared or that the project be modified to eliminate the significant effects. (2) As soon as possible, but not longer than 30 days after receiving a notice of preparation from the lead agency, the County shall send a written reply by certified mail. The reply shall specify the scope and content of the environmental information which would be germane to the responsible agency's statutory re- sponsibilities in connection with the proposed project. The lead agency shall include this information in the EIR. . (c) MEETINGS. The County Community Development Department shall designate employees or representatives to attend meetings requested by the lead agency to .7 discuss the scope and content of the EIR. (d) COMMENTS ON DRAFT EIRS AND NEGATIVE DECLARATIONS. The County Community Development Department may review and comment on draft EIRs and negative declarations for projects which the responsible agency would later be asked to approve. Comments should focus on any shortcomings in the EIR, the appropriateness of using a negative declaration, or on additional alternatives or mitigation measures which the EIR should include. The comments may deal with any aspect of the project or its environmental effects. . (e) DECISION ON ADEQUACY OF EIR OR NEGATIVE DECLARATION. If the County believes that the final EIR or negative declaration prepared by the lead agency is not adequate for use by the responsible agency, the County must either: (1) Take the issue to court within 30 days after the lead agency files a notice of determination, 29 (2) Be deemed to have waived any objection to the adequacy of the EIR or negative declaration, or r r (3) Prepare a subsequent EIR if permissible under Section 15162; or (4) Assume the lead agency role as provided in Section 15052(a)(3). (f) CONSIDER THE EIR OR NEGATIVE DECLARATION. Prior to reaching a decision on the project, the County decision making body must consider the environmental effects of the project as shown in the EIR or negative declaration. A subsequent or sup- plemental EIR can be prepared only as provided in Sections 15162 or 15163. (g) ADOPTION OF ALTERNATIVES OR MITIGATION MEASURES. (1) When considering alternatives and mitigation measures, a responsible agency is more limited than a lead agency. A responsible agency has responsibility for mitigating or avoiding only the direct or indirect environmental effects of those parts of the project which it decides to carry out, finance, or approve. (2) When an EIR has been prepared for a project, the Responsible Agency shall not approve the project as proposed if the agency finds any feasible alternative or feasible mitigation measures within its powers that would substantially lessen or avoid any significant effect the project would have on the environment. With respect to a project which includes housing development, the responsible agency shall not reduce the proposed number of housing units as a mitigation measure if it determines that there is another feasible specific mitigation measure available that will provide a comparable level of mitigation. (h) FINDINGS. As a responsible agency, the County shall make the findings required by .Sections 15091 for each significant effect of the project and shall make the findings in Section. 15093 if necessary. (i). NOTICE OF DETERMINATION. The County acting as a responsible agency should file a notice of determination in the same_manner as a lead agency under Section 15075 or 15094 except that the County does not need to state that the EIR or negative declaration complies with CEQA. The responsible agency should state that it considered the EIR or negative declaration as prepared by a lead agency. 30 Article 8. Time Limits (15100) GENERAL. (a) This article describes time limits in the CEQA process. (b) The County should carry out its responsibilities for preparing and reviewing EIRs within a reasonable period of time. The requirement for the preparation of an EIR should not cause undue delays in the processing of applications for permits or other entitlements to use. (15101) REVIEW OF APPLICATION FOR COMPLETENESS. The County Community Development Department shall determine whether an application for a permit or other entitlement for use is complete within 30 days from the. receipt of the application. If no written determination of the completeness of the application is made within that period, the application will be deemed complete on the 30th day. (15102) INITIAL STUDY. The County Community Development Department shall determine within 30 days after accepting an application as complete whether it intends to prepare an EIR or negative declaration or use a previously prepared EIR or negative declaration except as provided in Section 15111. (15103) RESPONSE TO NOTICE OF PREPARATION. Responsible agencies and trustee agencies shall provide a response to a notice of preparation to the lead agency within 30 days after receipt of the notice. If a responsible agency fails to reply within the 30 days with either a response or a well justified request for additional time, the lead agency may assume that the responsible agency has no response to make and may ignore a late response. (15104) CONVENING OF MEETINGS. The County Community Development Department shall convene a meeting with agency representatives to discuss the scope and content of the environmental information a responsible agency will need in the EIR within 30 days after receiving a request for the meeting. The meeting may be requested by the lead agency, a responsible agency, a trustee agency, or by the project applicant. (15105) PUBLIC REVIEW. (a) The public review period for a draft EIR should be not less than 30 days nor longer than 90 days except in unusual circumstances. (b) The public review period for a negative declaration shall be a reasonable period of time sufficient to allow members of the public to respond to the proposed finding before the negative declaration is approved. (c) If a draft EIR or negative declaration has been submitted to the State Clear.Ighouse for review by State agencies, the public review period shall be at least as long as the review period established by the State Clearinghouse. (15106) REVIEW BY STATE AGENCIES. When a draft EIR or negative declaration is submitted to the State Clearinghouse for review, the normal review period is 45 days for draft EIRs and 30 days for negative declarations. The State Clearinghouse may set shorter review periods when requested by the lead agency due to exceptional circumstances. 31 1 (15107) COMPLETION OF NEGATIVE DECLARATION. With a private project, _ the negative declaration must be completed and ready for approval within 105 days from the date when ' the lead agency accepted the application as complete. The negative declaration may be approved at a later time when the permit or other entitlement is approved. (15108) COMPLETION AND CERTIFICATION OF EIR. With a private project, the County shall complete and certify the final EIR as provided in Section 15090 within one year after the date when it accepted the application as complete. The one year time limit may be extended once for a period of not more than 90 days upon consent of the County and the applicant. NOTICE OF DETERMINATION. After approval to carry out the subject becomes final, the notice of determination shall be filed within 5 working days and the notice shall be returned by the clerk to the County and retained for at least 9 months after posting. (15109) SUSPENSION OF TIME PERIODS. An unreasonable delay by an applicant in meeting the requests by the County Community Development Department necessary for the preparation of a negative declaration or an EIR shall suspend the running of the time periods described in Sections 15107 and 15108 for the period of the unreasonable delay. Alternately, the County may disapprove a project application where there is unreasonable delay in meeting requests. The County may allow a renewed application to start at the same point in the process where the applcation was when it was disapproved. (15110) PROJECTS WITH FEDERAL INVOLVEMENT.' (a) At the request of an applicant, the Director of Community Development may waive the one year time limit for completing and certifying a final EIR or the 105 day period for completing a negative declaration if: (1) The project will be subject to CEQA and to the National Environmental Policy Act, (2) Additional time will be required to prepare a combined EIR-EIS or combined negative declaration-finding of no significant impact as provided in Section 15222, and (3) The time required to prepare the combined document will be shorter than the time required to prepare the documents separately. (b),._ The time limits for taking final action on a permit for a development project may also be waived where a combined EIR-L-IS will be prepared. (c) The time limits for processing permits for development projects under Government Code Sections 65950-65960 shall not apply if federal statutes or regulations require time schedules which exceed the state time limits. In this event, any state agencies involved shall make a final decision on the project within the federal tirne limits. 32 (15111) PROJECTS WITH SHORT TIME PERIODS FOR APPROVAL. (a) A few statutes or ordinances require agencies to make decisions on permits within time ` limits that are so short that review of the project under CEQA would- be difficult. To enable the County to comply with both the permit statute and CEQA, the lead agency shall deem an application for a project not received for filing under the permit statute or ordinance until such time as the environmental documentation required by CEQA is sufficient to enable the lead agency to finish the CEQA process within the short time period. This section will apply where all of the following conditions are met: (1) The enabling legislation for a program, other than Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 65920) of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code, requires the County to take action on an application within a specified period of time that is six months or less, and (2) The enabling legislation provides that the project will become approved by operation of law if the County fails to take any action within such specified time period, and (3) The project involves the issuance of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use. (b) Examples of time periods subject to this section include but are not limited to: (1) Action on a tentative subdivision map by ' a local, government within 50 days pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 66452) of Chapter 3, Division 2, Title 2 of the Government Code, but a negative declaration for a subdivision map must be completed within the 50 day period. (2) Action on a timber harvesting plan by the Director of Forestry within 15 days pursuant to Section 4582.7 of the Public Resources Code, (3) Action on a permit by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission within 90 days pursuant to Section 66632(f) of the Government Code, and (4) Action on an oil and gas permit by the Division of Oil and Gas within 10 days pursuant to Sections 3203 or 3724 of the Public Resources Code. (c) In any case.described in this section, the environmental document shall be completed or certified and the decision on the .application shall be made within one year from the date on which an application requesting approval of such project has been received and accepted as complete for CEQA processing by such agency. This one year time limit may be extended once for a period not to exceed 90 days upon consent of the public agency and the applicant. (15112) STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS. (a) CEQA provides unusually short statutes of limitations on filing court challenges to the approval of projects under the act. 33 (b) The statute of limitations periods are not public review periods or waiting periods for the person whose project has been approved. The project sponsor may proceed to carry out the project as soon as the necessary permits have been granted. The statute of limitations cuts off the right of another person to file a court action challenging approval of the project after the specified time period has expired. (c) The statute of limitations periods under CEQA are as follows: (1) Where the County Community Development Department filed a notice of determination under Sections 15075 or 15094, 30 days after the filing of the notice and the posting on a list of such notices. (2) Where the County Community .Development Department filed a notice of exemption in compliance with Section 15062, 35 days after the filing of the notice and the posting on a list of such notices. (3) Where a certified state regulatory agency files a notice of decision in compliance with Public Resources Code Section 21080.5(d)(2)(v), 30 days after the filing of.the notice. (4) Where the Secretary for Resurces certifies a state environmental regulatory agency under Public Resurces Code Section 21080.5, the certification may be challenged only during the 30 days following the certification decision. (5) Where none of the other statute of limitations periods in this section apply, 180 days after either: (A) The County's decision to carry out or approve the project, or (B) Commencement of the project if the project is undertaken without a.formal decision by the County. 34 Article 9. Contents of Environmental Impact Reports (15120) GENERAL. (a) Environmental impact reports shall contain the information outlined in this article, but the format of the document may be varied. Each element must be covered, and when these elements are not separated into distinct sections, the document shall state where in the document each element is discussed. (b) The EIR may be prepared as a separate document, as part of a general plan, or as part of a project report. If prepared as a part of the project report, it must still contain one separate and distinguishable section providing either anlysis of all the subjects required in an EIR or as a minimum, a table showing where each of the subjects is discussed. (c) Draft EIRs shall contain the information required by Sections 15122 through 15131. Final EIRs shall contain the same information and the subjects described in Section 15132. (15121) INFORMATION DOCUMENT. (a) An EIR is an information document which will inform public agency decision-makers and the public generally. of the significant environmental effect of a project, identify possible ways to minimize the significant effects, and describe reasonable alternatives to the project. The public agency shall consider the information in the EIR along with other information which may be presented to the agency. (b) While the information in the EIR does not control the agency's ultimate discretion on the project, the agency must respond to each significant effect identified in the EIR by making findings under Section 15091 and if necessary by making a statement of overriding considerations under Section 15093. (c) The information in an EIR may constitute substantial evidence in the record to support the agency's action on the project if its decision is later challenged in court. (15122) TABLE OF CONTENTS OR INDEX. An EIR shall contain at least a table of contents or an index to assist readers in finding the analysis of different subjects and issues. (15123) SUMMARY. (a) An EIR shall contain a brief summary of the proposed actions and its consequences. The language of the summary should be as clear and simple as reasonably practical. (b) The summary shall identify: (1) Each significant effect with proposed mitigation measures and alternatives that would reduce or avoid that effect; (2) Area of controversy known to the lead agency including issues raised by agencies and the public; and 35 (3) Issues to be resolved including the choice among alternatives and whether or how to mitigate the significant effects. (c) The summary should normally not exceed 15 pages. I (15124) PROJECT DESCRIPTION. The description of the project shall contain the following information but should not supply extensive detail beyond that needed for evaluation and review of the environmental impact. (a) The precise location and boundaries of the proposed project shall be shown on a detailed map, preferably topographic. The location of the project shall also appear on a regional map. (b) A statement of,the objectives sought by the proposed project. (c) A general description of the project's technical, economic, and environmental characteristics, considering the principal engineering proposals and supporting public service facilities. (d) A statement briefly describing the intended uses of the EIR. (1) This statement shall include, to the extent that the information is known to the County. (A) A list of the agencies that are expected to use the EIR in their decision-making, and (B) A list of the approvals for which the EIR will be used. (2) If a public agency must make more than one decision on a project, all its decisions subject to CEQA should be listed, preferably in the order in which they will occur. On request, the Office of Planning and Research will provide assistance in identifying state permits for a project. (15125) ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING. An EIR must include a description of the environment in the vicinity of the project, as it exists before the commencement of the project, from both a local and regional perspective. The description shall be no longer than is necessary to understand the significant effects of the proposed project and its alternatives. (a) Knowledge of the regional setting is critical to the assessment of environmental impacts. Special emphasis should be placed on environmental resources that are rare or unique to that region and would be affected by the project. (b) The EIR shall discuss any inconsistencies between the proposed project and applicable general plans and regional plans. (c) Where a proposed project is compared with an adopted plan, the analysis shall examine the existing physical description as well as the potential future conditions discussed in the plan. 36 (15126) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT. All phases of a project must be considered when evaluating its impact on the environment: planning, acquisition, development, and operation. The following subjects shall be discussed, preferably in separate sections or paragraphs. If they , are not discussed ,separately, the EIR shall include a table showing where each of the subjects is discussed. (a) THE SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS' OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT. An EIR shall focus on the significant environmental effects of the proposed project. Direct and indirect significant effects of the project on the environment shall be clearly identified and described, giving due consideration to both the short-term and long-term effects. The discussion should include relevant specificsof the area, the resources involved, physical changes, alterations to ecological systems, and changes induced in population distribution, population concentration, the human use of the land (including commercial and residential development), and other aspects of the resource base such as water, scenic quality, and public services. The EIR shall also analyze any significant effects the project might cause by bringing development and people into . the area affected. For example, an EIR on a subdivision astride an active fault line should identify as a significant effect the seismic hazard to future occupants of the subdivision. The subdivision would have the effect of attracting people to the location and exposing them to the hazards found there. (b) ANY SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS WHICH CANNOT BE AVOIDED IF THE PROPOSAL IS IMPLEMENTED. Describe any significant impacts, including those which can be mitigated but not reduced to a level of insignificance. Where there are impacts that cannot be alleviated - without imposing an alternative design, their implications and the reasons why the project is being proposed, notwithstanding their effect, should be described. (c) MITIGATION MEASURES PROPOSED TO MINIMIZE THE SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS. Describe measures, which could minimize significant adverse impacts, including where relevant, inefficient and unnecessary consumption of energy. . The discussion of mitigation measures shall distinguish between the measures which are proposed by project proponents to be included in the project and 'other measures that are not included but could reasonably be expected to reduce adverse impacts if required as conditions of approving the project. This discussion shall identify mitigation measures for each significant environmental effect identified in the EIR. Where several measures are available to mitigate an impact, each should be discussed and the basis for selecting a particular measure should be identified. Energy conservation measures, as • well as other appropriate mitigation measures, shall be discussed when relevant. If a mitigation measure would cause one or more significant effects in addition to those that would be caused by .the project as proposed, the effects of the mitigation measure shall be discussed but in less detail than the significant effects of the project as proposed. (d) ALTERNATIVES TO THE PROPOSED ACTION. Describe a range of reasonable alternatives to the project, or to the location of the project, which could feasibly attain the basic objectives of the project and evaluate the comparative merits of the alternatives. 37 (1) If there is a specific proposed project or a preferred alternative, explain why the other alterantives were rejected in favor of the proposal if they were considered in developing the proposal. r r (2) The specific alternative of "no project" shall also be evaluated .along with the impact. If the environmentally superior alternative among the other alternatives is the "no project" alternative,' .the EIR shall also identify an environmentally superior alternative among the other alternatives. (3) The discussion of alternatives shall focus on alternatives capable of eliminating any significant adverse environmental effects or reducing them to a level of insignific- ance, even if these alternatives would impede to some degree the attainment of the project objectives, or would be more costly. (4) If an alternative would cause one or more significant effects in addition to those that would be caused by the project as proposed, the significant effects of the alternative shall be discussed but in less detail than the significant effects of the project as proposed. (5) The range of alternatives required in an EIR is governed.by "rule of reason" that requires the EIR to set forth only those alternatives necessary to permit a reasoned choice. The key issue is whether the selection and discussion of alternatives fosters informed decision-making and informed public participation. An EIR need not consider an alternative whose effect cannot be reasonably ascertained and whose implementation is remote and speculative. (e) THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL SHORT-TERM USES OF MAN'S ENVIRON- MENT AND THE MAINTENANCE AND ENHANCEMENT OF LONG-TERM PRODUCTIVITY. Describe the cumulative and long-term effects of the proposed project which adversely affect the state of the environment. Special attention should be given to impacts which narrow the range of beneficial uses of the environment or pose long-term risks to health or safety. In addition, the reasons why the proposed project is believed by the sponsor to be justified now, rather than reserving an option for further alternatives, should be explained. (f) ANY SIGNIFICANT IRREVERSIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES WHICH WOULD BE INVOLVED IN THE PROPOSED ACTION SHOULD IT BE IMPLEMENTED. Uses of nonrenewable resources during the initial and continued phases of the project may be irreversible since a large commitment of such resources makes removal or nonuse thereafter unlikely. Primary impacts and, particularly, secondary impacts (such as highway improvement which provides access to a previously inaccessible area) generally commit future generations to similar uses. Also irreversible damage can result from environmental accidents associated with the project. Irretrievable commitments of resources should be evaluated to assure that such current consumption is justified. (g) THE GROWTH-INDUCING IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED ACTION. Discuss the ways in which the proposed project could foster economic or population growth, either directly or indirectly, in the surrounding environment. Included in this are projects which would remove obstacles to population growth (a major expansion of a waste water treatment plant might, for example, allow for more construction in service areas). Increases in 38 the population may further tax existing community service facilities so consideration must be given to this impact. Also discuss the characteristic of some projects which may encourage and facilitate. other activities that could significantly affect the environment, either individually or cumulatively. It must not be assumed that growth in any area is necesarily beneficial, detrimental, or of little significance to the environ- ment. (15127) LIMITATIONS ON DISCUSSION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT. The information required by of Section 15126 (e) concerning short-term uses versus long term productivity and (f) concerning irreversible changes need be included only in EIRs prepared in connection with any of the following activities. (a) The County's adoption, amendment, or enactment of a plan, policy, or ordinance. (b) The adoption by a local agency formation commission of a resolution making determina- tions. (c) A project which will be subject to the requirement for preparing an environmental impact statement pursuant to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. (15128) EFFECTS NOT FOUND TO BE SIGNIFICANT. An EIR shall contain a statement briefly indicating the reasons that various possible significant effects of a project were determined not to be significant and were therefore not discussed in detail in the EIR. Such a statement may be contained in an attached copy of an initial study. (15129) ORGANIZATIONS AND PERSONS CONSULTED. The EIR shall identify all federal, state, or local agencies, other organizations, and private individuals consulted in preparing the draft EIR, and the identity of the persons, firm, or agency preparing the draft EIR, by contract or other authorization, must be given. (15130) CUMULATIVE IMPACTS. (a) Cumulative impacts shall be discussed when they are significant. (b) The discussion of cumulative impacts shall reflect the severity of the impacts and their likelihood of occurrence, but the discussion need not provide as great detail as is provided of the effects attributable to the project alone. The discussion should be guided by the standards of practicality and reasonableness. The following elements are necessary to an adequate discussion of cumulative impacts: (1) Either: (A) a list of projects producing related or cumulative impacts, including those projects outside the control of the agency, or (B) a summary of projections contained in an adopted general plan or related planning document which is designed to evaluate regional or areawide condi- tions. Any such planning document shall be referenced and made available to the public at a location specified by the County. 39 (2) A summary of the expected environmental effects to be produced by those projects with specific reference to additional information stating where that information is available, and ' (3) A reasonable analysis of the cumulative impacts of the relevant projects. An EIR shall examine reasonable options for mitigating or avoiding any significant cumula- tive effects of a proposed project. (c) With some projects, the only feasible mitigation for cumulative impacts may involve the adoption of ordinances or regulations rather than the imposition of conditions on a project-by-project basis. (15131) ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS. Economic or social information may be included in an EIR or may be presented in whatever form the agency desires. (a) Economic or social effects of a project shall not be treated as significant effects on the environment. An EIR may trace a chain of cause and effect from a proposed decision on a project through anticipated economic or social changes resulting from the project to physical changes caused in turn by the economic or social changes. The intermediate economic or social changes need not be analyzed in any detail greater than necessary to trace the chain of cause and effect. The focus of the analysis shall be on the physical changes. (b) Economic or social effects of a project may be used to determine the significance of physical changes caused by the project. For example, if the construction of a new freeway or rail line divides an existing community, the construction would be the physical change, but the social effect on the community would be the basis for determining that the effect would be significant. As an additional example, if the construction of a road and the resulting increase iri noise in an area disturbed existing religious practices in the area, the disturbance of the religious practices could be used to determine that the construction and use of the road and the resulting noise would be significant effects on the environment. The religious practices would need to be analyzed only to the extent to show that the increase in traffic and noise would conflict with the religious practices. Where an EIR uses economic or social effects to determine that a physical change is significant, the EIR shall explain the reason for determining that the effect is significant. (c) Economic, social, and particularly housing factors shall be considered by public agencies together with technological and environmental factors in deciding whether changes in a project are feasible to reduce or avoid the significant effects on the environment identified in the EIR. If information on these factors is not contained in the EIR, the information must be added to the record in some other manner to allow the agency to consider the factors in reaching a decision on the project. (15132) CONTENTS OF FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT. The final EIR shall consist of: (a) The draft EIR or a revision of the draft. 40 c (b) Comments and recommendations received on the draft EIR either verbatim or in summary. (c) A list of persons, organizations, and public agencies commenting on the.draft EIR. (d) The responses of the County to significant environmental points raised in the review and consultation process.. (e) Any other information added by the County. 41 J Article 10. Considerations in Preparing EIRs and Negative Declarations (15140) WRITING. EIRs'shall be written in plain language and may use appropriate graphics so that decision makers and the public can rapidly understand the documents. (1514 1) PAGE LIMITS. The text of draft EIRs shall normally be less than 150 pages and for proposals of unusual scope or complexity should normally be less than 300 pages. (15142) INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH. An EIR shall be prepared using an interdisciplinary approach which will ensure the integrated use of the natural and social sciences and the consideration of qualitative as well as quantitative factors. The interdisciplinary analysis shall be conducted by competent individuals, but no single discipline shall be designated or required to undertake this evaluation. (15143) EMPHASIS. The EIR shall focus on the significant effects on the environment. The significant effects should be discussed with emphasis in proportion to their severity and probability of occurrence. Effects dismissed in an initial study as clearly insignificant and unlikely to occur need not be discussed further in the EIR unless the County subsequently receives information inconsistent with the finding in the initial study. A copy of the initial study may be attached to the EIR to provide the basis for limiting the impacts discussed. (15144) FORECASTING. Drafting an EIR necessarily involves some degree of forecasting. While foreseeing the unforseeable is not-possible, the County must use its best efforts to find out and disclose.all that it reasonably can. (15145) SPECULATION. If, after thorough investigation, the County Community Development Department finds that a particular impact is too speculative for evaluation, it should note its conclusion and terminate discussion of the impact. (15146) DEGREE OF SPECIFICITY. The degree of specificity required in an EIR will correspond to the degree of specificity involved in the underlying activity which is described in the EIR. (a) An EIR on a construction project will necessarily be more detailed in the specific effects of the project than will be an EIR on the adoption of a local general plan or comprehensive zoning ordinance because the effects of the construction can be predicted with greater accuracy. (b) An EIR on a project such as the adoption or amendment of a comprehensive zoning ordinance or a local general plan should focus on the secondary effects that can be expected to follow from the adoption, or amendinent, but the EIR need not be as detailed as an EIR on the specific construction projects that might follow. (15147) TECHNICAL DETAIL. The information contained in an EIR shall include summarized technical data, maps, plot plans, diagrams, and similar relevant information sufficient to permit full assessment of significant environmental impacts by reviewing agencies and members of the public. Placement of highly technical and specialized analysis and data in the body of an EIR should be avoided through inclusion of supporting information and analysis as appendices to the main body of the EIR. Appendices to the EIR may be prepared in volumes separate from the basic EIR document, but shall be readily available for public examination and shall be submitted to all clearinghouses which assist in public review. 42 (15148) CITATION. Preparation of EIRs is dependent upon information from many sources. including engineering project reports and many scientific documents relating to environ- mental features. These documents should be referenced but not included in the EIR. The EIR shall cite all documents used in its preparation including, where possible, a citation to the page and section number of any technical reports which were used as-the basis for any statements in the EIR. (15149) USE OF REGISTERED PROFESSIONALS IN PREPARING FIRS. (a) A number of statutes provide that certain' professional services can be provided to the public only by individuals who have been registered by a registration board established under California law. Such statutory restrictions apply to a number of professions including but not limited to. engineering, land surveying, forestry, geology, and geophysics. (b) In its intended usage, an EIR is not a technical document that can be prepared only by a registered professional. The EIR serves as a public disclosure document explaining the effects of the proposed project on the environment, alternatives to the project, and ways to minimize adverse effects and to increase beneficial effects. As a result of information in the EIR, the lead agency should establish requirements or conditions on project design, construction, or operation in order to protect or enhance the environ- ment. State statutes may provide that only registered professionals can prepare technical studies which will be used in or which, will control the detailed design, construction, or operation of the proposed project and which will be prepared in support of an EIR. (15150) INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE. (a) An EIR or negative declaration may incorporate by reference all or portions of another document which is a matter of public record or is generally available to the public. Where all or part of another document is incorporated by reference, the incorporated language shall be considered to be set forth in full as part of the text of the EIR or negative declaration. (b) Where part of another document is incorporated by reference, such other document shall be made available to the public for inspection at a. public place or public building. The EIR or negative declaration shall state where the incorporated documents will be available for inspection. At a minimum, the incorporated document shall be made available to the public in the .offices of the County ' Community Development Department, 4th Floor, North Wing, County Administration Building, Pine and Escobar Streets, Martinez, California. (c)' Where.an EIR or negative declaration uses incorporation by reference, the incorporated part of the referenced document shall be briefly summarized where possible or briefly described if the data or information cannot be summarized. The relationship between the incorporated part of the referenced document and the EIR shall be described. 43 (d) Where the County Community Development Department incorporates information from an EIR that has previously been reviewed through the State review system, the State identification number of the incorporated document should be included in the summary or designation described in subsection (c). (e) Examples of materials that may be incorporated by reference include but are not limited to: (1) A description of the environmental setting from another EIR. (2) A description of. the air pollution problems prepared by an air pollution control agency concerning a process involved in the project. (3) A description of the city or County general plan that applies to the location of the project. (f) Incorporation by reference is most appropriate for including long, descriptive, or technical materials that provide general background but do not contribute directly to the analysis of the problem at hand. (15151) STANDARDS FOR ADEQUACY OF AN EIR. An EIR should be prepared with a sufficient degree of analysis to provide decision makers with information which enables them to make a decision which intelligently takes account of environmental consequences. An evaluation of ; the environmental effects of a proposed project need not be exhaustive, but the sufficiency of an EIR is to be reviewed in the light of what is reasonably feasible. Disagreement among experts does not make an EIR inadequate, but the EIR should summarize the main points of disagreement among the experts. The courts have looked not for perfection but for adequacy, completeness, and a good faith effort at full disclosure. (15152) TIERING. (a) Agencies are encouraged to tier. EIRs which they prepare for separate but related projects, including general plans, and development projects, this approach can eliminate repetitive discussions of the same issues and focus the EIR on the actual issues ripe for decision at each level of environmental review. (b) Where an EIR has been prepared for ,a program, plan, policy, or ordinance consistent with the requirements of this section, the lead agency for a later project pursuant to or consistent with the program, plan, policy, or ordinance shall limit the initial study and negative declaration or EIR on the project to effects which: (1) were not examined as significant effects on the environment in the prior EIR; or (2) Are susceptible to substantial reduction or avoidance by the choice of specific revisions in the project, by the imposition of conditions, or other means. (c) Tiering under this section shall be limited to situations where the project is consistent with the general plan or zoning of the city or County in which the project would be located. 44 (d) When tiering is used, the later EIRs or negative declarations shall refer to the prior EIR and state where a copy of the prior EIR may be examined. The later EIR should state that the lead agency is using the tiering concept and that the EIR is being tiered with the earlier EIR. (15153) USE OF AN EIR FROM AN EARLIER PROJECT. (a) The County may employ a single EIR to describe more than one project, if such projects are essentially the same in terms of environmental impact. Further, the County may use an earlier EIR prepared in connection with an earlier project to apply to a later project, if the circumstances of the projects are essentially the same. (b) When the County proposes to use an EIR from an earlier project as the EIR for a separate, later project, it shall use the following procedures: (1) The County shall review the proposed project with an initial study, using incorpora- tion by reference if necessary, to determine whether the EIR would adequately describe: (A). The general environmental setting of the project, (B) The significant environmental impacts of the project, and (C) Alternatives and mitigation measures related to each significant effect. (2) If the County believes that the EIR would meet the requirements of subsection (1), it shall provide public review as provided in Section 15087 stating that it plans to use the previously prepared EIR as the draft EIR for this project. ' The notice shall include as a minimum: (A) An identification of the project with a brief description, (B) A statement that the County plans to use a certain EIR prepared for a previous project as the EIR for this project, (C) A listing of places where copies of the EIR may be examined. These places should include the offices of the County Community Development Department, a location near the project site, and one or more locations near the residences of people expected to be concerned with the project, and (D) A statement that the key issues involving the EIR are whether the E-IR should be used for this project:,,and whether there are any additional, reasonable alternatives or mitigation measures that should be considered as ways of avoiding or reducing the significant effects of the project. (3) The County shall prepare responses to cornments received during the review period.. (4) Before approving the project, the decision maker in the County shall: 45 f r r (A) Consider the information in the EIR including comments received during the . review period and responses to those comments, r r (B) Decide whether the EIR is adequate for the project at hand, and (C) Make or require certification to be made as described in Section 15090. (D) Make findings as provided in Sections 15091 and 15093 as necessary. (5) After making a decision on the project, the County shall file a notice of determination. (c) . An EIR prepared for an earlier project may also be used as part of an initial study to document a funding that a later project will not have a significant effect. In this situation a negative declaration will be prepared. (d) An EIR for an earlier project shall not be used as the EIR for a later project if any of the conditions described in Section 15162 would require preparation of a subsequent or supplemental EIR. 46 • i f f Article 11. Types of EIRs r r (15160) GENERAL. This article describes a number of examples of variations in EIRs as the documents are tailored to different situations and intended uses. These variations are not exclusive. The County may use other variations consistent with the guidelines to meet the needs of other circumstances. All EIRs must meet the content requirements discussed in Article 11 beginning with Section 15120. (15161) PROJECT EIR. The most common type of EIR examines the environmental impacts of a specific development project. This type of EIR shall focus primarily on the changes in the environment that would result from the development project. The EIR shall examine all phases of the project including planning, construction, and operation. (15162) SUBSEQUENT EIR. (a) Where an EIR or negative declaration has been prepared, no additional EIR need be prepared unless: (1) Subsequent changes are proposed in the project which will require important revisions of the EIR or negative declaration due to the involvement of new significant environmental impacts not considered in a previous EIR on the project; (2) Substantial changes occur with respect to the circumstances under which the project is undertaken, such as a substantial deterioration in the air quality where the project will be located, which will require important revisions in the EIR due to the involvement of new significant environmental impacts not covered in a previous EIR, or negative declaration or (3) New information of substantial importance to the project becomes available, and (A) The information was not known and could not have been known at the time the EIR was certified as complete or the negative declaration was adopted, and (B) The new information shows any of the following: 1. The project will have one or more significant effects not discussed previously in the EIR; 2. Significant effects previously examined will be substantially more severe than shown in the EIR; 3. Mitigation measures or alternatives previously found not to be feasible would in fact be feasible and would substantially reduce one or more significant effects of the project; or 4. Mitigation measures or alternatives which were not previously considered in the EIR would substantially lessen one or more significant effects on the environment. 47 (b) If the EIR or negative declaration has been completed but the project has not yet been approved, the County Community Development Department shall prepare or cause to be prepared the subsequent EIR before the project's approval. (c) If the project was approved prior to the occurrence of the conditions described in subsection (a), the subsequent EIR shall be prepared by the public agency which grants the next discretionary approval for the project. In this situation no other responsible agency shall grant an approval for the project until the subsequent EIR has been completed. (15163) SUPPLEMENT TO AN EIR. . (a) The County Community Development Department may choose to prepare a supplement to an EIR rather than a subsequent EIR if: (1) Any of the conditions described in Section 15162 would require the preparation of a subsequent EIR, and (2) Only minor additions or changes would be necessary to make the previous EIR adequately apply to the project in the changed situation. (b) The supplement to the EIR need contain only the information necessary to make the previous EIR adequate for the project as revised. (c) A supplement to an EIR shall be given the same kind of notice and public review as is given to a draft EIR under Section 15087. (d) A supplement to an EIR may be circulated by itself without recirculating the previous draft or final EIR. (e) When the County Community Development Department decides whether to approve the project, the decision making body shall consider the previous EIR as revised by the supplemental EIR. A finding under Section 15091 shall be made for each significant effect shown in the previous EIR as revised. (15164) ADDENDUM TO AN EIR. (a) The County Community Development Department shall prepare an addendum to an EIR. if: (1) None of the conditions described in Section 15162 have occurred; and (2) Only minor technical changes or additions are necessary to make the EIR.under consideration adequate under CEQA, and (3) The changes to the EIR made 'by the addendum do not raise important new issues about the significant effects on the environment. (b) An addendum need not be circulated for public review but can be included in or attached to the final EIR. 48 (c) The decision making body shall consider the addendum with the final EIR prior to making a decision on the project. (15165) MULTIPLE AND PHASED PROJECTS. Where individual projects are, or a phased project is, to be undertaken and where the total undertaking comprises a project with significant environmental effect, the County Community Development Department shall prepare a single program EIR for the ultimate project as described in Section 15168. Where an individual project is a necessary precedent for action on a larger project, or commits the lead agency to a larger project, with significant environmental effect, an EIR must address itself to the scope of the larger project. Where one project is one of several similar projects of a public agency, but is not deemed a part of a larger undertaking or a larger project, the agency may prepare one EIR for all projects, or one for each project, but shall in either case comment upon the cumulative effect.. (15166) EIR AS PART OF A GENERAL PLAN. (a) The requirements.-for an EIR on a local. general plan, element, or amendment thereof will be satisfied by the general plan, or element document, and no separate EIR will be required, if: (1) The general plan addresses all the points required to be in an SIR by Article 9 of these guidelines, and (2) The document contains a special section or cover sheet identifying where the general plan document addresses each of the points required. (b) Where an EIR has been prepared for a general plan, element, or amendment thereto, the EIR shall be forwarded to the State Clearinghouse, for review. This requirement shall apply regardless of whether the EIR is prepared as a separate document or as part of a general plan or plan element. (15167) STAGED EIR. (a) Where a large .capital project will require a number of discretionary approvals from government agencies and one of the approvals will occur more than two years before . construction will begin, a staged EIR may be prepared covering the entire project in a general form. The staged EIR should evaluate the proposal. in light of current and contemplated plans and produce an informed estimate 'of the environmental con- sequences of the entire project. The aspect of the project before the public agency for. approval shall be discussed with a greater degree of soecif icity. (b) When a staged EIR has been prepared, a supplement to the LIR shall he prepared when a later approval is required for the project, and the information available at the time of the later approval would permit consideration of additional environmental impacts, mitigation measures, or reasonable alternatives to the project. 49 (c). Where a statute such as the Warren-Alquist Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act provides that a specific agency shall be the lead agency for a project and requires the lead agency to prepare an EIR, a responsible agency which must grant ' an approval for the project before the,lead agency has completed the EIR may prepare and consider a staged EIR. (d) An agency requested to prepare a staged EIR may decline to act as a lead agency if it determines, among other factors, that: (1) Another agency would be the appropriate lead agency; and (2) there is no compelling need to prepare a staged EIR and grant approval for the project before the appropriate lead agency will take its action. (15168) PROGRAM EIR. (a) GENERAL. A program EIR is an EIR which may be prepared on a series of actions that are related either: (1) Geographically, (2) As logical parts in the chain of contemplated actions, (3) In connection with issuance of _rules, regulations, plans, or other general criteria to govern the conduct of a continuing program, or (4) As individual projects carried out under the same authorizing statutory or regulatory authority and having generally similar environmental effects which can be mitigated in similar ways. (b) ADVANTAGES. Use of a program EIR can provide the following advantages. The program EIR can: (1) Provide an occasion for a more exhaustive consideration of effects and alternatives than would be practical in an EIR on an individual action, (2) Ensure consideration of cumulative impacts that might be slighted in a case-by- case analysis, (3) Avoid duplicative reconsideration of basic policy considerations, (4) Allow the County to consider broad policy alternatives and programwide mitigation measures at an early time when the County has greater flexibility to deal with basic problems or cumulative impacts, (5) Allow reduction in paperwork. (c) USE WITH LATER ACTIVITIES. Subsequent activities in the program must be examined in the light of the program EIR to determine whether an additional environmental document must be prepared. 50 (1) If a later activity would have effects that were not examined in the program EIR, a new initial study would need to be prepared leading to either an EIR or a negative declaration. (2) If the County finds that pursuant to Section 15162, no new effects could occur or no new mitigation measures would be required, it can then approve the activity as being within the scope of the project covered by the program EIR, and no new environmental document would be required. (3) The County shall incorporate feasible mitigation measures and alternatives developed in the program EIR into subsequent actions in the program. (4) Where the subsequent activities involve site specific operations, the County should use a written checklist or similar device to document the evaluation of the site and the activity to determine whether the environmental effects of the operation were covered in the program EIR. (5) A program EIR will be most helpful in dealing with subsequent activities if it deals with the effects of the program as specifically and comprehensively as possible. With a good and detailed analysis of the program, many subsequent activities could be found to be within the scope of the project described in the program EIR, and no further environmental documents would be required. (d) USE WITH SUBSEQUENT EIRS AND NEGATIVE DECLARATIONS. A program EIR can be used to simplify the task of preparing environmental documents on later parts of the program. The program EIR can: (T) Provide the basis in an initial study for determining whether the later activity may have any significant effects. (2) Be incorporated by reference to deal with regional influences, secondary effects, v cumulative impacts, broad alternatives, and other factors that apply to the program as a whole. (3) Focus an EIR on a subsequent project to permit discussion solely of new effects which had not been considered before. (e) NOTICE WITH LATER ACTIVITIES. When a law other than CEQA requires public notice when the County later proposes to carry out or approve an activity within the program and to rely on the program EIR for CEQA compliance, the notice for t[ie activity shall include a statement that: (1) This activity is within the scope of the program approved earlier, and (2) The program EIR adequately describes the activity for the purposes of CEQA. (15169) MASTER ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT. (a) GENERAL. The County Community Development Department may prepare a master environmental assessment, inventory, or data base for all, or a portion of, the territory subject to its 51 control in order to provide information which may be used or referenced in EIRs or negative declarations. Neither the content, the format, nor the procedures to be used to develop a master environmental assessment are prescribed by these guidelines. The descriptions contained in this section are advisory. A master environmental assessment is suggested solely as an approach to identify and organize environmental information for a region or area of the State. (b) CONTENTS. A master environmental assessment may contain an inventory of the physical and biological characteristics of the area for which it is prepared and may contain such additonal data and information as the public agency determines is useful or necessary to describe environmental characteristics of the area. It may include identification of existing levels of quality and supply of air and water, capacities and levels of use of existing services and facilities, and generalized incremental effects of different categories of development projects by type, scale, and location. (c) PREPARATION. (1) A master environmental assessment or inventory may be prepared in many possible ways. For example, a MEA may be prepared as a special, comprehensive study of the area involved, as part of the EIR on a general plan, or as a data base accumulated by indexing EIRs prepared for individual projects or programs in the area involved. (2) The information contained in a master environmental assessment should be reviewed periodically and revised as needed so that it is accurate and current. (3) When advantageous to do so, master environmental assessments may be prepared through a joint exercise of pwoers agreement with neighboring local agencies or with the assistance of the appropriate Council cf Governments. (d) USES. (1) A master environmental assessment can identify the environmental characteristics and constraints of an area. This information can be used to influence the design and location of individual projects. (2) A master environmental assessment may provide information agencies can use in initial studies to decide whether certain environmental effects are likely to occur and whether certain effects will be significant. (3) A master environmental assessment can provide a central source of current information for use in preparing individual EIRs and negative declarations. (4) Relevant portions of a master environmental assessment can be referenced and summarized in EIRs and negative declarations. (5) A master environmental assessment can assist in identifying long range, areawide, and cumulative impacts of individual projects proposed in the area covered by the assessment. 52 f i (6) A master environmental assessment can assist a city or county in formulating a general ..plan or any element of such a plan by identifying environmental characteristics and constraints that need to be addressed in the general plan. (7) A master environmental assessment can serve as a reference document to assist public agencies which review other environmental documents dealing with activities in the area covered by the assessment. The public agency preparing the assessment should forward a completed copy to each agency which will review projects in the area. (15170) JOINT EIR-EIS. The County under CEQA may work with a federal agency to prepare a joint document which will meet the requirements of both CEQA and NEPA. Use of such a joint document is described in Article 14, beginning with Section 15220. h- 53 Article 12. Special Situations (15180) REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS. (a) All public and private activities or undertakings pursuant to or in furtherance of a redevelopment plan constitute a single project, which shall be deemed approved at the time of adoption of the redevelopment , plan by the legislative body. The EIR in connection with the redevelopment plan shall be submitted in accordance with Section 3352 of the Health and Safety Code. (b) An EIR on a redevelopment plan shall be treated as a program EIR with no subsequent EIRs required for individual components of the redevelopment plan unless a subsequent EIR or a supplement to an EIR would be required by Section 15162 or 15163. (15181) HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL FACILITIES IN URBANIZED AREAS. (a) The County may approve a project involving the construction of housing or neighbor- hood commercial facilities in an urbanized area with the use of an EIR or negative declaration previously prepared for a specific plan or port master plan if the lead agency complies with the requirements of this section. (b) The procedures for complying with this section are as follows: (1) The County Community Development Department shall conduct an initial study to determine whether the project may have one or more significant effects on the environment. (2) The County Community Development Department shall give notice of its proposed use of a previously prepared EIR to all persons who had submitted a written request for notice and shall also give notice by either: (A) Posting notice on and off the site in the area where the project would be located, or (B) Mailing notice directly to owners of property contiguous to the project site. (3) The decision making body shall make the following findings with regard.to planning and the previously prepared EIR. (A) That the project is consistent with a specific plan which was adopted for the area pursuant to Article 8 (commencing with Section 65450), .article 9 (commencing with Section 65500), and Article 10 (commencing with Section 65550) of Chapter 3 of Title 7 of the Government Code, or a port ;Waster plan certified pursuant to Article 26 (commencing with Section 30510) of Chapter 6 of Division 20 of the Public Resources Code. 54 ti (B) That the specific plan, or port master plan was adopted not more than five years prior to the finding made pursuant to this subsection and that the method of adoption was the procedure specified by Article 9 (commencing with section 65500) of Chapter 3 ,of Title 7 of . the. Government Code for ' adopting specific plans and regulations. . (C) That the specific plan or port master plan was the subject of a certified environmental impact report. (D) That the environmental impact report is sufficiently detailed so that all the significant effects of the project on the environment and measures necessary to mitigate or avoid any such effects can be determined. This examination of the previously prepared EIR shall include a further, specific finding as to: 1. Whether there would be any significant physical effects on existing structures and neighborhoods of historical or aesthetic significance if any exist in the area covered by the plan or program, and 2. Whether measures necessary to-ymitigate or avoid such effects are included in the EIR. (E) That a subsequent EIR is not required pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21166 and Guidelines Section 15162. (4) The decision making body shall make one or more findings as required by Section 15191 with regard to mitigating or avoiding each significant effect that the project would have on the environment. (5) The County Community Development Department shall file a notice of determina- tion with the County Clerk if the decision making body approves the project. (c) As used in this section, "neighborhood commercial facilities" means those commercial facilities which are an integral part of a project involving the construction of housing and which will serve the residents of such housing. (15182) RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS PURSUANT TO A SPECIFIC PLAN. (a) EXEMPTION. . Where the County has prepared an EIR on a specific plan after January 1, 1980, no EIR or negative declaration need be prepared for a residential project undertaken pursuant to or in conformity to that specific plan if the project meets the requirements of this section. (b) SCOPE. Residential projects covered by this section include but are not limited to land subdivisions, zoning changes, and residential planned unit developments. 55 t (c) LIMITATION. This section is subject to the limitation that if after the adoption of -he specific plan, an event described in Section 15162 should occur, this exemption shall not apply until the County completes a supplemental EIR on the specific plan. '_'he exemption rovided by this section shall again be available to residential projects after the County Community Development Department has filed a notice of determination on the specific plan as reconsidered by the subsequent or supplemental EIR. (d) ALTERNATIVE. This section provides an alternative to the procedure described in Section 15181. (e) FEES. The County has authority to charge fees to applicants for projects which ber. :fit from this section. The fees shall be calculated in the aggregate to defray but no? to exceed the cost of developing and adopting the specific plan including the cost of preparing the EIR. (f) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS. A court action challenging the approval of a project under this section for failure to prepare a supplemental EIR shall be commenced within 30 days after the County's decision to carry out or approve the project in accord&-ice with the specific plan. (15183) RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS CONSISTENT WITH A COMMUNITY PLAN OR ZONING. (a) In approving a residential project meeting the requirements of this section, the County shall limit its examination of environmental effects under CEQA to effects which: (1) Are peculiar to the project or the parcel on which the project would be located, although the effects may occur on or off-site of the project, and (2) Were not analyzed as significant effects in a prior EIR on the zoning or community plan with which the residential project is consistent. (b) The application of this section shall be limited to residential projects which are consistent with a community plan or zoning action which: (1) Zoned or designated the parcel on which the project would be located to accommodate a particular density of residential development, and (2) Was the subject of an EIR certified by the County for the planning or zoning action. (c) This section shall not apply unless: (1) Each public agency with authority to mitigate any of the significant effects on the environment identified in the EIR on the planning or zoning action undertakes.or requires others to undertake mitigation measures specified in the EIR which the lead agency found to be feasible, and (2) The lead agency makes a finding at a public hearing as to whether the feasible mitigation measures will be undertaken. 56 (d) An effect of a project on the environment shall not be considered peculiar to the project or the parcel for the purpose of this section if uniformly applied development policies or standards have been previously adopted by the County with a finding that the , development policies or standards will substantially mitigate that environmental effect when. applied to future projects. The finding shall be based on substantial evidence which need not include an EIR. Examples of uniformly applied development ordinances include: (1) Parking ordinances, (2) Public access requirements. (3) Grading Ordinances. (e) An environmental effect shall not be considered peculiar to the project or parcel solely becuase no uniformly applied development policy or standard is applicable to it. (f) Where a community plan meets the requirements of this section, any rezoning action consistent with the community plan shall be treated as a residential project to this section. (15184) STATE MANDATED LOCAL PROJECTS. Whenever a state agency issues an order which requires the County to carry out a project subject to CEQA, the following rules apply: (a) If an EIR is prepared for the project, the County shall limit the EIR to considering those factors and alternatives which will not conflict with the order. (b) If the County undertakes a project to implement a rule or regulation imposed by a certified state environmental regulatory program listed in Section 15251, the project shall be exempt from CEQA with regard to the 'significant effects analyzed in the document prepared by the state agency as a substitute for an EIR. The County shall comply with CEQA with regard to any site-specific effect of the project which was not analyzed by the certified state agency as a significant effect on the environment. The County need not re-examine the general environmental effects of the state rule or regulation. 57 Article 13. Review and Evaluation of EIRs and Negative Declarations (15200) PURPOSES OF REVIEW. The purposes of review of EIRs and negative declarations include: (a) Sharing expertise, (b) Disclosing agency analyses, (c) Checking for accuracy, (d) Detecting omissions, (e) Discovering public concerns, and (f) Soliciting counter proposals. (15201) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. The County encourages wide participation by the public in its CEQA procedures. (15202) (a) The County hearing body which holds the initial hearing on a project for which an environmental impact report is required shall conduct a public hearing on the draft environmental impact report in order to offer the public as well as interested agencies, organizations and individuals the opportunity to provide oral testimony on the adequacy of the draft. (b) Public hearings on the environmental impact report will, to the extent possible and practicable, be held in conjunction with and as a part of normal planning activities. (c) Notice of the public hearing shall be given in a timely manner and may be given in the same form and time as notice for other regularly conducted public hearings of the public agency. (15203) ADEQUATE TIME FOR REVIEW AND COMMENT. The County, acting as a lead agency, shall provide adequate time for other public agencies and members of the public to review and comment upon a draft EIR or negative declaration that it has prepared. (a) The County shall allow 30 days from the filing of the Notice of Completion for review of a draft EIR. When a state agency is a responsible agency and/or the draft has been submitted to the Clearinghouse, a 45 day review will be required. In addition, notices of completion, attached to the draft EIR shall contain the specified time period for review of the draft. (b) A review period for an EIR does not require a halt in other planning or evaluation activities related to a project. Planning should continue in conjunction with environ- mental evaluation. 58 (15204) COUNTY REVIEW OF FIRS AND NEGATIVE DECLARATIONS (a) Environmental documents, including EIRs and/or negative declarations, submitted for review by or to County agencies shall be directed to the County Community Development .Department for disposition. The Community Development Department may conduct the review and/or may refer to other appropriate County departments or agencies with special review expertise. (b) In reviewing draft EIRs, people should focus on the sufficiency of the document in identifying and analyzing the possible impacts on the environment and ways in which the significant effects of the project might be avoided or mitigated. Comments are most helpful when they suggest additional specific alternatives or mitigation measures that would provide better ways to avoid or mitigate the significant environmental effects. (c) In reviewing negative declarations, people should focus on the proposed finding that the project will not have a significant effect on the environment. If people believe that the project would have a significant effect, they should: (1) Identify the effect, (2) Explain why they believe the effect would occur, and (3) - Explain why they believe the effect would be significant. (d) County agencies reviewing projects,should explain the basis for their comments, and whenever possible, should submit data or references in support of the comments. (e) Reviewing agencies and organizations should include with their comments the name of a contact person who would be available for later consultation if necessary. (15205) REVIEW BY STATE AGENCIES. (a) Draft EIRs and negative declarations to be reviewed by state agencies shall be submitted to the State Clearinghouse, 1400 Tenth Street, Sacramento, California 95814. (b) The following environmental documents shall be submitted to the State Clearinghouse for review by state agencies: (1) Draft EIRs and negative declarations prepared by a state agency where such agency is a lead agency. (2) Draft EIRs and negative declarations prepared by a public agency where a state agency is a responsible agency, trustee agency, or otherwise has jurisdiction by law with respect to the project. (3) Draft EIRs and negative declarations on projects identified in Section 15206 as being of statewide, regional, or areawide significance. (4) Draft EISs, environmental assessments, and findings of no significant impact prepared pursuant to NEPA, the federal guidelines (Title 40 CFR, Part 1500, commencing with Section 1500.1) and Parts I and II of Office of Management and Budget Circular A-95. 59 (c) Public agencies may send environmental documents to the State Clearinghouse for review where a state agency has special expertise with regard to the environmental impacts involved. (d) When an EIR or negative declaration is submitted to the State Clearinghouse for review, the review period set by the lead agency shall be at least as long as the period provided in the state review system operated by the State Clearinghouse. In the state review system, the normal review period is 45 days for EIRs and 30 days for negative declarations. In exceptional circumstances, the State Clearinghouse may set shorter review periods when requested by the lead agency. (e) The number of copies of an EIR or negative declaration submitted to the State Clearinghouse shall not be less than ten unless the State Clearinghouse approves a lower number in advance. (f) While the lead agency is encouraged to contact the regional and district offices of state responsible agencies, the lead agency must, in all cases, submit documents to the State Clearinghouse for distribution in order to comply with the review requirements of this section. (15206) PROJECTS OF STATEWIDE, REGIONAL, OR AREAWIDE SIGNIFICANCE. (a) Projects meeting the criteria in this section shall be deemed to be of statewide, regional, or areawide significance. A draft EIR or negative declaration prepared by any public agency on a project described .in this section shall be submitted to the State Clearinghouse and should be submitted also to the appropriate metropolitan area cuncil of governments for review and comment. (b) The lead agency shall determine that a proposed project is of statewide, regional, or areawide significance if the project meets any of the following criteria: (1) A proposed local general plan, element, or amendment thereof for which an EIR was prepared. If a negative declaration was prepared for the plan, element, or amendment, the document need not be submitted for review. (2) A project has the potential for causing significant effects on the environment extending beyond the city or County in which the project would be located. Examples of the effects include generating significant amounts of traffic or interfering with the attainment or maintenance of state or national air quality standards. Projects subject to this subsecton include: (A) A proposed residential development of more than 500 dwelling units. (B) A proposed shopping center or business establishment employing more than 1,000 persons or encompassing more than 500,000 square feet of floor space. (C) A proposed commercial office building employing more than 1,000 persons or encompassing more than 250,000 square feet of floor space. (D) A proposed hotel/motel development of more than 500 rooms. 60 (E) A proposed industrial, manufacturing, or processing plant, or industrial park planned to house more than 1,000 persons, occupying more than 40 acres of land, or encompassing more than 650,000 square feet of floor area'. (3) A project which would result in the cancellation of an open space contract made pursuant to the California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Williamson Act) for any parcel of 100 or more acres. (4) A project located in and substantially impacting on an area of critical environ- mental sensitivity for which an EIR and not a negative declaration was prepared including: (A) The Lake Tahoe Basin. (B) The Santa Monica Mountains Zone as defined by Secton 67463 of the Government Code. (C) The California Coastal Zone as defined in, and mapped pursuant to, Section 30103 of the Public Resources Code. (D) An area within 1/4 mile of a wild and scenic river as devined by Secton 5093.5 of the Public Resources Code. (E) The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as defined in Water Code Section 12220. (F) The Suisun Marsh as defined in Public Resources Code Section 29101. (G) The jurisdiction of the San Francisco Ray Conservation and Development Commission as defined in Government Code Section 66610. (5) A project which would substantially affect sensitive wildlife habitats including but not limited to riparian lands, wetlands, bays, estuaries, marshes, and habitats for rare and endangered species as defined by Fish and Game Code Section 903. (6) A project which would interfere with attainment of regional water quality standards as stated in the approved areawide waste water management plan. (7) A project which would provide housing, jobs, or occupancy for 500 or more people within 10 miles of a nuclear power plant. (15207) FAILURE TO COMMENT. If any public agency or person who is consulted with regard to an EIR fails to comment within a reasonable time as specified by the County, it shall be assumed, absent a request for a specific extension of time, that such agency or person has no comment to make. Although the County need not respond to late comments, the County may choose to respond to them. (15208) RETENTION AND AVAILABILITY OF COMMENTS. Comments received through the consultation process shall be retained for a reasonable period and available for public inspection at an address given in the final EIR. Comments which may be received on a draft EIR or negative declaration under preparation shall also be considered and kept on file. 61 I I Y 1 I I (15209) COMMENTS ON INITIATIVE OF PUBLIC AGENCIES. Every public agency may comment on environmental documents dealing with projects which affect resources with which the agency has special expertise regardless of whether its comments were solicited or whether ` the effects fall within the legal jurisdiction of the agency. 62 Article 14. Projects Also Subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (15220) GENERAL. This article applies to projects that are subject to both CEQA and NEPA. NEPA applies to projects which are carried out, financed, or approved in whole or in part by federal agencies. Accordingly, this article applies to projects which involve one or more state or local agencies and one or more federal agencies. (15221) NEPA DOCUMENT READY BEFORE CEQA DOCUMENT. (a) When a project will require compliance with both CEQA and NEPA, state or local agencies should use the EIS or finding of no significant impact rather than preparing an EIR or negative declaration if the following two conditions occur: (1) An EIR or finding of no significant impact will be prepared before an EIR or negative declaration would otherwise be completed for the project; and (2) The EIS or finding of no significant impact complies with the provisions of these guidelines. (b) Because NEPA does not require separate discussion of mitigation measures or growth inducing impacts, these points of analysis will need to be added, supplemented, or identified before the EIS can be used as an EIR. (15222) PREPARATION OF JOINT DOCUMENTS. If the County finds that an EIS or finding of no significant impact for a project would not be prepared by the federal agency by the time when the County will need to consider an EIR or negative declaration, the County should try to prepare a combined EIR-EIS or negative declaration-finding of no significant impact. To avoid the need for the federal agency to prepare a separate document for the same project, the County must involve the federal agency in the preparation of the joint document. This involvement is necessary because federal law generally prohibits a federal agency from using an EIR prepared by a state agency unless the federal agency was involved in the preparation of the document. (15223) CONSULTATION WITH FEDERAL AGENCIES. When it plans to use an EIS or finding of no significant impact or to prepare such a document jointly with a federal agency, the County shall consult as soon as possible with the federal agency. (15224) TIME LIMITS. Where a project will be subject to both CEQA and the National Environ- mental Policy Act, the one year time limit and the 105 day time limit may be waived pursuant to Section 15110. (15225) CIRCULATION OF DOCUMENTS. Where the federal agency circulated the EIS or finding of no significant impact for public review as broadly as state or local law may require and gave notice meeting the standards in Section 15083(d) or 15085(d), the County under CEQA need not recirculate the federal document for public review. One review and comment period is enough. The County shall give notice that it will use the federal document in the place of an EIR or negative declaration and that it believes that the federal document meets the requirements of CEQA. The notice shall be given in the same manner as a notice of the public availability of a draft EIR under Section 15087. 63 (15226) JOINT ACTIVITIES. State -and local agencies should cooperate with federal agencies to the fullest extent possible to reduce duplication between the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Such cooperation should to the fullest extent possible, include: (a) Joint planning processes, (b) Joint environmental research and studies, (c) Joint public hearings, (d) Joint environmental documents. (15228) WHERE FEDERAL AGENCY WILL NOT COOPERATE. Where a federal agency will not cooperate in the preparation of joint document and will require separate NEPA compliance for the project at a later time, the County should persist in efforts to cooperate witn the federal agency. Because NEPA expressly allows federal agencies to use environmental documents prepared by an agency of statewide jurisdiction, the County should try to involve a state agency in helping prepare an EIR or negative declaration for the project. In this way there will be a greater chance that the federal agency may later use the CEQA document and not require the applicant to pay for preparation of a second document to meet NEPA requirements at a later time. 64 Article 15. Litigation (15230) TIME LIMITS AND CRITERIA. Litigation under CEQA must be handled" under the time limits and criteria described in Section 21167 et seq. of the Public Resources Code and Section 15112 of these Guidelines in addition to provisions in this article. (15231) ADEQUACY OF EIR OR NEGATIVE DECLARATION FOR USE BY RESPONSIBLE AGENCIES. A final EIR prepared by the County or a negative declaration adopted by the County shall be conclusively presumed to comply with CEQA for purposes of use by responsible agencies which were consulted pursuant to Sections 15072 or 15082 unless one of the following conditions occurs: (a) The EIR .or negative declaration is finally adjudged in a legal proceeding not to comply with the requirements of CEQA, or (b) A subsequent EIR is made necessary by Section 15162 of these guidelines. (15232) REQUEST FOR HEARING. In a writ of mandate proceeding challenging approval of a project under CEQA, the petitioner shall, within 90 days of filing the petition, request a hearing or otherwise be subject to dismissal on the court's own motion or on the motion of any party to the suit. (15233) CONDITIONAL PERMITS. If a lawsuit is filed challenging an EIR or negative declaration for noncompliance with CEQA, responsible agencies shall act as if the EIR or negative declaration complies with CEQA and continue to process the application for the project according to the time limits for responsible agency action contained in Government Code Section 65952. (a) If an injunction or a stay has been granted in the lawsuit prohibiting the project from being carried out, the responsible agency shall have authority only to disapprove the project•or to grant a conditional approval of the project. A conditional approval shall constitute permission to proceed with a project only when the court action results in a final determination that the EIR or negative declaration does comply with the provisions of CEQA (Public Resources Code Section 21167.3a). (b) If no injunction or stay is granted in the lawsuit, the responsible agency shall assume that the EIR or negative declaration fully meets the requirements of CEQA. The responsible agency shall approve or disapprove the project within the time limits described in Article 8, commencing with Section 15100, of these guidelines and described in Government Code Section 65962. An approval granted by a responsible agency in this situation provides only permission to proceed with the project at the applicant's risk prior to a final decision in the lawsuit (Public Resources Code Section 21167.3b). STANDING. No persons shall have standing to bring an action under CEQA to attack, review, set aside, void or annul an action of a public agency approving a project on grounds of noncompliance with CEQA unless that person presented the alleged grounds of noncompliance orally or in writing to the public agency unless there was no public meeting or other opportunity for the public to raise objections, or if the public agency failed to give the required public notice. 65 , Article 16. EIR Monitor (15240) EIR MONITOR. The Secretary for Resources will provide for publication of a bulletin entitled "California EIR Monitor" on a subscription basis to provide public notice of amendments to the guidelines, the completion of draft EIRs, and other matters as deemed appropriate. Inquiries and subscription requests should be sent to the following address: Secretary for Resources Attention: California EIR Monitor 1416 Ninth Street, Room 1311 Sacramento, California 95814 66 r Article 17. Exemption for Certified State Regulatory Programs (15250) GENERAL. Section 21080.5 of the Public Resources Code provides that a regulatory program of a state agency shall be certified by the Secretary for Resources as being exempt from the requirements for preparing EIRs, negative declarations, and initial studies if the Secretary finds that the program meets the criteria contained in that code section. A certified program remains subject to other provisions in CEQA such as the policy of avoiding significant adverse effects on the environment where feasible. This article provides information concerning certified programs. (15251) LIST OF CERTIFIED PROGRAMS. The following programs of state regulatory agencies have been certified by the Secretary for Resources as meeting the requirements of Section 21080.5: (a) The regulation of timber harvesting operations by the California Division of Forestry and the State Board of Forestry pursuant to Chapter 8, commencing with Section 4511 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code. (b) The regulatory program of the Fish and Game Commission pursuant to the Fish and Game Code. (c) The regulatory program of the California Coastal Commission and the regional coastal commissions dealing with the consideration and granting of coastal develop- ment permits under the California Coastal Act of 1976, Division 20 (commencing with Section 30000) of the Public Resources Code. (d) That portion of the regulatory program of the Air' Resources Board which involves the adoption, approval, amendment, or repeal of standards, rules, regulations, or plans to be used in the regulatory program for the protection and enhancement of ambient air quality in California. (e) The regulatory program of the State Board of Forestry in adopting, amending, or repealing standards, rules, regulations, or plans under the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act, Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4511) of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code. (f) The program of the California Coastal Commission involving the preparation, approval, and certification of local coastal programs as provided in Sections 30500 through 30522 of the Public Resources Code. (g) The Water Quality Control (Basin)/208 Planning Program of the State Water Resources Control Board and the Regional Water Quality Control Boards. (h) The permit and planning programs of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission under the McAteer-Petris Act, Title 7.2 (commencing with Section 66600) of the Government Code and the Suisun Marsh Preservation Act, Division 19 (commencing with Section 29000) of the Public Resources Code. 67 (i) The pesticide regulatory program administered by the Department of Food and Agriculture and County Agricultural Commissioners insofar as the program consists of: (1) The registration, evaluation, and classification of pesticides. (2) The adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations and standards for the licensing and regulation. of pesticide dealers and pest control operators and advisors. (3) The adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations for standards dealing with :h� monitoring of pesticides and of the human health and environmental effects of pesticides. (4) The regulation of the use of pesticides in agricultural and urban areas of the state through the permit system administered by the County Agricultural Commissioners. (j) The regulations of weather resources management projects through the issuance of operating permits by the State Department of Water Resources pursuant to the California Weather Resources Management Act of 1978 (Water Code Sections 400 et seq.). (k) The power plant site certification program of the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission under Chapter 6 of the Warren-Alquist Act, commencing with Public Resources Code Section 25500. (1) The regulatory program of the State Water Resources Control Board to establish instream beneficial use protection programs. (15252) SUBSTITUTE DOCUMENT. The document used as a substitute for an EIR or negative declaration in a certified program shall include at least the following items: (a) A description of the proposed activity, and (b) Either: (1) Alternatives to the activity and mitigation measures to avoid or reduce any significant or potentially significant effects that the project might have on the environment, or (2) A statement that the agency's review of the project showed that the project would not have any significant or potentially significant effects on the environ- ment and therefore no alternatives or mitigation measures are proposed to avoid or reduce any significant effects on the environment. This statement shall be supported by a checklist or other documentation to show the possible effects that the agency examined in reaching this conclusion. 68 (15253) USE OF AN EIR SUBSTITUTE BY A RESPONSIBLE AGENCY. (a) An environmental analysis document prepared for the project under a certified program listed in Section 15251 shall be used by another agency granting an approval for the same project where the conditions in subsection (b) have been met. In this situation, the certified agency shall act as lead agency, and the other permitting agencies shall act as responsible agencies using the certified agency's document. (b) The conditions under which a public agency shall act as a responsible agency when approving a project using an environmental analysis document prepared under a certified program in the place of an EIR or negative declaration are as follows: (1) The certified agency is the first agency to grant a discretionary approval for the project. (2) The certified agency consults with the responsible agencies with regard to the' following factors, but the consultation need not include the exchange of written notices. (3) The environmental analysis document identifies: (A) The significant environmental effects within the jurisdiction or special ex- pertise of the responsible agency. (B) Alternatives or mitigation measures that could avoid or reduce the severity of the significant environmental effects. (4) Where written notices were not exchanged in the consultation process, the responsible agency was afforded the opportunity to participate in the review of the property by the certified agency in a regular manner designed to inform the certified agency of the concerns of the responsible agency before release of the EIR substitute for public review. (5) The certified agency established a consultation period between the certified agency and the responsible agency that was at least as long as the period allowed for public review of the EIR substitute document. (6) The certified agency exercised the powers of a lead agency by considering all of teh significant environmental effects of the project and making a finding under Section 15091 for each significant effect. (c) Certified agencies are not required to adjust their activities to meet the criteria in subsection (b). Where a certified agency does not meet the criteria in subsection (b): (1) The substitute document prepared by the agency shall not be used by other permitting agencies in the place of an EIR or negative declaration, and (2) Any other agencies granting approvals for the project shall comply with CEQA in the normal manner. A permitting agency shall act as a lead agency and prepare an EIR or.a negative declaration. Other permitting agencies, if any, shall act as responsible agencies and use the EIR or negative declaration prepared by the lead agency. 69 Article 18. Statutory Exemptions (15260) GENERAL. This article describes exemptions from CEQA granted by the Legislature. The exemptions vary. Some exemptions are complete exemptions from CEQA. Other exemptions apply to only part of the requirements of CEQA, and still other exemptions apply only to the timing of CEQA compliance. (15261) ONGOING PROJECT. (a) If a project being carried out by the County was approved prior to November 23, 1970, the project shall be exempt from CEQA unless either of the following conditions exists: (1) A substantial portion of public funds allocated for the project have not been spent, and it is still feasible to modify the project to mitigate potentially adverse environmental effects, or to choose feasible alternatives to the project, including the alternative of "no project" or halting the project; provided that a project subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) shall be exempt from CEQA as an ongoing project if, under regulations promulgated under NEPA, the project would be too far advanced as of January 1, 1970, to require preparation of an EIS. (2) A public agency proposes to modify the project in such a way that the project might have a new significant effect on the environment. (b) A private project shall be exempt from CEQA if the project received approval of a lease, license, certificate, permit, or other entitlement for use from a public agency prior to April 5, 1973, subject to the following provisions: (1) CEQA does not prohibit the County from considering environmental factors in connection with the approval or disapproval of a project, or from imposing reasonable fees on the appropriate private person or entity for preparing an environmental report under authority other than CEQA. Local agencies may require environmental reports for projects covered by this paragraph pursuant to local ordances during this interim period. • (2) Where a project was approved prior to, December 5, 1972, and prior to that date the project was legally challanged for noncompliance with CEQA, the project shall be bound by special rules set forth in Section 21170 of CEQA. (3) Where a private project has been granted a discretionary governmental approval for part of the project before April 5, 1973, and another or additional dis- cretionary governmental approvals after April 5, 1973, the project shall be subject to CEQA only if the approval or approvals after April 5, 1973, involve a greater degree of'responsibility or control over the project as a whole than did the approval or approvals prior to that date. (15262) FEASIBILITY AND PLANNING STUDIES. A project involving only feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions which the agency, board, or commission has not 70 r approved, adopted, or funded does not require the preparation of an EIR or negative declaration but does require consideration of environmental factors. (15268) MINISTERIAL PROJECTS. rr (a) Ministerial projects are exempt from the requirements of CEQA in Contra Costa County the following actions are ministerial: (1) Issuance of building permits. (2) Issuance of business licenses. (3) Issuance of grading permits. (4) Approval of final subdivision maps. (5) Approval of individual utility service connections and disconnections. (b) Where a project involves an approval that contains elements of both a ministerial action and a discretionary action, the project will be deemed to be discretionary and will be subject to the requirements of CEQA. (15269) EMERGENCY- PROJECTS. The following emergency projects are exempt from the requirements of CEQA. (a) Projects to maintain, repair, restore, demolish, or replace property or facilities damaged or destroyed as a result of a disaster in a disaster stricken area in which a state of emergency has been proclaimed by the Governor pursuant to the California Emergency Services Act, commencing with Section 8550 of the Government Code. (b) Emergency repairs to public service facilities necessary to maintain service. (c) .Specific actions necessary to prevent or mitigate an emergency. (15270) PROJECTS WHICH ARE DISAPPROVED. (a) CEQA does not apply to projects which the County rejects or disapproves. (b) This section is intended to allow an initial screening of projects on the merits for quick disapprovals prior to the initiation of the CEQA process where the agency can determine that the project cannot be approved. (c) This section shall not relieve an applicant from paying the costs for an EIR or negative declaration prepared for his project prior to the lead agency's disapproval of the project after normal evaluation and processing. 71 (15271) EARLY ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THERMAL POWER PLANTS. (a) CEQA does not apply to actions undertaken by a public agency relating to any , thermal power plant site or facility, including the expenditure, obligati-n, or encumbrance of funds by a public agency for planning, engineering, or design purposes, or for the conditional sale or purchase of equipment, fuel, water (except groundwater), steam, or power for such a thermal power plant, if the thermal power plant site and related facility will be the subject of an EIR or negative declaration or other document or documents prepared pursuant to a regulatory program certified pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21080.5, which will be prepared by: (1) The State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, (2) The Public Utilities Commission, or (3) The city or county in which the power plant and related facility would be located. (b) The EIR, negative declaration, or other document prepared for the thermal power plant site or facility, shall include the environmental impact, if any, of the action described in this section. (c) This section acts to delay the timing of CEQA compliance from the early activities of a utility to the time when a regulatory agency is requested to approve the thermal power plant and shifts the responsibility for preparing the document to the regulatory agency. (15272) OLYMPIC GAMES. CEQA does not apply to activities or approvals necessary to the bidding for, hosting or staging of, and funding or carrying out of, Olympic Games under the authority of the International Olympic Committee, except for the construction of facilities necessary for such Olympic Games. If the facilities are required by the International Olympic Committee as a condition of being awarded the Olympic Games, the lead agency need not discuss the "no project" alternative in an EIR with respect to those facilities. (15273) RATES, TOLLS, FARES, AND CHARGES. (A) CEQA does not apply to the establishment, modification, structuring, restructuring, or approval of rates, tolls, fares, or other charges by the County which it finds are not for the purpose of: (1) Meeting operating expenses, including employee wage rates and fringe benefits, (2) Purchasing or leasing supplies, equipment, or materials, (3) Meeting financial reserve needs and requirements, (4) Obtaining funds necessary to maintain such intra-city transfers as are authorized by city charter. (b) Rate increases to fund capital projects for the expansion of a system remain subject to CEQA. The agency granting the rate increase shall act either as the lead agency 72 if no other agency has prepared environmental documents for the capital project or as a responsible agency if another agency has already complied with CEQA as the lead agency. r (c) The public agency shall incorporate written findings-.in the record of any proceeding in which an exemption under this section is claimed setting forth with specificity the basis for the claim of exemption. (15274) RESPONSES TO REVENUE SHORTFALLS. (a) CEQA does not apply to actions taken prior to January 1, 1987, by the County: (1) To implement the transition from the property taxation system in effect prior to June 1, 1978, to the system provided for by Article XIII A of the California Constitution (Proposition 13), or (2) To respond to a reduction in federal funds. (b) This exemption is limited .to projects directly undertaken by any public agency and to projects which are supported in whole or in part through contracts, grants, subsidies, loans, or other forms of assistance from one or more public agencies where the projects: (1) Initiate or increase fees, rates, or charges charged for any- existing public service, program, or activity; or . (2) Reduce or eliminate the availability of an existing public service program, or activity,'or (3) Close.publicly owned or operated facilities., or (4) Reduce or eliminate the availability of an existing publicly owned transit service, program, or activity. (15275) SPECIFIED MASS TRANSIT. PROJECTS. CEQA does not apply to the following mass transit projects: (a) The institution or increase of passenger or commuter service on rail lines or high- occupancy vehicle lanes already in use, including the modernization of existing stations and parking facilities. (b) Facility extensions not to exceed four miles in length which are required for transfer of passengers from or to exclusive public mass transit guideway or busway public transit services. 73 Article 19. Categorical Exemptions (15300) CATEGORICAL EXEMPTIONS. Section 21084 of the Public Resources Code requires these guidelines to include a list of classes of projects which have been determined not to have a significant effect on the environment and which shall, therefore, be exempt from the provisions of CEQA. In response to that mandate, the Secretary for Resources has found that the following classes of projects listed in this article do not have a significant effect on the environment, and they are declared to be categorically exempt from the requirement for the preparation of environmental documents. (15300.1)RELATION TO MINISTERIAL PROJECTS. Section 21080 of the Public Resources Code exempts from the application of CEQA those projects over which public agencies exercise only ministerial authority. Since ministerial projects are already exempt, categorical exemptions should be applied only where a project is not ministerial under a public agency's statutes and ordinances. The inclusion of activities which may be ministerial within the classes and examples contained in this article shall not be construed as a finding by the Secretary for Resources that such an activity is discretionary. (15300.2)EXCEPTIONS. (a) LOCATION. Classes 3, 4, 5, 6,'a nd 11 are qualified by consideration of where the project is to be located -- a project that is ordinarily insignificant in its impact on the environment may in a particularly sensitive environment .be significant. Therefore, these classes are considered to apply in all instances, except where the project may impact on an environmental resource of hazardous or critical concern where designated, precisely mapped, and officially adopted pursuant, to law by federal, state, or local agencies. (b) CUMULATIVE IMPACT. All exemptions for these classes are inapplicable when the cumulative impact of successive projects of the same type in the same place, over time is significant -- for example, annual additions to an existing building under Class 1. (c) SIGNIFICANT EFFECT. . A categorical exemption shall not be used for an activity where there is a reasonable possibility that the activity will have a significant effect on the environment due to unusual circumstances. (15300.3)REVISIONS TO LIST OF CATEGORICAL EXEMPTIONS. Any public agency may, at any time, request a new class of categorical exemptions be added, or an existing one amended or deleted. This request must be made in writing to the Office of Planning and Research and shall contain detailed information to support the request. The granting of such request shall be by amendment to these guidelines. (15301) EXISTING FACILITIES. Class 1 consists of the operation, repair, maintenance, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of use beyond that previously existing, including but not limited to: 74 (a) Interior or exterior alterations involving such things as interior partitions, plumbing, and electrical conveyances; r ' r (b) Existing facilities of both investor and publicly owned utilities_ used to provide electric power, natural gas, sewerage, or other public utility services; (c) Existing highways and streets, sidewalks, gutters, bicycle and pedestrian trails, and similar facilities except where the activity will involve removal of a scenic resource including a stand of trees, a rock outcropping, or an historic building; (d) Restoration or rehabilitation of deteriorated or damaged structures, facilities, or mechanical equipment to meet current standards of public health and safety, unless it is determined that the damage was substantial and resulted from an environmental hazard such as earthquake, landslide, or flood; (e) Additions to existing structures provided that the addition will not result in -an increase of more than: (1) 50 percent of the floor area of the structures before the addition or 2,500 square feet, whichever is less; or (2) 10,000 square feet if: (A) The project is in an area where all public services and facilities are available to allow for maximum development permissible in the General Plan, and (B) The area in which the project is located is not environmentally sensitive; (f) Addition of safety or health protection devices for use during construction of or in conjunction with existing structures, facilities, or mechanical equipment, or topo- graphical features including navigational devices; (g) New copy on existing on and off-premise signs; (h) Maintenance of existing landscaping, native growth, and water supply reservoirs (excluding the use of economic poisons, as defined in Divison 7, Chapter 2, California Agricultural Code); (i) Maintenance of fish screens, fish ladders, wildlife habitat areas, artificial wildlife waterway devices, streamflows, springs and waterholes, and stream channels (clearing of debris) to protect fish and wildlife resources; (j) Division of existing multiple family rental units into condominiums; (k) Demolition and removal of individual small structures listed in this subsection except where the structures are of historical, archaeological, or architectural significance: 75 (1) Single family residences not in conjunction with the demolition of two or more units. In urbanized areas, up to three single family residences may be demolished under this exemption. ` (2) Apartments, and similar structures, with no duplexes more than four dwelling units if not in conjunction with the demolition of two or more such structures. In urbanized areas, this exemption applies to single apartments, duplexes, and similar structures designed for not more than six dwelling units if not demolished in conjunction with the demolition of two or more such structures. (3) Stores, motels, offices, and restaurants and similar small commercial structures if designed for an occupant load of 30 persons or less, if not in conjunction with the demolition of two or more such structures. In urbanized areas, the exemption also applies to commercial buildings on sites zoned for such use, if designed for an occupant load of 30 persons or less if not demolished in conjunction with the demolition of four or more such structures. (4) Accessory (appurtenant) structures including garages, carports, patios, swimming pools, and fences. (1) Minor repairs and alterations to existing dams and appurtenant structures under the supervision of the Department of Water Resources; (m) Conversion of a single family residence to office use; (n) The conversion of existing commercial units in one structure from single to condo- minium type ownership. (15302) REPLACEMENT- OR RECONSTRUCTION. Class 2- consists of replacement or recon- struction of existing structures and facilities where the new structure will be located on the same site as the structure replaced and will have substantially the same purpose and capacity as the structure replaced, including but not limited to: (a) Replacement or reconstruction of existing schools and hospitals to provide earth- quake resistant structures which do not increase capacity more than 50 percent; (b) Replacement of a commercial structure with a new structure of substantially the same size, purpose, and capacity; (c) Replacement or reconstruction of existing utility systems and/or facilities involving negligible or no expansion of capacity; (d) Conversion of overhead electric utility distribution system facilities to underground including connection to existing overhead electric utility distribution lines where the surface is restored to the condition existing prior to the undergrounding. (15303) NEW CONSTRUCTION OR CONVERSION'OF SMALL STRUCTURES. Class 3 consists of construction and location of limited numbers of new, small facilities or structures; installation of small new equipment and facilities in small structures; and the conversion of existing small structures from one use to another where only minor modifications are 76 made in the exterior of the structure. The number of structures described in this section are the maximum allowable on any legal parcel or to be associated with a project within a two year period. Examples of this exemption include but are not limited to: (a) Single-family residences not in conjunction with the building of two or more such units. In urbanized areas, up to three single-family residences may be constructed or converted under this exemption. (b) Apartments, duplexes, and similar structures, with no more than four dwelling units if not in conjunction with the building or conversion of two or more such structures. In urbanized areas exemption applies to single apartments, duplexes and similar structures designed for not more than six dwelling units if not constructed in conjunction with the building or conversion of two or more such structures. (c) Stores, motels, offices, restaurants, and similar small commercial structures not involving the use of significant amounts of hazardous substances, if designed for an occupant load of 30 persons or less, if not constructed in conjunction with the building of two or more such structures. In, urbanized areas, the exemption also applies to commercial buildings on sites zoned for such use, if designed for an occupant load of 30 persons or less of not constructed in conjunction with the building of four or more such structures and if not involving the use of significant amounts of hazardous substances. (d) Water main, sewage, electrical, gas,and other utility extensions of reasonable length to serve such construction. (e) Accessory (appurtenant) structures including garages, carports, patios, swimming pools, and fences. (15304) MINOR ALTERATIONS TO LAND. Class 4 consists of minor public or private alterations �in the condition of land, water, and/or vegetation which do not involve removal of mature, scenic trees except for forestry and agricultural purposes. Examples include but are not limited to: (a) Grading on land with a slope of less than 10 percent, except that grading shall not be exempt in a waterway; in.any wetland, in an officially designated (by federal, state or 10 local government action) scenic area, or in officially mapped areas of severe geologic hazard. (b) New gardening or landscaping. (c) Filling of earth into previously excavated land with material compatible with the natural features of the site. (d) Minor alterations in land, water, and vegetation on existing officially designated wildlife management areas or fish production facilities which result in improvernent of habitat for fish and wildlife resources or greater.fish production. (e) Minor temporary use of land having negligible or no permanent effects on the environment, including carnivals, sales of Christmas trees, etc. 77 W Minor trenching and backfilling where the surface is restored. (g) Maintenance dredging where the soil is deposited in a spoil area authorized by all applicable state and federal regulatory agencies. (h) The creation of bicycle lanes on existing rights-of-way. (15305) MINOR ALTERATIONS IN LAND USE LIMITATIONS. Class 5 consists of minor alterations in land use limitations in areas with an average slope of less than 20%, which do not result in any changes in land use or density, including but not limited to: (a) Minor lot line adjustments, side yard, and set back variances not resulting in the creation of any new parcel; (b) Issuance of minor encroachment permits; (c) Reversion to acreage in accordance with the Subdivision Map Act. (15306) INFORMATION COLLECTION. Class 6 consists of basic data collection, research, experimental management, and resource evaluation activities which do not result in a serious or major disturbance to an environmental resource. These may be strictly for information gathering purposes, or as part of a study leading to an action which a public agency has not yet approved, adopted, or funded. (15307) ACTIONS BY REGULATORY AGENCIES FOR PROTECTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. Class 7 consists of actions taken by regulatory agencies as authorized by state law or local ordinance to assure the.maintenance, restoration, or enhancement of a natural resource where the regulatory process involves procedures for protection of the environment. Examples include but are not limited to wildlife preservation activities of the State Department of Fish and Game. Construction activities are not included in this exemption. (15308) ACTIONS BY REGULATORY AGENCIES FOR PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT. Class 8 consists of actions taken by regulatory agencies, as authorized by state or local ordinance, to assure the maintenance, restoration, enhancement, or protection of the environment where the regulatory process involves procedures for protection of the environment. Construction activities and relaxation of standards allowing environmental degradation are not included in this exemption. It (15309) INSPECTIONS. Class 9 consists of activities limited entirely to inspection, to check for performance of an operation, or quality, health, or safety of a project, including related activities such as inspection for possible mislabeling, misrepresentation, or adulteration of products. (15310) LOANS. Class 10 consists of loans made by the Department of Veterans Affairs under the Veterans Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1943, mortgages for the purchase of existing structures where the loan will not be used for new construction and the purchase of such mortgages by financial institutions. •Class 10 includes but is not limited to the following examples: 78 r r. (a) Loans made by the Department of Veterans Affairs under the Veterans Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1943. (b) Purchases of mortgages from banks and mortgage companies by the Public Employees Retirement System and by the State Teachers Retirement System. - (15311) ACCESSORY STRUCTURES. Class 11 consists of construction, or placement of minor structures accessory to (appurtenant to) existing commercial, industrial, or institutional facilities, including but not limited to: (a) On-premise signs; (b) Small parking lots; (c) Placement of seasonal or temporary use items such as lifeguard towers, mobile food units, portable restrooms, or similar items in generally the same locations from time to time in publicly owned parks, stadiums, or other facilities designed for public use. (15312) SURPLUS GOVERNMENT PROPERTY SALES. Class 12 consists of sales of surplus government property except for parcels of land located in an area of statewide, regional, or areawide concern identified in Section 15207(b)(4). However, even if the surplus property to be sold is located in any of those areas, its sale is exempt if: (a) The property does not have significant values for wildlife habitat or other environ- mental purposes, and (b) Any of the following conditions exist: (1) The property is of such size, shape or inaccessibility that it is incapable of independent development or use; or (2) . The property to be sold would qualify for an exemption under any other class of categorical exemption in these guidelines; or (3) The use of the property and adjacent property has not changed since the time of purchase by the public agency. (15313) ACQUISITION OF LANDS FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION PURPOSES. Class 13 consists of the acquisition of lands for fish and wildlife conservation purposes including preservation of fish and wildlife habitat, establishing ecological reserves under Fish and Game Code Section 1580, and preserving access to public lands and waters where the purpose of the acquisition is to preserve the land in its natural condition. (15314) MINOR ADDITION TO SCHOOLS. Class 14 consists of minor additions to existing schools within existing school grounds where the addition does not increase original student capacity by more than 25% or ten classrooms, whichever is less. The addition of portable classrooms is included in this exemption. (15315) MINOR LAND DIVISIONS. Class 15 consists of the division of property in urbanized areas zoned for residential, commercial, or industrial use into four or fewer parcels when the 79 division is in conformance with the general plan and zoning, no variances or exceptions are required, all services and access to the proposed parcels to local standards are available, the parcel was not involved in a division of a larger parcel within the previous 2 years, and the parcel does not have an average slope greater than 20 percent. (15316) TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OF LAND IN ORDER TO CREATE PARKS. Class 16 consists of the acquisition or sale of land in order to establish a park where the land is in a natural condition or contains historic sites or archaeological sites and either: (a) The management plan for the park has not been prepared, or (b) The management plan proposes to keep the area in a natural condition or preserve the historic or archaeological site. CEQA will apply when a management plan is proposed that will change the area from its natural condition or significantly change the historic or archaeological site. (15317) OPEN SPACE CONTRACTS OR EASEMENTS. Class 17 consists of the establishment of agricultural preserves, the making and renewing of open space contracts under the Williamson Act, or the acceptance of easement or fee interests in order to maintain the open space character of the area. The cancellation of such preserves, contracts, interests, or easements is not included and will normally be an action subject to the CEQA process. (15318) DESIGNATION OF WILDERNESS AREAS. Class 18 consists of the designation of wilderness areas under the California Wilderness System. (15319) ANNEXATIONS OF EXISTING FACILITIES AND LOTS FOR EXEMPT FACILITIES. Class 19 consists of only the following annexations: (a) Annexations to a city or special district of areas containing existing public or private structures developed to the density allowed by the current zoning or pre-zoning of either the gaining or losing governmental agency whichever is more restrictive, provided, however, that the extension of utility services to the existing facilities would have a capacity to serve only the existing facilities. (b) Annexations of individual small parcels of the minimum size for facilities exempted by Section 15103, New Construction or Conversion of Small Structures. (15320) CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL AGENCIES. Class 20 consists of changes in the organization or reorganization of local governmental agencies where the changes do not change the geographical area in which previously existing powers are exercised. Examples include but are not limited to: (a) Establishment of a subsidiary district. (b) Consolidation of two or more districts having identical powers. (c) Merge with a city of a district lying entirely within the boundaries of the .city. 80 (15321) ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS BY REGULATORY AGENCIES. Class 21 consists of: . r r (a) Actions by regulatory ' agencies to enforce or revoke a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use issued, adopted, or prescribed by the regulatory agency or enforcement of a law, general rule, standard, or objective, administered or adopted by the regulatory agency. Such actions include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) . The direct referral of a violation of lease, permit, license, certificate, or entitlement for use or of a general rule, standard, or objective to the Attorney General, District Attorney, or City Attorney as appropriate, for judicial enforce- ment. (2) The adoption of an administrative decision or order enforcing or revoking the lease, permit, license, certificate, or entitlement for use or enforcing the general rule, standard, or objective. (b) Law enforcement activities by peace officers acting under any law that provides a criminal sanction. (c) Construction activities undertaken by the public agency taking the enforcement or revocation action are not included in this exemption. (15322) EDUCATIONAL OR TRAINING PROGRAMS INVOLVING NO PHYSICAL CHANGES. Class 22 consists of the adoption, alteration, or termination of educational or training programs which involve no physical alteration in the area affected or which involve physical changes only in the interior of existing school or training structures. Examples include but are not limited to: (a) Development of or changes in curriculum or training methods. (b) Changes in the grade structure in a school which do not result in changes in student transportation. (15323) NORMAL OPERATIONS OF FACILITIES FOR PUBLIC GATHERINGS. Class 23 consists of the normal operations of existing facilities for public gatherings for which the facilities were designed, where there is a history of the facility being used for the same or similar kind of purpose. For the purposes of this section, "history" shall mean that the same or similar kind of activity has been occurring for at least three years and that there is a reasonable expectation that the future occurrence of the activity would not represent a change in the operation of the facility. Facilities included within this exemption include, but are not limited to, racetracks, stadiums, convention centers, auditoriums, amphi- theaters, planetariums, swimming pools, and amusement parks. (15324) REGULATIONS OF WORKING CONDITIONS. Class 24 consists of actions taken by regulatory agencies, including the Industrial Welfare Commission as authorized by statute, to regulate any of the following: (a) Employee wages, (b) Hours of work, or 81 (c) Working conditions where there will be no demonstrable physical changes outside the place of work. (15325) TRANSFERS OF OWNERSHIP OF INTEREST IN LAND TO PRESERVE OPEN SPACE. Class 25 consists of the transfers of ownership of interests in land in order to preserve open space. Examples include but are not limited to: (a) Acquisition of areas to preserve the existing natural conditions, (b) Acquisition of areas to allow continued agricultural use of the areas, (c) Acquisition to allow restoration of natural conditions, (d) Acquisition to prevent encroachment of development into flood plains. (15326) ACQUISITION OF HOUSING FOR HOUSING ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS. Class 26 consists of actions by a redevelopment agency, housing authority, or other public agency to implement an adopted housing assistance plan by acquiring an interest in housing units. The housing units may be either in existence possessing all required permits for construction when the agency makes its final decision to acquire the units. (15327) LEASING NEW FACILITIES. (a) Class 27 consists of the leasing of a newly constructed or previously unoccupied privately owned facility by a local or state agency where the local governing authority determined that the building was exempt from CEQA. To be exempt under this section, the proposed use of the facility: (1) Shall be in conformance with existing state plans and policies and with general, community, and specific plans for which an EIR or negative declaration has been prepared, (2) Shall be substantially the same as that originally proposed at the time the building permit was issued, (3) Shall not result in a traffic increase of greater than 10% of front access road capacity, and (4) Shall include the provision of adequate employee and visitor parking facilities. (b) Examples of Class 27 include, but are not limited to: (1) Leasing of administrative offices in newly constructed office space. (2) Leasing of client service offices in newly constricted retail space. (3) Leasing of administrative and/or client service offices in newly constructed industrial parks. 82 (15328) SMALL HYDROELECTRIC PROJECTS AT EXISTING FACILITIES. Class 28 consists of the installation of hydroelectric generating facilities in connection with existing dams, canals, and pipelines where: (a) The capacity of the generating facilities is 5 megawatts or less, (b) Operation of the generating facilities will not change the flow regime in the affected stream, canal, or pipeline including but not limited to: (1) Rate and volume of flow, (2) Temperature, (3) Amounts of dissolved oxygen to a degree that could adversely affect aquatic life, and (4) Timing of release. (c) New power lines to connect the generating facilities to existing power lines will not exceed one mile in length if located on a new right of way and will not be located adjacent to a wild or scenic river. (d) Repair or reconstruction of the diversion structure will not raise the normal maximum surface elevation of the impoundment. (e) There will be no significant upstream or downstream passage of fish affected by the project. (f) The discharge from the power house will not be located more than 300 feet from the toe of the diversion structure. (g) The project will not cause violations of applicable state or federal water quality standards. (h) The project will not entail any construction on or alteration of a site included in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, and (i) Construction will not occur in the vicinity of any rare or endangered species. (15329) COGENERATION PROJECTS AT EXISTING FACILITIES. Class 29 consists of the installa- tion of cogeneration equipment with a capacity of 50 megawatts or less at existing facilities meeting the conditions described in this section. (a) At existing industrial facilities, the installation of cogeneration facilities will be exempt where it will: (1) Result in no net increases in air emissions from the industrial facility, or will produce emissions lower than the amount that would require review under the new source review rules applicable in the County, and 83 (2) Comply with all applicable state, federal, and local air quality laws. (b) At commercial and industrial facilities, the installation of cogeneration facilities will be exempt if the installation will: (1) Meet all the criteria described in subsection (a), (2) Result in no noticeable increase in noise to nearby residential structures, and (3) Be contiguous to other commercial or institutional structures. REGIONAL HOUSING DETERMINATIONS. Class 30 consists of regional housing determinations by the State Department of Housing and Community Development, councils of government and local governments. PIPELINE PROJECTS. Class 31 consists of the installation of a new pipeline or the repair, maintenance, replacement or demolition of an existing pipeline in a public right- of-way if the project is less than one mile in length. STREET RESTRIPING. Class 32 consists of the restriping of streets to relieve traffic congestion. SCHOOL CLOSINGS. Class 33 consists of the closing of any public school in which kindergarten or any of grades 1 through 12 is maintained. 84 Lo • r Article 20. Definitions (15350) GENERAL. The definitions contained in this article.apply to terms used throughout the guidelines unless a term is otherwise defined in a particular section. (15351) APPLICANT. "Applicant" means a person who proposes to. carry out a project which needs a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use or financial assistance from one or more public agencies when that person applies for the govern- mental approval or assistance. (15352) APPROVAL. (a) "Approval' means the decision by a public agency which commits the agency to a definite course of action in regard to a project intended to be carried out by any person. The exact date of approval of any project is. a matter determined by each . public agency according to its rules, regulations, and ordinances. Legislative action in regard to a project_often constitutes approval. (b) With private projects, approval occurs upon the earliest commitment to issue or the issuance by the public agency of a discretionary contract, grant, subsidy, loan, or other form of financial assistance, lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use of the project. (15353) CEQA. "CEQA" means the California Environmental Quality Act, California Public Resources Code Sections 21000 et seq. (15354) CATEGORICAL EXEMPTION. "Categorical exemption" means an exemption from CEQA for a class of projects based on a finding by the Secretary for Resources that the class of projects does not have asignificant effect on the environment. (15355) CUMULATIVE IMPACTS. "Cumulative impacts" refer to two or more individual effects which, when considered together, are considerable or which compound or increase other environmental impacts. (a) The individual effects may be changes resulting from a single project or a number of separate projects. (b) The cumulative impact from several projects is the change in the environment which results from the incremental impact of the .project when added to other closely related past, present, and reasonably foreseeable, probable future projects. Cumulative impacts can result from individually minor but collectively significant projects taking place over a period of time. (15356) DECISION-MAKING BODY. "Decision making body" means any person or group of people within a public agency permitted by law to approve or disapprove the project at issue. (15357) DISCRETIONARY PROJECT. "Discretionary project" means a project which requires the . exercise of judgment or deliberation when the public agency or body decides to approve or disapprove a particular activity, as distinguished from situations-where the public agency 85 or body merely has to determine whether there has been conformity with application statutes, ordinances, or regulations. A timber harvesting plan submitted to the State , Forester for approval under the requirements of the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 (Pub. Res. Code Sections 4511 et seq.) constitutes a discretionary project within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act. Section 21065(c). (15358) EFFECTS.- "Effects" and "impacts" as used in these guidelines are synonymous. (a) Effects include: (1) Direct or primary effects which are caused by the project and occur at the same time and place. (2) Indirect or secondary effects which are caused by the project and are later in time or farther removed in distance, but are still reasonably foreseeable. Indirect or secondary effects may include growth-inducing effects and other effects related to induced changes in the pattern of land use, population density, or growth rate, and related effects on air and water and other natural systems. including ecosystems. (b) Effects analyzed under CEQA must be related to a physical-change. (15359) EMERGENCY. "Emergency" means a sudden, unexpected occurrence, involving a clear and imminent danger, demanding immediate action to prevent or mitigate loss of, or damage to life, health, property, or essential public services. Emergency includes such occurrences as fire, flood, earthquake, or other soil or geologic movements, as well as such occurrences as riot, accident, or sabotage. The "environment" includes both natural and man-made conditions. (15360) ENVIRONMENT. "Environment" means the physical conditions which exist within the area which will be affected by a proposed project including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, ambient noise, and objects of historic or aesthetic significance. The area involved shall be the area in which significant effects would occur either directly or indirectly as a result of the project. The "environment" includes both natural and man-made conditions. (15361) ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTS. "Environmental documents" means initial studies, negative declarations, draft and final EIRs, and documents prepared as substitutes for EIRs and negative declarations under a program certified pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21080.5, and documents prepared under NEBA and used by a state or local agency in the place of an initial study, negative declaration, or an EIR. (15362) EIR - ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT. "EIR" or "environmental impact report" means a detailed statement prepared under CEQA describing and analyzing the significant environmental effects of a project and discussing ways to mitigate or avoid the effects. The contents of an EIR are discussed in Article 9, 'commencing with Section 15120 of these guidelines. The term "EIR" may mean either a draft or a final EIR depending on the context. 86 (a) Draft EIR means and EIR, containing the information specified in Sections 15122 through 15131. , (b) Final EIR means an EIR containing the information contained in the draft EIR, comments either verbatim or in summary received in the review process, a list of persons commenting, and the response of the lead agency to the comments received. The final EIR is discussed in detail in Section 15132. (15363) EIS - ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT. "EIS" or "environmental impact statement" means an environmental impact document prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA uses the term EIS in the place of the term EIR which is used in CEQA. (15364) FEASIBLE. "Feasible" means capable of being accomplished in a successful manner within a reasonable period .of time, taking into account economic, environmental, social, and technological factors. (15365) INITIAL STUDY. "Initial study" means a preliminary analysis prepared by the lead agency to determine whether an EIR or a negative declaration must be prepared or to identify the significant environmental effects to be analyzed in an EIR. Use of the initial study is discussed in Article 5, commencing with Section 15060. (15366) JURISDICTION BY LAW. (a) "Jurisdiction by law" means the authority of any public agency: (1) to grant a permit or other entitlement for use, (2) to provide funding for the project in question, or (3) to exercise authority over resources which may be affected by the project. .(b) A city or county will have jurisdiction by law with respect to a project when the city or county having primary jurisdiction over the area involved is: (1) the site of the project; (2) the area in which the major environmental effects will occur; and/or (3) the area in which reside those citizens most directly concerned by any such environmental effects. (c) Where an agency having jurisdiction by law must exercise discretionary authority over a project in order for the project to proceed, it is also a responsible agency, see Section 15380, or the lead agency, see Section 15366. (15367) LEAD AGENCY. "Lead agency" means the public agency which has the principal responsibility for carrying out or approving a project. The lead agency will decide whether an EIR or negative declaration will be required for the project.and will cause the document to be prepared. Criteria for determining which agency will be the lead agency for a project are contained in Section 15051. (15368) LOCAL AGENCY. "Local agency" means any public agency other than a state agency, board, or commission. Local agency includes but is not limited to cities, counties, charter 87 cities and counties, districts, school districts, special districts, redevelopment agencies, local agency formation commissions, and any board, commission, or organizational sut- division of a local agency when so designated by order or resolution of the governing legislative body of the local agency. (15369) MINISTERIAL. "Ministerial" describes a governmental decision involving little or no personal judgment by the public official as to the wisdom or manner of carrying out the project. The public official merely applies the law to the facts as presented but uses no special discretion or judgment in reaching a decision. A ministerial decision involves only the use of fixed standards or objective measurements, and the public official cannot use his personal, subjective judgment in deciding whether or how the project should be carried out. Common examples of ministerial permits include automobile registrations, dog licenses, and marriage licenses. A building permit is ministerial if the ordinance requiring the permit limits the public official to determining whether the zoning allows the structure to be built in the requested location, the structure would meet the strength requirements in the Uniform Building Code, and the applicant has paid his fee. (15370) MITIGATION. "Mitigation" includes: (a) Avoiding the impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action. (b) Minimizing impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation. (c) Rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the impacted environ- ment. (d) Reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action. (e) Compensating for the impact by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments. (15371) NEGATIVE DECLARATION. "Negative declaration" means a written statement by the lead agency briefly describing the reasons that a proposed project, not exempt from CEQA, will not have a significant effect on the environment and therefore does not require the preparation of an EIR. The contents of a negative declaration are described in Section 15071. (15372) NOTICE OF COMPLETION. "Notice of completion" means a brief notice filed with the Secretary for Resources by a lead agency as soon as it has completed a draft EIR and is prepared to send out copies for review. The contents of this notice are explained in Section 15085. (15373) NOTICE OF DETERMINATION. "Notice of determination" means a brief notice to -be filed by a public agency after it approves or determines to carry out a project which is subject to the requirements of CEQA. The contents of this notice are explained in Section 15075 and 15094. 88 (15374) NOTICE OF EXEMPTION. "Notice of exemption" means a brief notice which may be filed by a public agency after it has decided to carry out or approve a project and has , determined -that the project is exempt from CEQA as being ministerial, categorically exempt, or an emergency, or subject to another exemption from CEQA. Such a notice may also be filed by an applicant where such a determination has been made by a public agency. which must approve the project. The contents of this notice are explained in Section 15262. (15375) NOTICE OF PREPARATION. "Notice of preparation" means a brief notice sent by a lead agency to notify the responsible agencies, trustee agencies and involved federal agencies that the lead agency plans to prepare an EIR for the project. The purpose of the notice is to solicit guidance from those agencies as to the scope and content of the environmental information to be included in the EIR. Public agencies.are free to develop their own formats for this notice. The contents of this notice are described in Section 15082. (15376) PERSON. "Person" includes any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business, trust, corporation, company, district, county, city and county, town, the state, and any of the agencies' political subdivisions of such entities. (15377) PRIVATE PROJECT. A "private project" means a project which will be carried out by a person other, than a governmental agency, but the project will need a discretionary approval from one or more governmental agencies for: (a) A contract or financial assistance, or (b) A lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use. (15378) PROJECT. (a) "Project" means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in a physical change in the environment, directly or ultimately, that is any of the following:. (1) An activity directly undertaken by any public agency including but not limited to public works construction and related activities, clearing or grading of land, improvements to existing public structures, enactment and amendment of zoning ordinances, and the adoption and amendment of local General Plans or elements thereof pursuant to Government Code Sections 65100-65700. (2) An activity undertaken by a person which is supported in whole or in part through public agency contracts, grants, subsidies, loans, or other forms of assistance from one or more public agencies. (3) An activity involving the issuance to a person of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use by one or more public agencies. (b) .Project does not include: (1) Anything specifically exempted by state law. 89 (2) Proposals for legislation to be enacted by the State Legislature. (3) Continuing administrative or maintenance activities, such as purchases for supplies, personnel-related actions, emergency repairs to public service facilities, general policy and procedure making (except as they are applied to specific instances covered above). (4) The submittal of proposals to a vote of the people of the State or of a particular community. (5) The closing of a public school and the transfer of students to another school where the only physical changes involved are categorically exempt. (c) The term "project" refers to the activity which is being approved and which may be subject to several discretionary approvals by governmental agencies. The term "project" does not mean each separate governmental approval. (d) Where the lead agency could describe the project as either the adoption of a particular regulation under subsection (a)(1) or as a development proposal which will be subject to several governmental approvals under subsections (a)(2) or (a)(3), the lead agency shall describe the project as the development proposal for the purpose of environmental analysis. This approach will implement the lead agency principle as described in Article 4. (15379) PUBLIC AGENCY. "Public agency" includes any state agency, board, or commission and any local or regional agency, as defined in these gudelines. It does not include the courts of the State. This term does not include agencies of the federal government. (15380) RARE OR ENDANGERED SPECIES. (a) "Species" as used in this section means a species or subspecies of animal or plant or a variety of plant. (b) A species of animal or plant is: (1) "Endangered" when its survival and reproduction in the wild are in-immediate jeopardy from one or more causes, including loss of habitat, change in habitat, overexploitation, predation, competition, disease, or other factors; or (2) "Rare" when either: (A) Although not presently threatened with extinction, the species is existing in such small numbers throughout all or a significant portion of its range that it may become endangered.if its environment worsens; or (B) The species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range and may be considered "threatened" as that term is used in the Federal Endangered Species Act. 90 A ' (c) A species of animal or plant shall be presumed to be rare or endangered as it is listed in: (1) Sections 670.2 or 670.5, Title 14, California Administrative Code; or (2) Title 50, Code of Federal Regulations Sections 17.11 or 17.12 pursuant to the Federal Endangered Species Act as rare, threatened, or endangered. (d) A species not included in any listing identified in subsection (c) shall nevertheless be considered to be rare or endangered if the species can be shown to meet the criteria in subsection (b). (e) This definition shall not include any species of the Class Insecta which is a pest whose protection under the provisions of CEQA would present an overwhelming and overriding risk to man as determined by: (1) The Director of Food and Agriculture with regard to economic pests; or. (2) The Director of Health Services with regard to health risk. (15381) RESPONSIBLE AGENCY. "Responsible agency" means a public agency which proposes to carry out or approve a project, for which a lead agency has prepared an EIR or negative declaration. For the purposes of CEQA, the term "responsible agency" includes all public agencies other than the lead agency which have discretionary approval power over the project. (15382) SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THE ENVIRONMENT. "Significant effect on the environment" means a substantial, or potentially substantial, adverse change in any of the physical conditions within the area affected by the project including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, ambient noise, and objects of historic or aesthetic significance. An economic or social change by itself shall not be considered a significant effect on the -environment. A social or economic change related to a physical change may be considered in determining whether the physical change is significant. (15383) STATE AGENCY. "State agency" means a governmental agency in the executive branch of the State Government or an entity which operates under the direction and control of an agency in the executive branch of State Government and is funded primarily by the State • Treasury. (15384) SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. (a) "Substantial evidence" as used in these guidelines means enough relevant information and reasonable inferences from this information that a fair argument can be made to support a conclusion, even through other conclusions might also be reached. Whether a fair argument can be made is to be determined by examining the entire record. Mere uncorrobated opinion or rumor does not constitute substantial evidence. (b) This definition is intended to be informative and does not constitute a change in, but is merely reflective of, existing law. 91 (15385) TIERING. "Tiering" refers to the coverage of general matters in broader EIRs (such as on general plans or policy statements) with subsequent narrower EIRs or ultimately site- specific EIRs incorporating by reference the general discussions and concentrating solely on the issues specific to the EIR subsequently prepared. Tiering is appropriate when the sequence of EIRs is: (a) From a general plan, policy, or program EIR to a program, plan, or policy EIR of lesser scope or to a site-specific EIR. (b) From an EIR on a specific action at an early stage to a subsequent EIR or a supplement to an EIR at a later stage. Tiering in such cases is appropriate when it helps the lead agency to focus on the issues which are ripe for decision and exclude from consideration issues already decided or not yet ripe. (15386) TRUSTEE AGENCY. "Trustee agency" means a state agency having jurisdiction by law over natural resources affected by a project which are held in trust for the people of the State of California.. Trustee agencies include: (a) The California Department of Fish and Game with regard to the fish and wildlif of the state to designated rare or endangered native plants, and to game refuses, ecological reserves, and other areas administered by the department. (b) The State Lands Commission with regard to state owned "sovereign" lands such as the beds of navigable waters and state school lands. (c) The State Department of Parks and Recreation with regard to units of the State Park System. (d) The University of California with regard to sites within the Natural Land and Water Reserve System. (15387) URBANIZED AREA. "Urbanized area" means a central city or a group of contiguous cities with a population of 50,000 or more, together with adjacent densely populated areas having a population density of at least 1,000 persons per square mile. A lead agency shall determine whether a particular area meets the criteria in this section either by examining the area or by referring to a map prepared by the U. S. Bureau of the Census which designates the area as urbanized. Maps of the designated urbanized areas can be found in • the California EIR monitor of February 7, 1979. The maps are also for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 20402. The maps are sold in sets only as Stock Number 0301-3466. Use of the term "urbanized area" in Section 15182 is limited to areas mapped and designated as urbanized by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. 92 Appendix K of the State Guidelines concerning archaeological impacts is reproduced here in its entirety. I. CEQA applies to effects on historic.and prehistoric archaeological resources. II. Public agencies should seek to avoid damaging effects on an archaeological resource whenever feasible. If avoidance is not feasible, the importance of the site shall be evaluated using the criteria outlined in Section III. A. In-situ preservation of a site is the preferred manner of avoiding damage to archaeo- logical resources. Preserving the site is more important than preserving the artifacts. alone because the relationship of the artifacts to each other in the site provides valuable information that. can be lost when the artifacts are removed. Further, preserving the site keeps it available.for more sophisticated future research methods. Preservation may also avoid conflict with religious or cultural values of groups associated with the site. B. Avoiding damage may be accomplished by many approaches, including: 1. Planning construction to miss archaeological site; 2. Planning parks, greenspace, or other open space to incorporate archaeological sites; 3. "Capping" or covering archeological site with a layer of soil before building tennis courts, parking lots, or similar facilities. Capping may be used where: a. The soils to be covered will not suffer serious compaction; b. The covering materials are not chemically active; C. The site is one in which the natural processes of deterioration have been effectively arrested; and d. ' The site has been recorded. 4. Deeding archaeological sites into permanent conservation easements. III. If the lead agency determines that a project may affect an archaeological resource, the agency shall determine ,whether the effect may be a significant effect on the environment. If the project may cause damage to an important archaeological resource, the project may have a signifiant effect on the environment. For the purposes of CEQA, an "important archaeological resource" is one which: A. Is associated with an event or person of: 1. Recognized significance in California or American history or 2. Recognized scientific importance in prehistory. 93 B. Can provide information which is both of demonstrable public interest and useful in addressing scientifically consequential and reasonable archaeological research questions, C. Has a special or particular quality such as oldest, best example, largest, or last surviving example of its kind, D. Is at least 100 years old and possesses substantial stratigraphic integrity, or E. Involves important research questions that historical research has- shown. tan be _ answered only with archaeological methods. IV. If an archaeological resource is not an important archaeological resource, both the resource and the effect on it shall be noted in the initial study or EIR but need not be considered . further in the CEQA process. V. If avoidance of the important archaeological resource is not feasible, the lead agency should include an excavation plan for mitigating the effect of the project on the qualities which make the resource important under Section III. A. If an excavation plan is prepared, it shall: 1. Be a brief summary of the excavation proposed as part of a mitigation plan; 2. Be available for review only on a need-to-know basis; 3. Not include the specific location of any archaeological resources if the plan will be made known to the general public. B. An excavation plan may: 1. List and briefly discuss the important information the archaeological resources contain or are likely to contain; 2. Explain how the information should be recovered to be useful in addressing scientifically valid research questions and other concerns identified in subdivision (a); 3. Explain the methods of analysis and, if feasible, display of excavated materials; 4. provide for final report preparation and distribution; and, S. Explain the estimated cost of and time required to complete all activities undertaken under the plan. C. The lead agency may require a mitigation plan to be carried out as a condition of approval of the project. 94 VI. A public agency following federal clearance process under the National Historic Preservation Act or the National Environmental Policy Act may use the documentation prepared under the federal guidelines in the place of documentation called for in this appendix. VII. LIMITATIONS ON MITIGATION. Special rules apply to mitigating significant effects on important archaeological resources. A. If it is not feasible to revise the project to avoid an important archaeological resource, the lead agency shall require the project applicant to guarantee to pay one half of the cost of mitigating the significant effect of the project on important archaeological resources. 1. In determining the payment to be required from the applicant, the lead agency shall consider the in-kind value of project design or expenditures intended to permit any or all important archaeological resources or California Native American culturally significant sites to be undisturbed or preserved in place. a. Consideration of in-kind values does not require a dollar for dollar set-off against the payment by the project applicant. b. In deciding on an appropriate set-off, the lead agency shall consider such factors as whether the project design or expenditures would provide other benefits to the applicant and whether the design or expenditures required special changes in the project plans. 2. When it decides to carry out or approve the project, the lead agency shall, if necessary, reduce the mitigation measures specified in the EIR to those which can be funded with: a. The money guaranteed by the project applicant, and b. Money voluntarily guaranteed by any other person or persons for the mitigations. 3. In order to allow time for interested persons to provide a voluntary funding guarantee, the lead agency shall not decide to carry out or approve a project having a significant effect on important archaeological resources until 60 days after completing the final EIR on the project. 4. In no event shall the lead agency require the applicant to pay more for mitigation within the site of the project than the following amounts: a. One half of one percent of the projected cost of the project, if the project is a commercial or 'industrial project. 95 b. Three fourths of one percent' of the projected cost of the project for a housing pr6ject consisting of one unit. C. If a housing project consists of more than one unit, three- fourths of one percent of the projected cost of the first unit plus the sum of the following: (i) $200 per unit for any of the next 99 units, (ii) $150 per unit for any of the next 400 units, (iii) $100 per unit for units in excess of 500. B. Unless special or unusual circumstances warrant an exception, the field excavation phase of an approved mitigation plan shall be completed within 90 days after the applicant receives the final approval necessary to begin physical development of the project. 1. With a phased project, the mitigation measures shall be completed within 90 c after approval is granted for the phased portion to which the specific mitigation measures apply. 2. The project applicant can elect to extend the time limits for completing the field excavation phase of the approved mitigation plan. 3. A mitigation plan shall not authorize violation of any law protecting Amc-'---n Indian cemetaries. C. Excavation as part of a mitigation plan shall be restricted to those parts of an important archaeological resource the would be damaged or destroyed by the project ' unless special circumstances require limited excavation of an immediately adjacent area in order to develop important information about the part of the resource that would be destroyed. D. Excavation as mitigation shall not be required for an important archaeological resource if the lead agency determines that testing or studies already completed have adequate'y recovered the scientifically consequential information from and about the resource, provided that the determination is documented in the EIR. E..11 The limitations on mitigation shall not apply to: 1. A public project if the lea_ agency decides to comply with other provisions of CEQA that apply to mitigation of significant effects, and 2. A private project if the applicant and the lead agency jointly elect to comply with other provisions of CEQA that apply to mitigation of significant effects. 96 F. The time and cost limitations described in this section do not apply to surveys and site evaluation activities .intended to determine whether the project location contains archaeological resources, and if so, whether the archaeological resources are important as defined in this appendix. VIII. Discovery of Human Remains. A. In the event of discovery or recognition of any human remains .in any location other than a dedicated cemetery, there shall be no further excavation or disturbance of the site or any nearby area reasonably suspected to overlie adjacent human remains until: 1. The coroner of the County in which the remains are discovered has been informed and has determined that no investigation of the cause of death is required, and 2. If the remains are of Native American origin, a. The descendants from the deceased Native Americans have made a recom- mendation to the landowner or the person responsible for the excavation work, for means of treating or disposing of, with appropriate dignity, the human remains and any associated grave goods as provided in Public Resources Code Section 5097, or b. The Native American Heritage Commission was unable to identify a des- cendant or the descendant failed to make a recommendation within 24 hours after being notified by the commission. B. Where the following conditions occur, the landowner or his authorized representative shall re-enter the Native American human remains and associated grave goods with appropriate dignity on the property in a location not subject to further subsurface disturbance. 1. The Native American Heritage Commission is unable to identify a descendant; 2. The descendant identified fails to make a recommendation; or 3. The landowner or his authorized representative rejects the recommendation of the descendant, and the mediation by the Native American Heritage Commission fails to provide measures acceptable to the landowner. C. If the human remains are discovered before the lead agency has finished the CEQA process, the lead agency shall work with the Native American Heritage Commission and the applicant to develop an agreement for treating or disposing, with appropriate dignity, of the human remains and any associated grave goods. Action implementing such an agreement is exempt from: 97 1. The general prohibition on disinterring, disturbing, or removing human remains from any location other than a dedicated cemetary (Health and Safety Code Section 7050.5). 2. The requirements of CEQA.and the Coastal Act. IX. As part of the objectives, criteria, and procedures required by Section 21082 or as part of conditions imposed for mitigation, a lead agency should make provisions for archaeological sites accidentally discovered during construction. These provisions should include. an immediate evaluation of the find. If the find is determined to be an important archaeo- logical resource, contingency funding and a time allotment sufficient to allow recovering an archaeological sample or to employ one of the avoidance measures should be available. Construction work could continue on other parts of the building site while archaeological mitigation takes place. 8/85 1/89 98