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About the Environmental Review Process

Also known as the CEQA Process

The City weighs a variety of factors when deciding whether to approve a proposed land use or other project. One such factor is what kind of effect a project would have on the environment.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guides the process of gathering such information. The process is quite complex and technical. This page is just an overview of some basic concepts. (A flowchart from CEQA (PDF - 13 KB) is also available as a reference.)

The term “environment” includes natural and man-made elements of our surroundings. This includes land, air, water, minerals, plants, animals and noise. It also includes things like historic buildings. (See the Standards of Rehabilitation for more information.)

1. Determining the Level of Environmental Review

The State of California has decided that, in some cases, no environmental review is necessary. These types of projects are exempt from the environmental review process. There are two sources of exemptions:

1. CEQA Statute: These are known as statutory exemptions. The State Legislature makes this decision.
2. CEQA Guidelines: These are adopted by the State Resources Agency to provide guidance on implementing CEQA. These are known as categorical exemptions (PDF - 96 KB). Examples include changing the wording of a sign, or maintaining existing landscaping.

2. Initial Study

If a project is not exempt from environmental review, the next step is to prepare an initial study. The purpose of the study is to determine if the proposed project could have a significant impact on the environment. Appendix G of CEQA (PDF - 184 KB) provides a checklist of what is reviewed.

3. Negative Declarations

If the initial study determines that the proposed project will not cause a significant environmental impact, then the City prepares a negative declaration for adoption by the decision-makers, which declares that the project will not have a significant effect on the environment. Depending on the size of the project, the decision-makers are the Planning Commission and/or the City Council.

A negative declaration is used in two situations:

1. When decision-makers conclude that a project will not have a significant effect on the environment.
2. When the project has potentially significant effects which can be reduced or avoided by imposing mitigation measures. This type of negative declaration is known as a “mitigated negative declaration”.

4. Environmental Impact Report

If the initial study shows that the project may have a significant effect on the environment, that has unavoidable impacts, the next step is to prepare the more extensive environmental impact report. Such a report are often referred as an “EIR”. Most EIRs are written by the applicant, with the Environmental Planning Services (EPS) overseeing the process. In some cases, EPS may choose to draft the EIR directly.

The cost of preparing an EIR is paid for by the applicant. In some cases fees are paid to the City that cover the cost for staff preparartion of documents. For more complex projects, an outside consultant is retained, and the applicant pays the cost of the consultant services.

An EIR contains a number of items:

• Project description
• Identification and analysis of each significant environmental impact expected to result from the proposed project
• Recommended steps to avoid or minimize those impacts, called “mitigation measures”
• Possible alternatives to the project, including the option of not doing the project

Impact on the Project Approval Process

Once the EIR is complete, it is then certified by the decision-makers (Planning Commission and/or the City Council). This does not mean project approval, but simply that the EIR is recognized as complete. The decision-makers then use the EIR to decide whether or not to approve a project, and, if approved, what measures are required to mitigate any impacts. The decision-makers are still free to approve, deny, or approve with mitigating measures, as long as the approved project complies with CEQA. If the project approval includes mitigation measures, the applicant must submit a reporting or monitoring program to assure those measures are implemented.