2019-050 -Adopting Local CEQA Guidelines

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Local Guidelines for Implementing the California Environmental Quality Act (2019) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT When acting as a Lead Agency, the City may fulfill this obligation by distributing the Notice of Preparation in compliance with Local Guidelines Section 7.03 and soliciting the comments of Responsible Agencies, Trustee Agencies, and other affected agencies. The City may also consult with any individual who has special expertise with respect to any environmental impacts involved with a project. The City may also consult directly with any person or organization it believes will be concerned with the environmental effects of the project, including any interested individuals and organizations of which the City is reasonably aware. Declaration or Mitigated Negative Declaration will be prepared for a project, no scoping meeting need be held, although the City may hold one if it so chooses. For private projects, the City as Lead Agency may charge and collect from the applicant a fee not to exceed the actual cost of the consultations. In addition to soliciting comments on the Notice of Preparation, the Lead Agency may be required to conduct a scoping meeting to gather additional input regarding the impacts to be analyzed in the EIR. The Lead Agency is required to conduct a scoping meeting when: (a) The meeting is requested by a Responsible Agency, a Trustee Agency, OPR, or a project applicant; (b) State CEQA Guidelines Section 15206; or (c) The project may affect highways or other facilities under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Transportation, and the Department of Transportation has requested a scoping meeting. When acting as Lead Agency, the City shall provide notice of the scoping meeting to all of the following: (a) Any county or city that borders on a county or city within which the project is located, unless the City has a specific agreement to the contrary with that county or city; (b) Any Responsible Agency; (c) Any public agency that has jurisdiction by law over the project; (d) A transportation planning agency, or any public agency that has transportation facilities within its jurisdiction, that could be affected by the project; and (e) Any organization or individual who has filed a written request for the notice. The requirement for providing notice of a scoping meeting may be met by including the notice of the public scoping meeting in the public meeting notice. Government Code Section 65352 requires that before a legislative body may adopt or substantially amend a general plan, the planning agency must refer the proposed action to any city or county, within or abutting the area covered by the proposal, and any special district that may be significantly affected by the proposed action. CEQA allows that referral procedure to be conducted concurrently with the scoping meeting required pursuant to this section of the Local CEQA Guidelines. 2019 City of Santa Ana Local Guidelines 7-8 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP