Item 18 - Appeal Application Nos. 2023-02 and 2023-03 for Cabrillo Town Center project

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Senate Bill 97. SB 97, passed in August 2007, is designed to work in conjunction with CEQA and AB 32. SB 97 requires the Office of Planning and Rules (OPR) to prepare and develop guidelines for the mitigation of GHG emissions or the effects thereof, including, but not limited to, the effects associated with transportation and energy consumption. The Draft Guidelines Amendments for Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Guidelines Amendments) were adopted on December 30, 2009 and address the specific obligations of public agencies when analyzing GHG emissions under CEQA to determine a project's effects on the environment. However, neither a threshold of significance nor any specific mitigation measures are included or provided in the Guidelines Amendments.38 The Guidelines Amendments require a lead agency to make a good -faith effort, based on the extent possible on scientific and factual data, to describe, calculate, or estimate the amount of GHG emissions resulting from a project. The Guidelines Amendments give discretion to the lead agency whether to: (1) use a model or methodology to quantify GHG emissions resulting from a project, and which model or methodology to use; or (2) rely on a qualitative analysis or performance- based standards. Furthermore, the Guidelines Amendments identify the following three factors that should be considered in the evaluation of the significance of GHG emissions: 1. The extent to which a project may increase or reduce GHG emissions as compared to the existing environmental setting; 2. Whether the project emissions exceed a threshold of significance that the lead agency determines applies to the project; and 3. The extent to which the project complies with regulations or requirements adopted to implement a statewide, regional, or local plan for the reduction or mitigation of GHG emissions.39 The administrative record for the Guidelines Amendments also clarifies "that the effects of greenhouse gas emissions are cumulative and should be analyzed in the context of CEQA's requirements for cumulative impact analysis."ao In December 2018, the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) approved a CEQA and Climate Change Advisory that updated the 2009 guidance for project -level analyses. It reaffirms the discretion that lead agencies have in establishing an appropriate methodology and determining significance. Senate Bill 743. This 2013 legislation updates the way transportation impacts are measured in California, focusing on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) rather than level of service as the main measure of transportation impacts. It calls on decisionmakers throughout the State to focus on reducing overall VMT 38 See 14 Cal. Code Regs. §§ 15064.7 (generally giving discretion to lead agencies to develop and publish thresholds of significance for use in the determination of the significance of environmental effects), 15064.4 (giving discretion to lead agencies to determine the significance of impacts from GHG emissions). 39 14 Cal. Code Regs. § 15064.4(b). 40 Letter from Cynthia Bryant, Director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Research to Mike Chrisman, California Secretary for Natural Resources, dated April 13, 2009. Cabrillo Town Center Project PAGE 14 City of Santa Ana GreenhouCi VS ouncil ep° 18 — 979 10/3/2023 July 2023