7.05 ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROJECT.
Under certain circumstances, a project applicant may choose to apply to the Governor of the State of California to have the project certified as an Environmental Leadership Development Project. A project may qualify as an Environmental Leadership Development Project if it is one of the following:
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-4 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (1) A residential, retail, commercial, sports, cultural, entertainment, or recreational use project that meets the following standards:
The project is certified as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold or better by the United States Green Building Council; and The project, where applicable, achieves a 15 percent greater standard for transportation efficiency than comparable projects; and The project is located on an infill site; and
For a project that is within a metropolitan planning organization for which a sustainable communities strategy or alternative planning strategy is in effect, the infill project shall be consistent with the general use designation, density, building intensity, and applicable policies specified for the project area in either a sustainable communities strategy or an alternative planning strategy, for which the State Air Resources Board has accepted a metropolitan planning organization’s determination, under subparagraph (H) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 65080 of the Government Code, that the sustainable communities strategy or the alternative planning strategy would, if implemented, achieve the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. (2) A clean renewable energy project that generates electricity exclusively through wind or solar, but not including waste incineration or conversion. (3) A clean energy manufacturing project that manufactures products, equipment, or components used for renewable energy generation, energy efficiency, or for the production of clean alternative fuel vehicles.
(4) A housing development project—i.e., a project that entails either residential units only; mixed-use developments consisting of residential and nonresidential uses with at least two-thirds of the square footage designated for residential use; or transitional housing or supportive housing—that meets all of the following conditions:
The housing development project is located on an infill site. For a housing development project that is located within a metropolitan planning organization for which a sustainable communities strategy or alternative planning strategy is in effect, the project is consistent with the general use designation, density, building intensity, and applicable policies specified for the project area in either a sustainable communities strategy or an alternative planning strategy, for which the State Air Resources Board has accepted a metropolitan planning organization’s determination, under subparagraph (H) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 65080 of the Government Code, that the sustainable communities strategy or the alternative planning strategy would, if implemented, achieve the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-5 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 21183, the housing development project will result in a minimum investment of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000), but less than one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000), in California upon completion of construction. At least 15 percent of the housing development project is dedicated as housing that is affordable to lower income households, as defined in Section 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code. Upon completion of a housing development project that is qualified under this paragraph and is certified by the Governor, the lead agency or applicant of the project shall notify the Office of Planning and Research of the number of housing units and affordable housing units established by the project. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a local agency has adopted an inclusionary zoning ordinance that establishes a minimum percentage for affordable housing within the jurisdiction in which the housing development project is located that is higher than 15 percent, the percentage specified in the inclusionary zoning ordinance shall be the threshold for affordable housing.
Except for use as a residential hotel, as defined in Section 50519 of the Health and Safety Code, no part of the housing development project shall be used for a rental unit for a term shorter than 30 days, or designated for hotel, motel, bed and breakfast inn, or other transient lodging use. Moreover, no part of the housing development project shall be used for manufacturing or industrial uses.
The Governor may certify a leadership project for streamlining before the lead agency certifies an EIR for the project if various conditions set forth in Public Resources Code section 21182 are met. The conditions include but are not limited to the following: (1) except as set forth above, the project will result in a minimum investment of one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) in California upon completion of construction; (2) the project creates high-wage, highly skilled jobs that pay prevailing wages and living wages, provide construction jobs and permanent jobs for Californians, helps reduce unemployment, and promotes apprenticeship training; and (3) the project will not result in any net additional emission of greenhouse gases, including greenhouse gas emissions from employee transportation.
If the Governor certifies a project as an Environmental Leadership Development Project, any lawsuit challenging the project—including any potential appeals to the court of appeal or the California Supreme Court—must be resolved, to the extent feasible, within 270 days of the filing of the certified record of proceedings with the trial court.
This section shall remain in effect until January 1, 2026. This section does not comprehensively set forth the rules governing Environmental Leadership Development projects.
For more information, please see Chapter 6.5 of the Public Resources Code, starting with Public Resources Code section 21178.
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7.06 PREPARATION OF DRAFT EIR.
The Lead Agency is responsible for preparing a Draft EIR. The Lead Agency may begin preparation of the Draft EIR without awaiting responses to the Notice of Preparation. However, information communicated to the Lead Agency not later than thirty (30) days after receipt of the Notice of Preparation shall be included in the Draft EIR. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15084.)
7.07 CONSULTATION WITH CALIFORNIA NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES.
Prior to the release of a Draft EIR for a project, the Lead Agency shall begin consultation with a California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed project if:
(a) The California Native American tribe requested to the Lead Agency, in writing, to be informed by the Lead Agency through formal notification of proposed projects in the geographic area that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the tribe; and
(b) The California Native American tribe responds, in writing, within 30 days of receipt of the formal notification, and requests the consultation. The California Native American tribe shall designate a lead contact person when responding to the Lead Agency. If a lead contact is not designated by the California Native American tribe, or if it designates multiple lead contact people, the Lead Agency shall defer to the individuals listed on the contact list maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission. Consultation is defined in Local Guidelines Section 11.11.
To expedite the requirements of this section, the Native American Heritage Commission shall assist the Lead Agency in identifying the California American Native tribes that are traditionally and culturally affiliated with the project area.
Within 14 days of determining that an application for a project is complete or a decision by a public agency to undertake a project, the Lead Agency shall provide formal notification to the designated contact of, or a trial representative of, traditionally and culturally affiliated California Native America tribes that have requested notice, which shall be accomplished by at least one written notification that includes a brief description of the proposed project and its location, the Lead Agency contact information, and a notification that the California Native American tribe has 30 days to request consultation.
The Lead Agency shall begin the consultation process within 30 days of receiving a California Native American tribe's request for consultation.
If consultation is requested, the parties may propose mitigation measures, including those set forth in Public Resources Code section 21084.3, capable of avoiding or substantially lessening potential significant impacts to a tribal cultural resource or alternatives that would 934
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-7 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP avoid significant impacts to a tribal cultural resource. The consultation may include discussion concerning the type of environmental review necessary, the significance of tribal cultural resources, the significance of the project's impacts on the tribal cultural resources, and, if necessary, project alternatives or the appropriate measures for preservation or mitigation that the California Native American tribe may recommend to the lead agency.
The consultation shall be considered concluded when either of the following occurs:
(1) The parties agree to measures to mitigate or avoid a significant effect, if a significant effect exists, on a tribal cultural resource. (2) A party, acting in good faith and after reasonable effort, concludes that mutual agreement cannot be reached.
The California Native American tribe is not limited in its ability to submit information to the Lead Agency regarding the significance of the tribal cultural resources, the significance of the project's impact on tribal cultural resources, or any appropriate measures to mitigate the impacts. Additionally, the Lead Agency or project proponent is not limited in its ability to incorporate changes and additions to the project as a result of the consultation, even if not legally required.
(Reference: Pub. Resources Code, §§ 21080.3.1, 21080.3.2.)
7.08 IDENTIFICATION OF TRIBAL CULTURAL RESOURCES AND PROCESSING OF
INFORMATION AFTER CONSULTATION WITH THE CALIFORNIA NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBE
After consultation with the California Native American tribe listed above in Local Guidelines Section 7.07, any mitigation measures agreed upon in the consultation conducted pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21080.3.2 shall be recommended for inclusion in the EIR and in an adopted mitigation monitoring and reporting program, if the mitigation measures are determined to avoid or lessen the proposed project’s impacts on tribal cultural resources, and if the mitigation measures are enforceable.
If a project may have a significant impact on a tribal cultural resource, the Lead Agency's EIR shall discuss both of the following:
(a) Whether the proposed project has a significant impact on an identified tribal cultural resource;
(b) Whether feasible alternatives or mitigation measures, including those measures that may be agreed to during the consultation, avoid or substantially lessen the impact on the identified tribal cultural resource.
Any information provided regarding the location, description and use of the tribal cultural resource that is submitted by a California Native American tribe during the environmental review process shall not be included in the EIR or otherwise disclosed by the lead agency or any other public agency to the public, consistent with Government Code section 7927.005, and State 935
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-8 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP CEQA Guidelines section 15120(d), without the prior consent of the tribe that provided the information. If the Lead Agency publishes any information submitted by a California Native American tribe during the consultation or environmental review process, that information shall be published in a confidential appendix to the EIR unless the tribe provides consent, in writing, to the disclosure of some or all of the information to the public. This does not prohibit the confidential exchange of the submitted information between public agencies that have lawful jurisdiction over the preparation of the EIR.
The exchange of confidential information regarding tribal cultural resources submitted by a California Native American tribe during the consultation or environmental review process among the Lead Agency, the California Native American tribe, the project applicant, or the project applicant's agent is not prohibited by Public Resources Code section 21082.3. The project applicant and the project applicant's legal advisers must use a reasonable degree of care and maintain the confidentiality of the information exchanged for the purposes of preventing looting, vandalism, or damage to tribal cultural resources and shall not disclose to a third party confidential information regarding the cultural resource unless the California Native American tribe providing the information consents in writing to the public disclosure of such information.
Public Resources Code section 21082.3 does not prevent a Lead Agency or other public agency from describing the information in general terms in the EIR so as to inform the public of the basis of the Lead Agency's or other public agency's decision without breaching the confidentiality required. In addition, a Lead Agency may certify an EIR for a project with a significant impact on an identified tribal cultural resource only if one of the following occurs:
(a) The consultation process between the California Native American tribe and the Lead Agency has occurred as provided in Public Resources Code sections 21080.3.1 and 21080.3.2 and concluded pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 21080.3.2.
(b) The California Native American tribe has requested consultation pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21080.3.1 and has failed to provide comments to the Lead Agency, or otherwise failed to engage, in the consultation process. (c) The Lead Agency has complied with subdivision (d) of Section 21080.3.1 of the Public Resources Code and the California Native American tribe has failed to request consultation within 30 days.
If substantial evidence demonstrates that a project will cause a significant effect to a tribal cultural resource but the decision-makers do not include the mitigation measures recommended by the staff in the Draft EIR, or if there are no agreed upon mitigation measures at the conclusion of the consultation, or if no consultation has occurred, the Lead Agency must still consider the adoption of feasible mitigation.
(Reference: Pub. Resources Code, § 21082.3.)
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7.09 SIGNIFICANT ADVERSE IMPACTS TO TRIBAL CULTURAL RESOURCES Public agencies shall, when feasible, avoid damaging effects to any tribal cultural resource. If the Lead Agency determines that a project may cause a substantial adverse change to a tribal cultural resource, and measures are not otherwise identified in the consultation process provided in Public Resources Code section 21080.3.2 as set forth in Local Guidelines Section
7.07, the following examples of mitigation measures, if feasible, may be considered to avoid or minimize the significant adverse impacts:
(a) Avoidance and preservation of the resources in place, including, but not limited to, planning and construction to avoid the resources and protect the cultural and natural context, or planning greenspace, parks, or other open space, to incorporate the resources with culturally appropriate protection and management criteria. (b) Treating the resource with culturally appropriate dignity taking into account the tribal cultural values and meaning of the resource, including, but not limited to the following:
(1) Protecting the cultural character and integrity of the resource. (2) Protecting the traditional use of the resource.
(3) Protecting the confidentiality of the resource.
(c) Permanent conservation easements or other interests in real property, with culturally appropriate management criteria for the purposes of preserving or utilizing the resources or places.
(d) Protecting the resource.
(Reference: Pub. Resources Code, § 21084.3.)
7.10 CONSULTATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES AND PERSONS.
To expedite consultation in response to the Notice of Preparation, the Lead Agency, a Responsible Agency, or a project applicant may request a meeting among the agencies involved to assist in determining the scope and content of the environmental information that the involved agencies may require. For any project that may affect highways or other facilities under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Transportation, the Department of Transportation can request a scoping meeting. When acting as Lead Agency, the City must convene the meeting as soon as possible but no later than thirty (30) days after a request is made. When acting as a Responsible Agency, the City should make any requests for consultation as soon as possible after receiving a Notice of Preparation.
Prior to completion of the Draft EIR, the Lead Agency shall consult with each Responsible Agency and any public agency that has jurisdiction by law over the project. 937
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The purpose of this consultation is to “scope” the EIR’s range of analysis. When a Negative 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) The project is one of “statewide, regional or area wide significance” as defined in 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.
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5.04 for a discussion of NEPA.)
The City shall call the scoping meeting as soon as possible but not later than 30 days after the meeting was requested. If the scoping meeting is being conducted concurrently with the procedure in Government Code section 65352 for the consideration of adoption or amendment of general plans, each entity receiving a proposed general plan or amendment of a general plan should have 45 days from the date the referring agency mails it or delivers it in which to comment unless a longer period is specified. The commenting entity may submit its comments at the scoping meeting.
A Responsible Agency or other public agency shall only make comments regarding those activities that are within its area of expertise or that are required to be carried out or approved by the Responsible Agency. These comments must be supported by specific documentation. Any mitigation measures submitted to the City by a Responsible or Trustee Agency shall be limited to measures that mitigate impacts to resources that are within the Responsible or Trustee Agency’s authority.
For projects of statewide, area-wide, or regional significance, consultation with transportation planning agencies or with public agencies that have transportation facilities within their jurisdictions shall be for the purpose of obtaining information concerning the project’s effect on major local arterials, public transit, freeways, highways, overpasses, on-ramps, offramps, and rail transit services. Moreover, the Lead Agency should also consult with public transit agencies with facilities within one-half mile of the proposed project. Any transportation planning agency or public agency that provides information to the Lead Agency must be notified of, and provided with, copies of any environmental documents relating to the project. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, §§ 15082, 15083.)
7.11 EARLY CONSULTATION ON PROJECTS INVOLVING PERMIT ISSUANCE.
When the project involves the issuance of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use by one or more public agencies, the City, upon request of the applicant, shall meet with the applicant regarding the range of actions, potential alternatives, mitigation measures and significant effects to be analyzed in depth in the EIR. The City may also consult with concerned persons identified by the applicant and persons who have made written requests to be consulted. Such requests for early consultation must be made not later than thirty (30) days after the City’s decision to prepare an EIR.
7.12 CONSULTATION WITH WATER AGENCIES REGARDING LARGE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS.
For certain development projects, cities and counties must consult with water agencies.
If the City is a water provider for the project, the city or county may request consultation with the City. (See Local Guidelines Sections 5.16 and 5.17 for more information on these requirements.)
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7.13 AIRPORT LAND USE PLAN.
When the City prepares an EIR for a project within the boundaries of a comprehensive airport land use plan, or, if such a plan has not been adopted, for a project within two (2) nautical miles of a public airport or public use airport, the City shall utilize the Airport Land Use Planning Handbook published by Caltrans’ Division of Aeronautics to assist in the preparation of the EIR relative to potential airport or related safety hazards and noise problems. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15154.)
7.14 GENERAL ASPECTS OF AN EIR.
Both a Draft and Final EIR must contain the information outlined in Local Guidelines Sections 7.17 and 7.18. Each element must be covered, and when elements are not separated into distinct sections, the document must state where in the document each element is covered.
The body of the EIR shall include summarized technical data, maps, diagrams and similar relevant information. Highly technical and specialized analyses and data should be included in appendices. Appendices may be prepared in separate volumes, but must be equally available to the public for examination. All documents used in preparation of the EIR must be referenced.
An EIR shall not include “trade secrets,” locations of archaeological sites and sacred lands, or any other information subject to the disclosure restrictions of the Public Records Act (Government Code section 7920.000, et seq.).
The EIR should discuss environmental effects in proportion to their severity and probability of occurrence. Effects dismissed in the Initial Study as clearly insignificant and unlikely to occur need not be discussed.
The Initial Study should be used to focus the EIR so that the EIR identifies and discusses only the specific environmental problems or aspects of the project that have been identified as potentially significant or important. A copy of the Initial Study should be attached to the EIR or included in the administrative record to provide a basis for limiting the impacts discussed.
The EIR shall contain a statement briefly indicating the reason for determining that various effects of a project that could possibly be considered significant were not found to be significant and consequently were not discussed in detail in the EIR. The City should also note any conclusion by it that a particular impact is too speculative for evaluation.
The EIR should omit unnecessary descriptions of projects and emphasize feasible mitigation measures and alternatives to projects.
7.15 USE OF REGISTERED CONSULTANTS IN PREPARING EIRS.
An EIR is not a technical document that can be prepared only by a registered consultant or professional. However, state statutes may provide that only registered professionals can prepare certain technical studies that will be used in an EIR, or that will control the detailed 940
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(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15149.)
7.16 INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE.
An EIR, Negative Declaration, or Mitigated Negative Declaration may incorporate by reference all or portions of another document that is a matter of public record or is generally available to the public. Any incorporated document shall be considered to be set forth in full as part of the text of the environmental document. When all or part of another document is incorporated by reference, that document shall be made available to the public for inspection at the City’s offices. The environmental document shall state where incorporated documents will be available for inspection.
When incorporation by reference is used, the incorporated part of the referenced document shall be briefly summarized, if possible, or briefly described if the data or information cannot be summarized. The relationship between the incorporated document and the EIR, Negative Declaration, or Mitigated Negative Declaration shall be described. When information from an environmental document that has previously been reviewed through the state review system (“State Clearinghouse”) is incorporated by the City, the state identification number of the incorporated document should be included in the summary or text of the EIR. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15150.)
7.17 STANDARDS FOR ADEQUACY OF AN EIR.
An EIR should be prepared with a sufficient degree of analysis to provide decisionmakers with information that enables them to make a decision that takes into account the environmental consequences of the project. The evaluation of environmental effects need not be exhaustive, but must be within the scope of what is reasonably feasible. The EIR should be written and presented in such a way that it can be understood by governmental decision-makers and members of the public. A good faith effort at completeness is necessary. The adequacy of an EIR is assessed in terms of what is reasonable in light of factors such as the magnitude of the project at issue, the severity of its likely environmental impacts, and the geographic scope of the project. CEQA does not require a Lead Agency to conduct every test or perform all research, study, and experimentation recommended or demanded by commenters, but CEQA does require the Lead Agency to make a good faith, reasoned response to timely comments raising significant environmental issues.
There is no need to unreasonably delay adoption of an EIR in order to include results of studies in progress, even if those studies will shed some additional light on subjects related to the project.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15151.)
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7.18 FORM AND CONTENT OF EIR.
The text of the EIR should normally be less than 150 pages. For proposals of unusual scope or complexity, the EIR may be longer than 150 pages but should normally be less than 300 pages. The required contents of an EIR are set forth in Sections 15122 through 15132 of the State CEQA Guidelines. In brief, the EIR must contain:
(a) A table of contents or an index;
(b) A brief summary of the proposed project, including each significant effect with proposed mitigation measures and alternatives, areas of known controversy and issues to be resolved including the choice among alternatives, how to mitigate the significant effects and whether there are any significant and unavoidable impacts (generally, the summary should be less than fifteen (15) pages);
(c) A description of the proposed project, including its underlying purpose and a list of permit and other approvals required to implement the project (see Local Guidelines Section 7.24 regarding analysis of future project expansion); (d) A description of the environmental setting, which includes the project’s physical environmental conditions from both a local and regional perspective at the time the Notice of Preparation is published, or if no Notice of Preparation is published, at the time environmental analysis begins. (State CEQA Guidelines section 15125.) This environmental setting will normally constitute the baseline physical conditions by which the Lead Agency determines whether an impact is significant. However, the City, when acting as Lead Agency, may choose any baseline that is appropriate as long as the City’s choice of baseline is supported by substantial evidence; (e) A discussion of any inconsistencies between the proposed project and applicable general, specific and regional plans. Such plans include, but are not limited to, the applicable air quality attainment or maintenance plan or State Implementation Plan, area-wide waste treatment and water quality control plans, regional transportation plans, regional housing allocation, regional blueprint plans, plans for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, habitat conservation plans, natural community conservation plans and regional land use plans;
(f) A description of the direct and indirect significant environmental impacts of the proposed project explaining which, if any, can be avoided or mitigated to a level of insignificance, indicating reasons that various possible significant effects were determined not to be significant and denoting any significant effects that are unavoidable or could not be mitigated to a level of insignificance. Direct and indirect significant effects shall be clearly identified and described, giving due consideration to both short-term and longterm effects; (g) Potentially significant energy implications of a project must be considered to the extent relevant and applicable to the project (see Local Guidelines Section 5.20); (h) An analysis of a range of alternatives to the proposed project that could feasibly attain the project’s objectives as discussed in Local Guidelines Section 7.23; (i) A description of any significant irreversible environmental changes that would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented if, and only if, the EIR is being prepared in connection with:
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(2) The adoption by a Local Agency Formation Commission of a resolution making determinations; or
(3) A project that will be subject to the requirement for preparing an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to NEPA;
(j) An analysis of the growth-inducing impacts of the proposed action. The discussion should include ways in which the project could foster economic or population growth, or the construction of additional housing, either directly or indirectly, in the surrounding environment. Growth-inducing impacts may include the estimated energy consumption of growth induced by the project;
(k) A discussion of any significant, reasonably anticipated future developments and the cumulative effects of all proposed and anticipated action as discussed in Local Guidelines Section 7.24;
(l) In certain situations, a regional analysis should be completed for certain impacts, such as air quality;
(m) A discussion of any economic or social effects, to the extent that they cause, or may be used to determine, significant environmental impacts;
(n) A statement briefly indicating the reasons that various possible significant effects of a project were determined not to be significant and, therefore, were not discussed in the EIR;
(o) The identity of all federal, state or local agencies or other organizations and private individuals consulted in preparing the EIR, and the identity of the persons, firm or agency preparing the EIR, by contract or other authorization. To the fullest extent possible, the City should integrate CEQA review with these related environmental review and consultation requirements;
(p) A discussion of those potential effects of the proposed project on the environment that the City has determined are or may be significant. The discussion on other effects may be limited to a brief explanation as to why those effects are not potentially significant; and (q) A description of feasible measures, as set forth in Local Guidelines Section 7.22, which could minimize significant adverse impacts.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, §§ 15120-15148.)
7.19 CONSIDERATION AND DISCUSSION OF SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS.
An EIR must identify and focus on the significant effects of the proposed project on the environment. In assessing the proposed project’s potential impacts on the environment, the City should normally limit its examination to comparing changes that would result from the project as compared to the existing physical conditions in the affected area as they exist when the Notice of Preparation is published. If a Notice of Preparation is not published for the project, the City should compare the proposed project’s potential impacts to the physical conditions that exist at the time environmental review begins. Direct and indirect significant effects of the project on the environment must be clearly identified and described, considering both the short-term and 943
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-16 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP long-term effects. The discussion should include relevant specifics of 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), health and safety problems caused by the physical changes, and other aspects of the project that may impact resources in the project area, such as water, historical resources, scenic quality, and public services. The EIR must also analyze any significant environmental effects the project might cause or risk exacerbating by bringing development and people into the area. If applicable, an EIR should also evaluate any potentially significant direct, indirect, or cumulative environmental impacts of locating development in areas susceptible to hazardous conditions (e.g., floodplains, coastlines, wildfire risk areas), including both short-term and long-term conditions, as identified on authoritative hazard maps, risk assessments or in land use plans addressing such hazards areas.
If analysis of the project's energy use reveals that the project may result in significant environmental effects due to wasteful, inefficient, or unnecessary use of energy, or wasteful use of energy resources, the EIR shall mitigate that energy use. This analysis should include the project's energy use for all project phases and components, including transportation-related energy, during construction and operation. In addition to building code compliance, other relevant considerations may include, among others, the project's size, location, orientation, equipment use and any renewable energy features that could be incorporated into the project.
This analysis is subject to the rule of reason and shall focus on energy use that is caused by the project. This analysis may be included in related analyses of air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, transportation or utilities in the discretion of the Lead Agency.
The EIR must describe all significant impacts, including those that 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.
The EIR must also discuss any significant irreversible environmental changes that would be caused by the project. For example, use of nonrenewable resources during the initial and continued phases of a project may be irreversible if a large commitment of such resources makes removal or nonuse thereafter unlikely. Additionally, irreversible commitment of resources may include a discussion of how the project preempts future energy development or future energy conservation. Irretrievable commitments of resources to the proposed project should be evaluated to assure that such current consumption is justified. (Reference: Pub. Resources Code, § 21100.)
7.20 ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING
An EIR must include a description of the physical environmental conditions in the vicinity of the project. This environmental setting will normally constitute the baseline physical conditions by which the Lead Agency determines whether an impact is significant. The description of the environmental setting shall be no longer than is necessary to provide an understanding of the significant effects of the proposed project and its alternatives. The purpose of this requirement is to give the public and decision makers the most accurate and 944
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(1) Generally, the Lead Agency should describe physical environmental conditions as they exist at the time the Notice of Preparation is published, or if no Notice of Preparation is published, at the time environmental analysis is commenced, from both a local and regional perspective. Where existing conditions change or fluctuate over time, and where necessary to provide the most accurate picture practically possible of the project's impacts, the Lead Agency may define existing conditions by referencing historic conditions, or conditions expected when the project becomes operational, or both, that are supported with substantial evidence. In addition, the Lead Agency may also use baselines consisting of both existing conditions and projected future conditions that are supported by reliable projections based on substantial evidence in the record.
(2) The Lead Agency may use projected future conditions (beyond the date of project operations) as the sole baseline for analysis only if it demonstrates with substantial evidence that use of existing conditions would be either misleading or without informative value to decisionmakers and the public. Use of projected future conditions as the only baseline must be supported by reliable projections based on substantial evidence in the record. (3) An existing conditions baseline shall not include hypothetical conditions—such as those that might be allowed, but have never actually occurred, under existing permits or plans— as the baseline.
(State CEQA Guidelines, § 15125.)
7.21 ANALYSIS OF CUMULATIVE IMPACTS.
An EIR must discuss cumulative impacts when the project’s incremental effect is “cumulatively considerable” as defined in Local Guidelines Section 11.13. When the City is examining a project with an incremental effect that is not “cumulatively considerable,” it need not consider that effect significant, but must briefly describe the basis for this conclusion. A project’s contribution may be less than cumulatively considerable if the project is required to implement or fund its fair share of a mitigation measure designed to alleviate the cumulative impact. When relying on a fee program or mitigation measure(s), the City must identify facts and analysis supporting its conclusion that the cumulative impact is less than significant.
The City may determine that a project’s incremental contribution to a cumulative effect is not cumulatively considerable if the project will comply with the requirements in a previously approved plan or mitigation program that provides specific requirements that will avoid or substantially lessen the cumulative problem in the geographic area in which the project is located. Such plans and programs may include, but are not limited to:
(1) Water quality control plans;
(2) Air quality attainment or maintenance plans;
(3) Integrated waste management plans;
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(5) Natural community conservation plans; and/or
(6) Plans or regulations for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
When relying on such a regulation, plan, or program, the City should explain how implementing the particular requirements of the plan, regulation or program will ensure that the project’s incremental contribution to the cumulative effect is not cumulatively considerable.
A cumulative impact consists of an impact that is created as a result of the combination of the project evaluated in the EIR together with other projects causing related impacts. An EIR should not discuss impacts that do not result in part from the project evaluated in the EIR.
The discussion of cumulative impacts in an EIR must focus on the cumulative impacts to which the identified other projects contribute, rather than on the attributes of other projects that do not contribute to the cumulative impact. The discussion of significant cumulative impacts must include either of the following:
(1) A list of past, present, and probable future projects causing related or cumulative impacts including, if necessary, those projects outside the control of the City; or (2) A summary of projections contained in an adopted local, regional or statewide plan, or related planning document, that describes or evaluates conditions contributing to the cumulative effect. Such plans may include: a general plan, regional transportation plan, or a plan for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. A summary of projections may also be contained in an adopted or certified prior environmental document for such a plan. Such projections may be supplemented with additional information such as a regional modeling program.
Documents used in creating a summary of projections must be referenced and made available to the public.
When utilizing a list, as suggested above, factors to consider when determining whether to include a related project should include the nature of each environmental resource being examined and the location and type of project. Location may be important, for example, when water quality impacts are involved since projects outside the watershed would probably not contribute to a cumulative effect. Project type may be important, for example, when the impact is specialized, such as a particular air pollutant or mode of traffic.
Public Resources Code section 21094 also states that if a Lead Agency determines that a cumulative effect has been adequately addressed in an earlier EIR, it need not be examined in a later EIR if the later project’s incremental contribution to the cumulative effect is not cumulatively considerable. A cumulative effect has been adequately addressed in the prior EIR if:
(1) it has been mitigated or avoided as a result of the prior EIR; or 946
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Public Resources Code section 21094 only applies to earlier projects that (1) are consistent with the program, plan, policy, or ordinance for which an environmental impact report has been prepared and certified, (2) are consistent with applicable local land use plans and zoning of the city, county, or city and county in which the later project would be located and (3) are not subject to Public Resources Code section 21166.
If the Lead Agency determines that the cumulative effect has been adequately addressed in a prior EIR, the Lead Agency should clearly explain the basis for its determination in the current environmental documentation for the project.
The City should define the geographic scope of the area affected by the cumulative effect and provide a reasonable explanation for the geographic limitation used. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15130.)
7.22 ANALYSIS OF MITIGATION MEASURES.
The discussion of mitigation measures in an EIR must distinguish between measures proposed by project proponents and other measures proposed by Lead, Responsible or Trustee Agencies. 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 disclosed and the basis for selecting a particular measure should be identified. Formulation of mitigation measures shall not be deferred until some future time The specific details of a mitigation measure, however, may be developed after project approval when it is impractical or infeasible to include those details during the project's environmental review provided that the Lead Agency (1) commits itself to the mitigation, (2) adopts specific performance standards the mitigation will achieve, and (3) identifies the type(s) of potential action(s) that can feasibly achieve that performance standard and that will be considered, analyzed, and potentially incorporated in the mitigation measure. Compliance with a regulatory permit or other similar process may be identified as mitigation if compliance would result in implementation of measures that would be reasonably expected, based on substantial evidence in the record, to reduce the significant impact to the specified performance standards.
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 disclosed but in less detail than the significant effects of the project itself.
If a project includes a housing development, the City may not reduce the project’s proposed number of housing units as a mitigation measure or project alternative if the City determines that there is another feasible specific mitigation measure or project alternative that would provide a comparable level of mitigation without reducing the number of housing units. 947
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-20 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP Mitigation measures must be fully enforceable through permit conditions, agreements, or other legally binding instruments. In the case of the adoption of a plan, policy, regulation, or other public project, mitigation measures can be incorporated into the plan, policy, regulation, or project design. Mitigation measures must also be consistent with all applicable constitutional requirements such as the “nexus” and “rough proportionality” standards—i.e., there must be an essential nexus between the mitigation measure and a legitimate governmental interest, and the mitigation measure must be “roughly proportional” to the impacts of the project.
Where maintenance, repair, stabilization, rehabilitation, restoration, preservation, conservation or reconstruction of a historical resource will be conducted in a manner consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s “Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring and Reconstructing Historic Buildings” (1995), Weeks and Grimmer, the project’s impact on the historical resource shall generally be considered mitigated below a level of significance and thus not significant.
The City should, whenever feasible, seek to avoid damaging effects on any historical resource of an archaeological nature. The following must be considered and discussed in an EIR for a project involving an archaeological site:
(a) Preservation in place is the preferred manner of mitigating impacts to archaeological sites; and
(b) Preservation in place may be accomplished by, but is not limited to, the following:
(1) Planning construction to avoid archaeological sites; (2) Incorporation of sites within parks, green space, or other open spaces; (3) Covering the archaeological sites with a layer of chemically stable soil before building tennis courts, parking lots, or similar facilities on the site; and/or (4) Deeding the site into a permanent conservation easement.
When data recovery through excavation is the only feasible mitigation, a data recovery plan, which makes provision for adequately recovering the scientifically consequential information from and about the historical resource, shall be prepared and adopted prior to excavation. Such studies must be deposited with the California Historical Resources Regional Information Center.
Data recovery shall not be required for a historical resource if the City determines that existing testing or studies have adequately recovered the scientifically consequential information from and about the archaeological or historical resource, provided that the determination is documented in the EIR and that the studies are deposited with the California Historical Resources Regional Information Center.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15126.4.)
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7.23 ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES IN AN EIR.
The alternatives analysis must describe and evaluate the comparative merits of a range of reasonable alternatives to the project or to the location of the project which would feasibly attain most of the basic objectives of the project, but which would avoid or substantially lessen any of the significant effects of the project. An EIR need not consider every conceivable alternative to a project, and it need not consider alternatives that are infeasible. Rather, an EIR must consider a reasonable range of potentially feasible alternatives that will foster informed decision-making and public participation.
Purpose of the Alternatives Analysis: An EIR must identify ways to mitigate or avoid the significant effects that a project may have on the environment. For this reason, a discussion of alternatives must focus on alternatives to the project or its location that are capable of avoiding or substantially lessening any significant effect of the project, even if these alternatives would impede to some degree the attainment of the project objectives or would be more costly.
Selection of a Range of Reasonable Alternatives: The range of potential alternatives to the proposed project shall include those that could feasibly accomplish most of the basic purposes of the project and could avoid or substantially lessen one or more of the significant effects, even if those alternatives would be more costly or would impede to some degree the attainment of the project’s objectives. The EIR should briefly describe the rationale for selecting the alternatives to be discussed. The EIR should also identify any alternatives that were considered by the Lead Agency and rejected as infeasible during the scoping process, and it should briefly explain the reasons for rejecting those alternatives. Additional information explaining the choice of alternatives should be included in the administrative record. Among the factors that may be used to eliminate alternatives from detailed consideration in an EIR are:
(a) failure to meet most of the basic project objectives; (b) infeasibility; or (c) inability to avoid significant environmental impacts.
Evaluation of Alternatives: The EIR shall include sufficient information about each alternative to allow meaningful evaluation, analysis and comparison with the proposed project.
A matrix displaying the major characteristics and significant environmental effects of each alternative may be used to summarize the comparison. The matrix may also identify and compare the extent to which each alternative meets project objectives. 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.
The Rule of Reason: The range of alternatives required in an EIR is governed by a “rule of reason” which courts have held means that an alternatives discussion must be reasonable in scope and content. Therefore, the EIR must set forth only those alternatives necessary to permit public participation, informed decision-making, and a reasoned choice. The alternatives shall be limited to ones that would avoid or substantially lessen any of the significant effects of the project. Of those alternatives, the EIR need examine in detail only the ones the City determines could feasibly attain most of the basic objectives of the project. An EIR need not consider an alternative whose effect cannot be reasonably ascertained and whose implementation is remote and speculative.
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-22 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP Feasibility of Alternatives: The factors that may be taken into account when addressing the feasibility of alternatives include: site suitability; economic viability; availability of infrastructure; general plan consistency; other plans or regulatory limitations; jurisdictional boundaries (projects with a regionally significant impact should consider the regional context); and whether the proponent already owns the alternative site or can reasonably acquire, control or otherwise have access to the site. No one factor establishes a fixed limit on the scope of reasonable alternatives.
Alternative Locations: The first step in the alternative location analysis is to determine whether any of the significant effects of the project could be avoided or substantially lessened by putting the project in another location. This is the key question in this analysis. Only locations that would avoid or substantially lessen any of the significant effects of the project need be considered for inclusion in the EIR.
The second step in this analysis is to determine whether any of the alternative locations are feasible. If the City concludes that no feasible alternative locations exist, it must disclose its reasons, and it should include them in the EIR. When a previous document has sufficiently analyzed a range of reasonable alternative locations and environmental impacts for a project with the same basic purpose, the City should review the previous document and incorporate the previous document by reference. To the extent the circumstances have remained substantially the same with respect to an alternative, the EIR may rely on the previous document to help it assess the feasibility of the potential project alternative.
The “No Project” Alternative: The specific alternative of “no project” must be evaluated along with its impacts. The purpose of describing and analyzing the no project alternative is to allow decision-makers to compare the impacts of approving the proposed project with the impacts of not approving the proposed project. The no project alternative may be different from the baseline environmental conditions. The no project alternative will be the same as the baseline only if it is identical to the existing environmental setting and the Lead Agency has chosen the existing environmental setting as the baseline.
A discussion of the “no project” alternative should proceed along one of two lines:
(a) When the project is the revision of an existing land use or regulatory plan, policy or ongoing operation, the “no project” alternative will be the continuation of the existing plan, policy or operation into the future. Typically, this is a situation where other projects initiated under the existing plan will continue while the new plan is developed. Thus, the projected impacts of the proposed plan or alternative plans would be compared to the impacts that would occur under the existing plan; or
(b) If the project is other than a land use or regulatory plan, for example a development project on identifiable property, the “no project” alternative is the circumstance under which the project does not proceed. This discussion would compare the environmental effects of the property remaining in its existing state against environmental effects that would occur if the project is approved. If disapproval of the project would result in predictable actions by others, such as the proposal of some other project, this “no project” consequence should be discussed.
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-23 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP After defining the “no project” alternative, the City should proceed to analyze the impacts of the “no project” alternative by projecting what would reasonably be expected to occur in the foreseeable future if the project were not approved, based on current plans and consistent with available infrastructure and community services. If the “no project” alternative is the environmentally superior alternative, the EIR must also identify another environmentally superior alternative among the remaining alternatives.
Remote or Speculative Alternatives: An EIR need not consider an alternative whose effect cannot be reasonably ascertained and whose implementation is remote and speculative. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15126.6.)
7.24 ANALYSIS OF FUTURE EXPANSION.
An EIR must include an analysis of the environmental effects of future expansion (or other similar future modifications) if there is credible and substantial evidence that:
(a) The future expansion or action is a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the initial project; and
(b) The future expansion or action is likely to change the scope or nature of the initial project or its environmental effects.
Absent these two circumstances, future expansion of a project need not be discussed.
CEQA does not require speculative discussion of future development that is unspecific or uncertain. However, if future action is not considered now, it must be considered and environmentally evaluated before it is actually implemented. (Reference: Laurel Heights Improvement Ass’n v. Regents of University of California (1988) 47 Cal.3d 376, 396.)
7.25 NOTICE OF COMPLETION OF DRAFT EIR; NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF DRAFT EIR.
Notice of Completion. When the Draft EIR is completed, a Notice of Completion (Form “H”) must be filed with the Office of Planning and Research in an electronic form via the Office of Planning and Research’s CEQA Submit website, which is located at the following web address: https://ceqasubmit.opr.ca.gov/Security/LogOn?ReturnUrl=%2f. The Notice of Completion shall contain:
(a) A brief description of the proposed project;
(b) The location of the proposed project including the proposed project’s latitude and longitude;
(c) An address where copies of the Draft EIR are available and a description of how the Draft EIR can be provided in an electronic format; and
(d) The review period during which comments will be received on the Draft EIR.
The Office of Planning and Research has developed a model form Notice of Completion.
Form H follows OPR’s model. To ensure that the documents are accepted by OPR staff, this form should be used when documents are transmitted to OPR. 951
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-24 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP Notice of Availability. At the same time it sends a Notice of Completion to the Office of Planning and Research, the City shall provide public notice of the availability of the Draft EIR by distributing a Notice of Availability of Draft EIR (Form “K”). The Notice of Availability shall include at least the following information:
(a) A brief description of the proposed project and its location; (b) The starting and ending dates for the review period during which the City will receive comments, the manner in which the City will receive those comments, and whether the review period has been shortened;
(c) The date, time, and place of any scheduled public meetings or hearings to be held by the City on the proposed project, if the City knows this information when it prepares the Notice;
(d) A list of the significant environmental effects anticipated as a result of the project; (e) The address where copies of the EIR and all documents incorporated by reference in the EIR will be available for public review, and a description of how the Draft EIR can be obtained in electronic format. This location shall be readily accessible to the public during the City’s normal working hours; and
(f) A statement indicating whether the project site is included on any list of hazardous waste facilities, land designated as hazardous waste property, or hazardous waste disposal site, and, if so, the information required in the Hazardous Waste and Substances Statement pursuant to Government Code section 65962.5.
The Notice of Availability shall be provided to:
(a) Each Responsible and Trustee Agency;
(b) Any other federal, state, or local agency that has jurisdiction by law or exercises authority over resources affected by the project, including:
(1) Any water supply agency consulted under Local Guidelines Section 5.16; (2) Any city or county bordering on the project area;
(3) For a project of statewide, regional, or area-wide significance, any transportation agencies or public agencies that have major local arterials or public transit facilities within five (5) miles of the project site; or freeways, highways, or rail transit service within ten (10) miles of the project site that could be affected by the project;
(4) For a subdivision project located within one mile of a facility of the State Water Resources Development System, the California Department of Water Resources; and
(5) For a general plan amendment, a project of statewide, regional, or area-wide significance, or a project that relates to a public use airport, to any “military service” (defined in Section 11.42 of these Local Guidelines) that has provided the City with its contact office and address and notified the City of the specific boundaries of a “low-level flight path” (defined in Section 11.37 of these Local Guidelines), “military impact zone” (defined in Section 11.41 of these Local 952
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(c) The last known name and address of all organizations and individuals who have previously filed a written request with the City to receive these Notices; (d) For certain projects that may impact a low-level flight path, military impact zone, or special use airspace and that meet the other criteria of Local Guidelines Section 7.04, the specified military services contact;
(e) For certain projects that involve the construction or alteration of a facility anticipated to emit hazardous air emissions or handle hazardous substances within one-quarter mile of a school and that meet the other requirements of Local Guidelines Section 7.36, any potentially affected school district;
(f) For certain waste-burning projects that meet the requirements of Local Guidelines Section 5.11 (see also Local Guidelines Section 7.27), the owners and occupants of property within one-fourth mile of any parcel on which the project will be located; and (g) For a project that establishes or amends a redevelopment plan that contains land in agricultural use, notice and a copy of the Draft EIR shall be provided to the agricultural and farm agencies and organizations specified in Health and Safety Code section 33333.3.
The City requires requests for copies of these Notices to be in writing and to be renewed annually; moreover, the City may charge a fee for the reasonable cost of providing these Notices.
A project will not be invalidated due to a failure to send a requested Notice provided there has been substantial compliance with these notice provisions.
Staff may also consult with and obtain comments from any person known to have special expertise or any other person or organization whose comments relative to the Draft EIR would be desirable.
Notice shall be given to the last known name and address of all organizations and individuals who have previously requested notice; by posting the notice on the website of the lead agency; and by at least one of the following :
(a) Publication of the Notice of Completion and/or the Notice of Availability at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the area affected by the proposed project. If more than one area will be affected, the notice shall be published in the newspaper of largest circulation from among the newspapers of general circulation in those areas; (b) Posting of the Notice of Completion and/or the Notice of Availability on and off site in the area where the project is to be located; or
(c) Direct mailing of the Notice of Completion and/or the Notice of Availability to owners and occupants of property contiguous to the project, as identified on the latest equalized assessment roll.
The Notice of Completion and Notice of Availability shall be posted in the office of the Clerk in each county in which the project is located for at least thirty (30) days. If the public review period for the Draft EIR is longer than thirty (30) days, the City may wish to leave the Notice posted until the public review period for the Draft EIR has expired. 953
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-26 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP Copies of the Draft EIR shall also be made available at the City office for review by members of the general public. The City may require any person obtaining a copy of the Draft EIR to reimburse the City for the actual cost of its reproduction. Copies of the Draft EIR should also be furnished to appropriate public library systems.
The City shall also post an electronic copy of the Notice of Completion, Notice of Availability, and Draft EIR on its website, if any.
(Reference: Pub. Resources Code, § 21082.1; State CEQA Guidelines, §§ 15085, 15087.)
7.26 SUBMISSION OF DRAFT EIR TO STATE CLEARINGHOUSE.
A Draft EIR must be submitted to the State Clearinghouse, at the same time as the Notice of Completion, in an electronic form as required by the Office of Planning and Research, regardless of whether the document must be circulated for review and comment by state agencies under State CEQA Guidelines section 15205 and 15206. The Draft EIR must be submitted via the Office of Planning and Research’s CEQA Submit website (https://ceqasubmit.opr.ca.gov/Security/LogOn?ReturnUrl=%2f). The CEQA Submit website differentiates between environmental documents that do require review and comment by state agencies and those that do not. In particular, the website provides a “Local Review Period” tab for submitting documents that do not require review and comment by state agencies, and a “State Review Period” tab for submitting documents that do require review and comment by state agencies.
A Draft EIR must be submitted to the State Clearinghouse for review and comment by state agencies (i.e., the Draft EIR must be submitted through the CEQA Submit website under the “State Review Period” tab) in the following situations:
(a) A state agency is the Lead Agency for the Draft EIR; (b) A state agency is a Responsible Agency, Trustee Agency, or otherwise has jurisdiction by law over resources potentially affected by the project; or (c) The Draft EIR is for a project identified in State CEQA Guidelines section 15206 as being a project of statewide, regional, or area-wide significance.
State CEQA Guidelines section 15206 identifies the following types of projects as being examples of projects of statewide, regional, or area-wide significance that require submission to the State Clearinghouse for circulation:
(1) General plans, elements, or amendments for which an EIR was prepared; (2) Projects that have the potential for causing significant environmental effects beyond the city or county where the project would be located, such as:
(a) Residential development of more than 500 units;
(b) Commercial projects employing more than 1,000 persons or covering more than 500,000 square feet of floor space;
(c) Office building projects employing more than 1,000 persons or covering more than 250,000 square feet of floor space;
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-27 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (d) Hotel or motel development of more than 500 rooms; and (e) Industrial projects housing more than 1,000 persons, occupying more than 40 acres of land, or covering more than 650,000 square feet of floor area; (3) Projects for the cancellation of a Williamson Act contract covering more than 100 acres;
(4) Projects in one of the following Environmentally Sensitive Areas:
(a) Lake Tahoe Basin;
(b) Santa Monica Mountains Zone;
(c) Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta;
(d) Suisun Marsh;
(e) Coastal Zone, as defined by the California Coastal Act; (f) Areas within one-quarter mile of a river designated as wild and scenic; or (g) Areas within the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission;
(5) Projects that would affect sensitive wildlife habitats or the habitats of any rare, threatened, or endangered species;
(6) Projects that would interfere with water quality standards; and (7) Projects that would provide housing, jobs, or occupancy for 500 or more people within 10 miles of a nuclear power plant.
A Draft EIR may also be submitted to the State Clearinghouse for review and comment by state agencies when a state agency has special expertise with regard to the environmental impacts involved.
Submission of the Draft EIR to the State Clearinghouse affects the timing of the public review period as set forth in Local Guidelines Section 7.28. (Reference: Pub. Resources Code, § 21091; State CEQA Guidelines, §§ 15205, 15206.)
7.27 SPECIAL NOTICE REQUIREMENTS FOR WASTE- AND FUEL-BURNING PROJECTS.
For any waste-burning project, as defined in Local Guidelines Section 5.11, in addition to the notice requirements specified in Local Guidelines Sections 7.25 and 7.26, Notice of Availability of the Draft EIR shall be given by direct mailing or any other method calculated to provide delivery of the notice to the owners and occupants of property within one-fourth mile of any parcel or parcels on which the project is located.
(Reference: Pub. Resources Code, § 21092(c).)
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7.28 TIME FOR REVIEW OF DRAFT EIR; FAILURE TO COMMENT.
A period of between thirty (30) and sixty (60) days from the filing of the Notice of Completion of the Draft EIR shall be allowed for review of and comment on the Draft EIR, except in unusual situations.
If the Draft EIR is for a proposed project where a state agency is the lead agency, a responsible agency, or a trustee agency; a state agency otherwise has jurisdiction by law with respect to the project; or the proposed project is of sufficient statewide, regional, or area-wide significance as determined pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines section 15206, the review period shall be at least forty-five (45) days (unless a shorter period is approved as set forth below), and the lead agency shall provide the document in an electronic form, as required by the Office of Planning and Research, to the State Clearinghouse for review and comment by state agencies.
For purposes of calculating the length of the public review period, the last day of the public review period cannot fall on a weekend, a legal holiday, or other day on which the lead agency’s offices are closed.2 (Reference: Rominger v. County of Colusa (2014) 229 Cal.App.4th 690, 708.)
If a state agency is a Responsible Agency, or if the Draft EIR is submitted to the State Clearinghouse for review and comment by state agencies, the public review period shall be at least as long as the review period established by the State Clearinghouse. The public review period and the state agency review period may, but are not required to, begin and end at the same time. The state agency review period begins (day one) on the date that the State Clearinghouse distributes the Draft EIR to state agencies. The State Clearinghouse is required to distribute the Draft EIR to state agencies within three (3) working days from the date the State Clearinghouse receives the document, as long as the Draft EIR is complete when submitted to the State Clearinghouse. If the document submitted to the State Clearinghouse is not complete, the State Clearinghouse must notify the Lead Agency. The review period for the public and all other agencies may run concurrently with the state agency review period established by the State Clearinghouse.
Under certain circumstances, a shorter review period of the Draft EIR by the State Clearinghouse can be requested by the City; however, a shortened review period shall not be less than thirty (30) days for a Draft EIR. Any request for a shortened review period must be made in writing by the City to OPR. The City may designate a person to make these requests. The City must contact all Responsible and Trustee agencies and obtain their agreement prior to obtaining a shortened review period. (See the Shortened Review Request Form “P.”) A shortened review period is not available for any proposed project of statewide, regional or area-wide environmental significance as determined pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines
2 A public agency’s “offices are closed” for purposes of this section on days in which the agency is formally closed for business (for example, due to a weekend, a legal holiday, or a formal furlough affecting the entire office). A public agency’s office is not considered closed for purposes of this section where the agency’s office may be physically closed, but the agency is nonetheless open for business and is operating remotely or virtually (for example, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic).
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 7-29 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP section 15206. Any approval of a shortened review period shall be given prior to, and reflected in, the public notices.
In the event a public agency, group, or person whose comments on a Draft EIR are solicited fails to comment within the required time period, it shall be presumed that such agency, group, or person has no comment to make, unless the Lead Agency has received a written request for a specific extension of time for review and comment and a statement of reasons for the request.
Continued planning activities concerning the proposed project, short of formal approval, may continue during the period set aside for review and comment on the Draft EIR. (Reference: Pub. Resources Code, § 21091; State CEQA Guidelines, §§ 15203, 15205(d).)
7.29 PUBLIC HEARING ON DRAFT EIR.
CEQA does not require formal public hearings for certification of an EIR; public comments may be restricted to written communications. (However, a hearing is required to utilize the limited exemption for Transit Priority Projects as explained in Local Guidelines Section 3.15; to adopt a bicycle transportation plan as explained in Local Guidelines Section
3.18; and for certain other actions involving the replacement or deletion of mitigation measures under State CEQA Guidelines section 15074.1.) However, if the City provides a public hearing on its consideration of a project, the City should include the project’s environmental review documents as one of the subjects of the hearing. Notice of the time and place of the hearing shall be given in a timely manner in accordance with any legal requirements applicable to the proposed project. Generally, the requirements of the Ralph M. Brown Act will provide the minimum requirements for the inclusion of CEQA matters on agendas and at hearings. (Gov.
Code, § 54950 et seq.) At a minimum, agendas for meetings and hearings before commissions, boards, councils, and other agencies must be posted in a location that is freely accessible to members of the public at least seventy-two (72) hours prior to a regular meeting. The agenda must contain a brief general description of each item to be discussed and the time and location of the meeting. (Gov. Code, § 54954.2.) Additionally, any legislative body or its presiding officer must post an agenda for each regular or special meeting on the local agency’s Internet Web site, if the local agency has one.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15202.)
7.30 RESPONSE TO COMMENTS ON DRAFT EIR.
The Lead Agency shall evaluate any comments on environmental issues received during the public review period for the Draft EIR and shall prepare a written response to those comments that raise significant environmental issues.
As stated below, the City, as Lead Agency, should also consider evaluating and responding to any comments received after the public review period. The written responses shall describe the disposition of any significant environmental issues that are raised in the comments.
The responses may take the form of a revision of the Draft EIR, an attachment to the Draft EIR, or some other oral or written response that is adequate under the circumstances. If the City’s 957
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Moreover, the City shall respond to any specific suggestions for project alternatives or mitigation measures for significant impacts, unless such alternatives or mitigation measures are facially infeasible. The response shall contain recommendations, when appropriate, to alter the project as described in the Draft EIR as a result of an analysis of the comments received.
At least ten (10) days prior to certifying a Final EIR, the Lead Agency shall provide its proposed written response, either in printed copy or in an electronic format, to any public agency that has made comments on the Draft EIR during the public review period. The City, as Lead Agency, is not required to respond to comments received after the public review period.
However, the City, as Lead Agency, should consider responding to all comments if it will not delay action on the Final EIR, since any comment received before final action on the EIR can form the basis of a legal challenge. A written response that addresses the comment or adequately explains the City’s action in light of the comment may assist in defending against a legal challenge.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15088.)
7.31 PREPARATION AND CONTENTS OF FINAL EIR.
Following the receipt of any comments on the Draft EIR as required herein, such comments shall be evaluated by Staff and a Final EIR shall be prepared.
The Final EIR shall meet all requirements of Local Guidelines Section 7.18 and shall consist of the Draft EIR or a revision of the Draft, a section containing either verbatim or in summary the comments and recommendations received through the review and consultation process, a list of persons, organizations and public agencies commenting on the Draft, and a section containing the responses of the City to the significant environmental points raised in the review and consultation process.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, §§ 15089, 15132.)
7.32 RECIRCULATION WHEN NEW INFORMATION IS ADDED TO EIR.
When significant new information is added to the EIR after notice and consultation but before certification, the Lead Agency must recirculate the Draft EIR for another public review period. The term “information” can include changes in the project or environmental setting as well as additional data or other information.
New information is significant only when the EIR is changed in a way that would deprive the public of a meaningful opportunity to comment upon a substantial adverse environmental 958
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(1) New information added to an EIR discloses:
(a) A new significant environmental impact resulting from the project or from a new mitigation measure proposed to be implemented; or (b) A significant increase in the severity of an environmental impact (unless mitigation measures are also adopted that reduce the impact to a level of insignificance); or
(c) A feasible project alternative or mitigation measure that clearly would lessen the significant environmental impacts of the project, but which the project proponents decline to adopt; or
(2) The Draft EIR is so fundamentally and basically inadequate and conclusory in nature that meaningful public review and comment were precluded.
Recirculation is not required when the new information added to the EIR merely clarifies or amplifies or makes insignificant modifications in an adequate EIR. If the revision is limited to a few chapters or portions of the EIR, the City as Lead Agency need only recirculate the chapters or portions that have been modified. A decision to not recirculate an EIR must be supported by substantial evidence in the record.
When the City determines to recirculate a Draft EIR, it shall give Notice of Recirculation (Form “M”) to every agency, person, or organization that commented on the prior Draft EIR.
The Notice of Recirculation must indicate whether new comments must be submitted and whether the City has exercised its discretion to require reviewers to limit their comments to the revised chapters or portions of the recirculated EIR. The City shall also consult again with those persons contacted pursuant to Local Guidelines Section 7.25 before certifying the EIR. When the EIR is substantially revised and the entire EIR is recirculated, the City may require that reviewers submit new comments and need not respond to those comments received during the earlier circulation period. In those cases, the City should advise reviewers that, although their previous comments remain part of the administrative record, the final EIR will not provide a written response to those comments, and new comments on the revised EIR must be submitted.
The City need only respond to those comments submitted in response to the revised EIR.
When the EIR is revised only in part and the City is recirculating only the revised chapters or portions of the EIR, the City may request that reviewers limit their comments to the revised chapters or portions. The City need only respond to: (1) comments received during the initial circulation period that relate to chapters or portions of the document that were not revised and recirculated, and (2) comments received during the recirculation period that relate to the chapters or portions of the earlier EIR that were revised and recirculated.
When recirculating a revised EIR, either in whole or in part, the City must, in the revised EIR or by an attachment to the revised EIR, summarize the revisions made to the previously circulated draft EIR.
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7.33 CERTIFICATION OF FINAL EIR.
Following the preparation of the Final EIR, Staff shall review the Final EIR and make a recommendation to the decision-making body regarding whether the Final EIR has been completed in compliance with CEQA, the State CEQA Guidelines and the City’s Local Guidelines. The Final EIR and Staff recommendation shall then be presented to the decisionmaking body. The decision-making body shall independently review and consider the information contained in the Final EIR and determine whether the Final EIR reflects its independent judgment. Before it approves the project, the decision-making body must certify and find that: (1) the Final EIR has been completed in compliance with CEQA, the State CEQA Guidelines and the City’s Local Guidelines; (2) the Final EIR was presented to the decisionmaking body and the decision-making body reviewed and considered the information contained in the Final EIR before approving the project; and (3) the Final EIR reflects the City’s independent judgment and analysis.
Except in those cases in which the City Council is the final decision-making body for the project, any interested person may appeal the certification or denial of certification of a Final EIR to the City Council. Appeals must follow the procedures prescribed by the City. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15090.)
7.34 CONSIDERATION OF EIR BEFORE APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL OF PROJECT.
Once the decision-making body has certified the EIR, it may then proceed to consider the proposed project for purposes of approval or disapproval. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15092.)
7.35 FINDINGS.
The decision-making body shall not approve or carry out a project if a completed EIR identifies one or more significant environmental effects of the project unless it makes one or more of the following written findings for each such significant effect, accompanied by a brief explanation of the rationale supporting each finding. For impacts that have been identified as potentially significant, the possible findings are:
(a) Changes or alterations have been required in, or incorporated into, the project which mitigate or avoid the significant effects on the environment as identified in the Final EIR, such that the impact has been reduced to a less-than-significant level; (b) Such changes or alterations are within the responsibility and jurisdiction of another public agency and not the City. Such changes have been, or can and should be, adopted by that other agency; or
(c) Specific economic, legal, social, technological or other considerations, including considerations for the provision of employment opportunities for highly trained workers, make infeasible the mitigation measures or alternatives identified in the Final EIR. The 960
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The findings required by this Section shall be supported by substantial evidence in the record. Measures identified and relied on to mitigate environmental impacts identified in the EIR to below a level of significance should be expressly adopted or rejected in the findings. The findings should include a description of the specific reasons for rejecting any mitigation measures or project alternatives identified in the EIR that would reduce the significant impacts of the project. Any mitigation measures that are adopted must be fully enforceable through permit conditions, agreements, or other measures.
If any of the proposed alternatives could avoid or lessen an adverse impact for which no mitigation measures are proposed, the City shall analyze the feasibility of such alternative(s). If the project is to be approved without including such alternative(s), the City shall find that specific economic, legal, social, technological or other considerations, including considerations for the provision of employment opportunities for highly trained workers, make infeasible the alternatives identified in the Final EIR and shall list such considerations before such approval.
The decision-making body shall not approve or carry out a project as proposed unless:
(1) the project as approved will not have a significant effect on the environment; or (2) the project’s significant environmental effects have been eliminated or substantially lessened (as determined through one or more of the findings indicated above), and any remaining unavoidable significant effects have been found acceptable because of facts and circumstances described in a Statement of Overriding Considerations (see Local Guidelines Section 7.37). Statements in the Draft EIR or comments on the Draft EIR are not determinative of whether the project will have significant effects.
When making the findings required by this Section, the City as Lead Agency shall specify the location and custodian of the documents or other material which constitute the record of proceedings upon which it based its decision.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15091.)
7.36 SPECIAL FINDINGS REQUIRED FOR FACILITIES THAT MAY EMIT HAZARDOUS AIR EMISSIONS NEAR SCHOOLS.
Special procedural rules apply to projects involving the construction or alteration of a facility within one-quarter mile of a school when: (1) the facility might reasonably be anticipated to emit hazardous air emissions or to handle an extremely hazardous substance or a mixture containing extremely hazardous substances in a quantity equal to or greater than the threshold specified in Health and Safety Code section 25532(j); and (2) the emissions or substances may pose a health or safety hazard to persons who would attend or would be employed at the school. If the project meets both of those criteria, the Lead Agency may not certify an EIR or approve a Negative Declaration or Mitigated Negative Declaration unless it makes a finding that:
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(b) The school district was given written notification of the project not less than thirty (30) days prior to the proposed certification of the EIR or approval of the Negative Declaration or Mitigated Negative Declaration.
Implementation of this Local Guideline shall be consistent with the definitions and terms utilized in State CEQA Guidelines section 15186.
Additionally, in its role as a Responsible Agency, the City should be aware that for projects involving the acquisition of a school site or the construction of a secondary or elementary school by a school district, the Negative Declaration, Mitigated Negative Declaration, or EIR prepared for the project may not be adopted or certified unless there is sufficient information in the entire record to determine whether any boundary of the school site is within 500 feet of the edge of the closest traffic lane of a freeway or other busy traffic corridor.
If it is determined that the project involves the acquisition of a school site that is within 500 feet of the edge of the closest traffic lane of a freeway, or other busy traffic corridor, the Negative Declaration, Mitigated Negative Declaration, or EIR may not be adopted or certified unless the school board determines, through a health risk assessment pursuant to Section 44360(b)(2) of the Health and Safety Code and after considering any potential mitigation measures, that the air quality at the proposed project site does not present a significant health risk to pupils.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15186.)
7.37 STATEMENT OF OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS.
Before a project that has unmitigated significant adverse environmental effects can be approved, the decision-making body must adopt a Statement of Overriding Considerations. If the decision-making body finds in the Statement of Overriding Considerations that specific benefits of a proposed project outweigh the unavoidable adverse environmental effects, the adverse environmental effects may be considered “acceptable.” Accordingly, the Statement of Overriding Considerations allows the decision-making body to approve a project despite one or more unmitigated significant environmental impacts identified in the Final EIR. A Statement of Overriding Considerations can be made only if feasible project alternatives or mitigation measures do not exist to reduce the environmental impact(s) to a level of insignificance and the benefits of the project outweigh the adverse environmental effect(s). The feasibility of project alternatives or mitigation measures is determined by whether the project alternative or mitigation measure can be accomplished within a reasonable period of time, taking into account economic, environmental, social, legal and technological factors.
Project benefits that are appropriate to consider in the Statement of Overriding Considerations include the economic, legal, environmental, technological and social value of the project. The City may also consider region-wide or statewide environmental benefits. 962
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7.38 MITIGATION MONITORING OR REPORTING PROGRAM FOR EIR.
When making findings regarding an EIR, the City must do all of the following:
(a) Adopt a reporting or monitoring program to assure that mitigation measures that are required to mitigate or avoid significant effects on the environment will be implemented by the project proponent or other responsible party in a timely manner, in accordance with conditions of project approval;
(b) Make sure all conditions and mitigation measures are feasible and fully enforceable through permit conditions, agreements, or other measures. Such permit conditions, agreements, and measures must be consistent with applicable constitutional requirements such as the “nexus” and “rough proportionality” standards established by case law; and (c) Specify the location and the custodian of the documents which constitute the record of proceedings upon which the City based its decision in the resolution certifying the EIR.
There is no requirement that the reporting or monitoring program be circulated for public review; however, the City may choose to circulate it for public comments along with the Draft EIR. Any mitigation measures required to mitigate or avoid significant effects on the environment shall be adopted and made fully enforceable, such as by being imposed as conditions of project approval.
The adequacy of a mitigation monitoring program is determined by the “rule of reason.” This means that a mitigation monitoring program does not need to provide every imaginable measure. It needs only to provide measures that are reasonably feasible and that are necessary to avoid significant impacts or to reduce the severity of impacts to a less-than-significant level.
The mitigation monitoring or reporting program shall be designed to assure compliance with the mitigation measures during the implementation and construction of the project. If a Responsible Agency or Trustee Agency has required that certain conditions be incorporated into the project, the City may request that agency to prepare and submit a proposed reporting or monitoring program. The City shall also require that, prior to the close of the public review period for a Draft EIR, the Responsible or Trustee Agency submit detailed performance objectives for mitigation measures, or refer the City to appropriate, readily available guidelines or reference documents. Any mitigation measures submitted to the City by a Responsible or Trustee Agency shall be limited to measures that mitigate impacts to resources that are within the Responsible or Trustee Agency’s authority.
When a project is of statewide, regional, or area-wide significance, any transportation information resulting from the reporting or monitoring program required to be adopted by the City shall be submitted to the regional transportation planning agency where the project is located and to the Department of Transportation. The transportation planning agency and the 963
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Local agencies have the authority to levy fees sufficient to pay for this program.
Therefore, the City may impose a program to charge project proponents fees to cover actual costs of program processing and implementation.
The City may delegate reporting or monitoring responsibilities to an agency or to a private entity that accepts the delegation; however, until mitigation measures have been completed, the City remains responsible for ensuring that implementation of the mitigation measures occurs in accordance with the program.
The City may choose whether its program will monitor mitigation, report on mitigation, or both. “Reporting” is defined as a written compliance review that is presented to the Board or an authorized staff person. A report may be required at various stages during project implementation or upon completion of the mitigation measure. Reporting is suited to projects that have readily measurable or quantitative mitigation measures or that already involve regular review. “Monitoring” is generally an ongoing or periodic process of project oversight.
Monitoring is suited to projects with complex mitigation measures that may exceed the expertise of the City to oversee, are expected to be implemented over a period of time, or require careful implementation to assure compliance.
At its discretion, the City may adopt standardized policies and requirements to guide individually adopted programs.
Standardized policies or requirements for monitoring and reporting may describe, but are not limited to:
(a) The relative responsibilities of various departments within the City for various aspects of the program;
(b) The responsibilities of the project proponent;
(c) Guidelines adopted by the City to govern preparation of programs; (d) General standards for determining project compliance with the mitigation measures and related conditions of approval;
(e) Enforcement procedures for noncompliance, including provisions for administrative appeal; and/or
(f) A process for informing the Board and staff of the relative success of mitigation measures and using those results to improve future mitigation measures.
When a project is of statewide, regional, or area-wide importance, any transportation information generated by a mitigation monitoring or reporting program must be submitted to the transportation planning agency in the region where the project is located, as well as to the Department of Transportation.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15097.)
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7.39 NOTICE OF DETERMINATION.
After approval of a project for which the City is the Lead Agency, Staff shall cause a Notice of Determination (Form “F”) to be prepared, filed, and posted. The Notice of Determination shall include the following information:
(a) An identification of the project, including its common name, where possible, and its location. If the notice of determination is filed with the State Clearinghouse, the State Clearinghouse identification number for the draft EIR shall be provided. (b) A brief description of the project;
(c) The City’s name and the applicant’s name (if any). If different from the applicant, the Notice of Determination shall further provide, if applicable, the identity of the person undertaking the project that is supported, in whole or in part, through contracts, grants, subsidies, loans, or other forms of assistance from one or more public agencies, or the identity of the person receiving a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use from one or more public agencies.
(d) The date when the City approved the project;
(e) Whether the project in its approved form with mitigation will have a significant effect on the environment;
(f) A statement that an EIR was prepared and certified pursuant to the provisions of CEQA; (g) Whether mitigation measures were made a condition of the approval of the project, and whether a mitigation monitoring plan/program was adopted; (h) Whether findings were made and/or whether a Statement of Overriding Considerations was adopted for the project; and
(i) The address where a copy of the EIR (with comments and responses) and the record of project approval may be examined by the general public.
The Notice of Determination shall be filed with the Clerk of each county in which the project will be located within five (5) working days of project approval. (To determine the fees that must be paid with the filing of the Notice of Determination, see Local Guidelines Section
7.42 and the Staff Summary of the CEQA Process.) The County Clerk is required to post the Notice of Determination within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt. The Notice must be posted in the office of the Clerk for a minimum of thirty (30) days. Thereafter, the Clerk shall return the notice to the City with a notation of the period it was posted. The City shall retain the notice for not less than twelve (12) months.
Simultaneously with the filing of the Notice of Determination with the Clerk, Staff shall cause a copy of such Notice to be posted at City Offices. If the project requires discretionary approval from a state agency, the Notice of Determination shall also be filed electronically with the Office of Planning and Research within five (5) working days of project approval, along with proof that the City has paid the County Clerk the DFW fee or a completed form from DFW documenting DFW’s determination that the project will have no effect on fish and wildlife. (If the City submits the Notice of Determination in person, the City may bring an extra copy to be date stamped by OPR.)
When a request is made for a copy of the Notice of Determination prior to the date on which the City approves the project, the copy must be mailed, first class postage prepaid, within 965
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The City, when acting as lead agency, must post its Notice of Determination for a project on its website.
For projects with more than one phase, Staff shall file a Notice of Determination for each phase requiring a discretionary approval. The filing and posting of a Notice of Determination with the Clerk, and, if necessary, with OPR, usually starts a thirty (30) day statute of limitations on court challenges to the approval under CEQA. When separate notices are filed for successive phases of the same overall project, the thirty (30) day statute of limitation to challenge the subsequent phase begins to run when the second notice is filed. Failure to file the Notice may result in a one hundred eighty (180) day statute of limitations. (Reference: Pub. Resources Code, §§ 21092.2, 21108; State CEQA Guidelines, § 15094.)
7.40 DISPOSITION OF A FINAL EIR.
The City shall file a copy of the Final EIR with the appropriate planning agency of any city or county where significant effects on the environment may occur. The City shall also retain one or more copies of the Final EIR as a public record for a reasonable period of time. Finally, for private projects, the City may require that the project applicant provide a copy of the certified Final EIR to each Responsible Agency.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15095.)
7.41 PRIVATE PROJECT COSTS.
For private projects, the person or entity proposing to carry out the project shall be charged a reasonable fee to recover the estimated costs incurred by the City in preparing, circulating, and filing the Draft and Final EIRs, as well as all publication costs incident thereto.
7.42 FILING FEES FOR PROJECTS THAT AFFECT WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
At the time a Notice of Determination for an EIR is filed with the County or Counties in which the project is located, a fee of $3,839.25, or the then applicable fee, shall be paid to the Clerk for projects that will adversely affect fish or wildlife resources. These fees are collected by the Clerk on behalf of DFW.
Only one filing fee is required for each project unless the project is tiered or phased and separate environmental documents are prepared. For projects where Responsible Agencies file separate Notices of Determination, only the Lead Agency is required to pay the fee.
Note: County Clerks are authorized to charge a documentary handling fee for each project in addition to the Fish and Wildlife fees specified above. Refer to the Index in the Staff Summary to help determine the correct total amount of fees applicable to the project. 966
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No fees are required for projects with “no effect” on fish or wildlife resources or for certain projects undertaken by the DFW and implemented through a contract with a non-profit entity or local government agency. (See Local Guidelines Section 6.24 for more information regarding a “no effect” determination.)
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8. TYPES OF EIRS
8.01 EIRS GENERALLY.
This chapter describes a number of examples of various EIRs tailored to different situations. All of these types of EIRs must meet the applicable requirements of Chapter 7 of these Local Guidelines.
8.02 TIERING.
(a) Tiering Generally.
“Tiering” refers to using the analysis of general matters contained in a previously certified broader EIR in later EIRs, Negative Declarations, or Mitigated Negative Declarations prepared for narrower projects. The later EIR, Negative Declaration, or Mitigated Negative Declaration may incorporate by reference the general discussions from the broader EIR and may concentrate solely on the issues specific to the later project.
An Initial Study shall be prepared for the later project and used to determine whether a previously certified EIR may be used and whether new significant effects should be examined.
Tiering does not excuse the City from adequately analyzing reasonably foreseeable significant environmental effects of a project, nor does it justify deferring analysis to a later tier EIR, Negative Declaration, or Mitigated Negative Declaration. However, the level of detail contained in a first-tier EIR need not be greater than that of the program, plan, policy, or ordinance being analyzed. When the City is using the tiering process in connection with an EIR for a large-scale planning approval, such as a general plan or component thereof (e.g., an area plan, specific plan or community plan), the development of detailed, site-specific information may not be feasible.
Such site-specific information can be deferred, in many instances, until such time as the Lead Agency prepares a future environmental document in connection with a project of a more limited geographical scale, as long as deferral does not prevent adequate identification of significant effects of the planning approval at hand.
(b) Identifying New Significant Impacts.
When assessing whether there is a new significant cumulative effect for purposes of a subsequent tier environmental document, the Lead Agency shall consider whether the incremental effects of the project would be considerable when viewed in the context of past, present, and probable future projects.
A Lead Agency may use only a valid CEQA document as a first-tier document.
Accordingly, the City, in its role as Lead Agency, should carefully review the first-tier environmental document to determine whether or not the statute of limitations for challenging the document has run. If the statute of limitations has not expired, the City should use the firsttier document with caution and pay careful attention to the legal status of the document. If the first-tier document is subsequently invalidated, any later environmental document may also be defective.
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Certain “infill” projects may tier off of a previously certified EIR. An “infill” project is defined as a project with residential, retail, and/or commercial uses, a transit station, a school, or a public office building. It must be located in an urban area on a previously developed site or on an undeveloped site that is surrounded by developed uses. The project must be either consistent with land use planning strategies that achieve greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emission reduction targets, feature a small walkable community project, or where a sustainable communities or alternative planning strategy has not yet been adopted for the area, include a residential density of at least 20 units per acre or a floor area ratio of at least 0.75. The project must also meet a number of standards related to energy efficiency that are not yet defined but which SB 226 directs the Office of Planning and Research to prepare.
If an EIR was certified for a planning level decision by a city or county (such as a General Plan or Specific Plan), the scope of the CEQA review for a later “infill” project can be limited to those effects on the environment that: 1) are specific to the project or to the project site and were not addressed as significant effects in the prior EIR; or 2) substantial new information shows will be more significant than described in the prior EIR.
When a project meets the definition of “infill” and either of the above conditions exist but a Mitigated Negative Declaration cannot be adopted, then the subsequent EIR for such a project need not consider alternative locations, densities, and building intensities or growth-inducing impacts.
(d) Statement of Overriding Considerations.
A Lead Agency may also tier off of a previously prepared Statement of Overriding Considerations if certain conditions are met. (See Local Guidelines Section 7.37.) (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15152.)
8.03 PROJECT EIR.
The most common type of EIR examines the environmental impacts of a specific development project and focuses primarily on the changes in the environment that would result from the development project. This type of EIR must examine all phases of the project, including planning, construction, and operation.
If the EIR for a redevelopment plan is a Project EIR, all public and private activities or undertakings pursuant to or in furtherance of the Redevelopment Plan shall constitute a single project, which shall be deemed approved at the time of the adoption of the Redevelopment Plan.
Although the City will probably not act as a Lead Agency for a Redevelopment Plan, the City may act as a Responsible Agency.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, §§ 15161, 15180.)
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8.04 SUBSEQUENT EIR.
A Subsequent EIR is required when a previous EIR has been prepared and certified, or a Negative Declaration or Mitigated Negative Declaration has been adopted, for a project and at least one of the three following situations occur:
(a) Substantial changes are proposed in the project which will require major revisions of a previous EIR due to the identification of new significant environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects; (b) Substantial changes occur with respect to the circumstances under which the project is to be undertaken which will require major revisions of a previous EIR due to the identification of new significant environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects; or (c) New information, which was not known and could not have been known with the exercise of reasonable diligence at the time the previous EIR was certified as complete or the Negative Declaration/Mitigated Negative Declaration was adopted, becomes available and shows any of the following:
(1) the project will have one or more significant effects not discussed in a previous EIR, Negative Declaration, or Mitigated Negative Declaration; (2) significant effects previously examined will be substantially more severe than shown in a previous EIR;
(3) mitigation measures or alternatives previously found not to be feasible are in fact feasible and would substantially reduce one or more significant effects, but the project proponent declines to adopt the mitigation measures or alternatives; or (4) mitigation measures or alternatives which were not considered in a previous EIR would substantially lessen one or more significant effects on the environment, but the project proponent declines to adopt the mitigation measures or alternatives.
A Subsequent EIR must receive the same circulation and review as the previous EIR received. As a potential tool to determine whether a Subsequent EIR is required, see Form J-1 of these Local Guidelines.
In instances where the City is evaluating a modification or revision to an existing use permit, the City may consider only those environmental impacts related to the changes between what was allowed under the old permit and what is requested under the new permit. Only if these differential impacts fall within the categories described above may the City require additional environmental review.
When the City is considering approval of a development project that is consistent with a general plan for which an EIR was completed, another EIR is required only if the project causes environmental effects peculiar to the parcel which were not addressed in the prior EIR or substantial new information shows the effects peculiar to the parcel will be more significant than described in the prior EIR. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15162.) 970
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8.05 SUPPLEMENTAL EIR.
The City may choose to prepare a Supplemental EIR, rather than a Subsequent EIR, if any of the conditions described in Local Guidelines Section 8.04 have occurred but only minor additions or changes would be necessary to make the previous EIR adequately apply to the project in the changed situation. To assist the City in making this determination, the decisionmaking body should request an Initial Study and/or a recommendation by Staff. The Supplemental EIR need contain only the information necessary to make the previous EIR adequate for the project as revised.
A Supplemental EIR shall be given the same kind of notice and public review as is given to a Draft EIR but may be circulated by itself without recirculating the previous EIR.
When the decision-making body decides whether to approve the project, it shall consider the previous EIR as revised by the Supplemental EIR. Findings shall be made for each significant effect identified in the Supplemental EIR.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15163.)
8.06 ADDENDUM TO AN EIR.
The City shall prepare an Addendum to a previously certified EIR, rather than a Subsequent or Supplemental EIR, only if changes or additions to the EIR are necessary, but none of the conditions described in Local Guidelines Section 8.04 or 8.05 calling for preparation of a Subsequent or Supplemental EIR have occurred. Since significant effects on the environment were addressed by findings in the original EIR, no new findings are required in the Addendum.
An Addendum to an EIR need not be circulated for public review but should be included in or attached to the Final EIR. The decision-making body shall consider the Addendum with the Final EIR prior to making a decision on a project. A brief explanation of the decision not to prepare a Subsequent EIR or a Supplemental EIR should be included in the Addendum, the Lead Agency’s findings on the project, or elsewhere in the record. This explanation must be supported by substantial evidence.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15164.)
8.07 STAGED EIR.
When a large capital project will require a number of discretionary approvals from governmental agencies and one of the approvals will occur more than two years before construction will begin, a Staged EIR may be prepared. The Staged EIR covers the entire project in a general form or manner. A Staged EIR should evaluate a proposal in light of current and contemplated plans and produce an informed estimate of the environmental consequences of an entire project. The particular aspect of the project before the City for approval shall be discussed with a greater degree of specificity.
When a Staged EIR has been prepared, a Supplemental EIR shall be prepared when a later approval is required for the project and the information available at the time of the later 971
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(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15167.)
8.08 PROGRAM EIR.
A Program EIR is an EIR that may be prepared on an integrated series of actions that are related either:
(a) Geographically;
(b) As logical parts in a chain of contemplated actions; (c) In connection with the issuance of rules, regulations, plans or other general criteria to govern the conduct of a continuing program; or
(d) As individual projects carried out under the same authorizing statutory or regulatory authority and having generally similar environmental effects that can be mitigated in similar ways.
An advantage of using a Program EIR is that it can “[a]llow the Lead Agency to consider broad policy alternatives and program wide mitigation measures at an early time when the agency has greater flexibility to deal with basic problems or cumulative impacts.” (State CEQA Guidelines section 15168(b)(4).) A Program EIR is distinct from a Project EIR, as a Project EIR is prepared for a specific project and must examine in detail site-specific considerations. Program EIRs are commonly used in conjunction with the process of tiering.
Tiering is the coverage of general matters in broader EIRs (such as on general plans or policy statements) with subsequent narrower EIRs. (State CEQA Guidelines section 15385; see also Local Guidelines Sections 8.02 and 11.73.) Tiering is proper “when it helps a public agency to focus upon the issues ripe for decision at each level of environmental review and in order to exclude duplicative analysis of environmental effects examined in previous environmental impact reports.” (Pub. Res. Code, § 21093(a).) For example, the California Supreme Court has ruled that “CEQA does not mandate that a first-tier program EIR identify with certainty particular sources of water for second-tier projects that will be further analyzed before implementation during later stages of the program. Rather, identification of specific sources is required only at the second-tier stage when specific projects are considered.” (In re Bay-Delta etc. (2008) 43 Cal. 4th 1143.)
Subsequent activities in the program must be examined in light of the Program EIR to determine whether additional environmental documents must be prepared. Additional environmental review documents must be prepared if the proposed later project may arguably cause significant adverse effects on the environment.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15168.)
8.09 USE OF A PROGRAM EIR WITH SUBSEQUENT EIRS AND NEGATIVE DECLARATIONS.
A Program EIR can be used to simplify the task of preparing environmental documents on later activities in the program. The Program EIR can:
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(b) Be incorporated by reference to deal with regional influences, secondary effects, cumulative impacts, broad alternatives and other factors that apply to the program as a whole; or
(c) Focus an EIR on a later activity to permit discussion solely of new effects which had not been considered before.
If a Program EIR is prepared for a redevelopment plan, subsequent activities in the redevelopment program will be subject to review if they would have effects that were not examined in the Program EIR. Where the later activities involve site-specific operations, the City should use a written checklist or similar device to document the evaluation of the site and the proposed activity to determine whether the environmental effects of the operation were within the scope of the Program EIR. 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 an EIR, Negative Declaration, or Mitigated Negative Declaration. That later analysis may tier from the Program EIR as provided in State CEQA Guidelines section 15152.
If the City finds that no Subsequent EIR would be required, the City can approve the activity as being within the scope of the project covered by the Program EIR, and no new environmental document is required. (See Local Guidelines Section 8.04.) Whether a later activity is within the scope of a Program EIR is a factual question that the Lead Agency determines based on substantial evidence in the record. Factors that the Lead Agency may consider in making that determination include, but are not limited to, consistency of the later activity with the type of allowable land use, overall planned density and building intensity, geographic area analyzed for environmental impacts, and covered infrastructure, as described in the Program EIR.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15168.)
8.10 USE OF AN EIR FROM AN EARLIER PROJECT.
A single EIR may be used to describe more than one project when the projects involve substantially identical environmental impacts. Any environmental impacts peculiar to one of the projects must be separately set forth and explained.
(Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15165.)
8.11 MASTER EIR.
A Master EIR is an EIR which may be prepared for:
(a) A general plan (including elements and amendments); (b) A specific plan;
(c) A project consisting of smaller individual projects to be phased; (d) A regulation to be implemented by subsequent projects; (e) A project to be carried out pursuant to a development agreement; (f) A project pursuant to or furthering a redevelopment plan; 973
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) TYPES OF EIRS 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 8-7 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (g) A state highway or mass transit project subject to multiple reviews or approvals; or (h) A regional transportation plan or congestion management plan.
A Master EIR must do both of the following:
(a) Describe and present sufficient information about anticipated subsequent projects within its scope, including their size, location, intensity, and scheduling; and (b) Preliminarily describe potential impacts of anticipated subsequent projects for which insufficient information is available to support a full impact assessment.
The City and Responsible Agencies identified in the Master EIR may use the Master EIR to limit environmental review of subsequent projects. However, the Lead Agency for the subsequent project must prepare an Initial Study to determine whether the subsequent project and its significant environmental effects were included in the Master EIR. If the Lead Agency for the subsequent project finds that the subsequent project will have no additional significant environmental effect and that no new mitigation measures or alternatives may be required, it may prepare written findings to that effect without preparing a new environmental document. When the Lead Agency makes this finding, it must provide public notice of the availability of its proposed finding for public review and comment in the same manner as if it were providing public notice of the availability of a draft EIR. (See Sections 15177(d) and 15087 of the State CEQA Guidelines and Section 7.25 of these Local Guidelines.) A previously certified Master EIR cannot be relied upon to limit review of a subsequent project if:
(a) A project not identified in the certified Master EIR has been approved and that project may affect the adequacy of the Master EIR for the subsequent project now under consideration; or
(b) The Master EIR was certified more than five (5) years before the filing of an application for the subsequent project, unless the City reviews the adequacy of the Master EIR and:
(1) Finds that, since the Master EIR was certified, no substantial changes have occurred that would cause the subsequent project to have significant environmental impacts, and there is no new information that the subsequent project would have significant environmental impacts; or (2) Prepares an Initial Study and either certifies a Subsequent or Supplemental EIR or adopts a Mitigated Negative Declaration that addresses any substantial changes or new information that would cause the subsequent project to have potentially significant environmental impacts. The certified subsequent or supplemental EIR must either be incorporated into the previously certified Master EIR or the City must identify any deletions, additions or other modifications to the previously certified Master EIR in the new document. The City may include a section in the subsequent or supplemental EIR that identifies these changes to the previously certified Master EIR.
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8.12 FOCUSED EIR.
A Focused EIR is an EIR for a subsequent project identified in a Master EIR. It may be used only if the City finds that the Master EIR’s analysis of cumulative, growth-inducing, and irreversible significant environmental effects is adequate for the subsequent project. The Focused EIR must incorporate by reference the Master EIR.
The Focused EIR must analyze additional significant environmental effects not addressed in the Master EIR and any new mitigation measures or alternatives not included in the Master EIR. “Additional significant effects on the environment” means those project-specific effects on the environment that were not addressed as significant effects on the environment in the Master EIR.
The Focused EIR must also examine the following:
(a) Significant effects discussed in the Master EIR for which substantial new information exists that shows those effects may be more significant than described in the Master EIR; (b) Those mitigation measures found to be infeasible in the Master EIR for which substantial new information exists that shows the effects may be more significant than described in the Master EIR; and
(c) Those mitigation measures found to be infeasible in the Master EIR for which substantial new information exists that shows those measures may now be feasible.
The Focused EIR need not examine the following effects:
(a) Those that were mitigated through Master EIR mitigation measures; or (b) Those that were examined in the Master EIR in sufficient detail to allow project-specific mitigation or for which mitigation was found to be the responsibility of another agency.
A Focused EIR may be prepared for a multifamily residential project not exceeding 100 units or a mixed use residential project not exceeding 100,000 square feet even though the project was not identified in a Master EIR, if the following conditions are met:
(a) The project is consistent with a general plan, specific plan, community plan, or zoning ordinance for which an EIR was prepared within five (5) years of the Focused EIR’s certification;
(b) The project does not require the preparation of a Subsequent or Supplemental EIR; and (c) The parcel is surrounded by immediately contiguous urban development, was previously developed with urban uses, or is within one-half mile of a rail transit station.
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8.13 SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS.
An EIR for a redevelopment plan may be a Master EIR, Program EIR or Project EIR. An EIR for a redevelopment plan must specify whether it is a Master EIR, a Program EIR or a Project EIR. Normally, the City will not be a Lead Agency for a redevelopment plan. However, if the City is a Responsible Agency on such a project, the City should endeavor to ensure that the county and/or applicable city as the case may be, as Lead Agency, analyzes these impacts in accordance with CEQA.
If a Program EIR is prepared for a redevelopment plan, subsequent activities in the redevelopment program will be subject to review if they would have effects that were not examined in the Program EIR. The Lead Agency should use a written checklist or similar device to document the evaluation of the site and the proposed activity to determine whether the environmental effects of the operation were indeed covered in the Program EIR. If the Lead Agency finds that no new effects could occur, no new mitigation measures would be required or that State CEQA Guidelines sections 15162 and 15163 do not otherwise apply, the Lead Agency can approve the activity as being within the scope of the project covered by the Program EIR, and no new environmental document is required.
If the EIR for a redevelopment plan is a Project EIR, all public and private activities or undertakings pursuant to or in furtherance of the Redevelopment Plan shall constitute a single project, which shall be deemed approved at the time of the adoption of the Redevelopment Plan.
Once certified, no subsequent EIRs will be needed unless required by State CEQA Guidelines sections 15162 or 15163. If a Master EIR is prepared for a redevelopment plan, subsequent projects will be subject to review if they would have effects that were not examined in the Master EIR. If no new effects could occur or no new mitigation measures would be required, the Lead Agency can approve the activity as being within the scope of the project covered by the Master EIR, and no new environmental document is required. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15180.)
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9. AFFORDABLE HOUSING
9.01 STREAMLINED, MINISTERIAL APPROVAL PROCESS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING
PROJECTS
The legislature has provided reforms and incentives to facilitate and expedite the approval and construction of affordable housing.
(a) An applicant may submit an application for a development that is subject to the streamlined, ministerial approval process and is not subject to a conditional use permit or any other non-legislative discretionary approval if the development satisfies all of the following objective planning standards:
(i) The development is a multifamily housing development that contains two or more residential units.
(ii) The development is located on a site that satisfies the following:
(A) A site that is a legal parcel or parcels located in a city if, and only if, the city boundaries include some portion of either an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau, or, for unincorporated areas, a legal parcel or parcels wholly within the boundaries of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau. (B) A site in which at least 75 percent of the perimeter of the site adjoins parcels that are developed with urban uses. For the purposes of this section, parcels that are only separated by a street or highway shall be considered to be adjoined.
(C))(1) A site that meets the requirements of clause (2) and satisfies any of the following:
(I) The site is zoned for residential use or residential mixed-use development.
(II) The site has a general plan designation that allows residential use or a mix of residential and nonresidential uses.
(III) The site is zoned for office or retail commercial use and meets the requirements of Gov. Code section 65852.24.
(2) At least two-thirds of the square footage of the development designated for residential use. Additional density, floor area, and units, and any other concession, incentive, or waiver of development standards granted pursuant to the Density Bonus Law in Government Code section 65915 shall be included in the square footage calculation. The square footage of the development shall not include underground space, such as basements or underground parking garages. 977
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-2 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (iii) If the development contains units that are subsidized, the development proponent already has recorded, or is required by law to record, a land use restriction or covenant providing that any lower or moderate income housing units required pursuant to subparagraph B of Paragraph (iv) of this Subsection shall remain available at affordable housing costs or rent to persons and families of lower or moderate income for the following applicable minimum durations:
(A) Fifty-five years for units that are rented.
(B) Forty-five years for units that are owned.
(iv) The development satisfies subparagraphs (A) and (B) below:
(A) The development is located in a locality that the department has determined is subject to this subparagraph on the basis that the number of units that have been issued building permits, as shown on the most recent production report received by the department, is less than the locality’s share of the regional housing needs, by income category, for that reporting period. A locality shall remain eligible under this subparagraph until the department’s determination for the next reporting period. A locality shall be subject to this subparagraph if it has not submitted an annual housing element report to the department pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 65400 for at least two consecutive years before the development submitted an application for approval under this section.
(B) The development is subject to a requirement mandating a minimum percentage of below market rate housing based on one of the following:
(1) The locality did not submit its latest production report to the department by the time period required by Government Code section 65400, or that production report reflects that there were fewer units of above moderate-income housing approved than were required for the regional housing needs assessment cycle for that reporting period. In addition, if the project contains more than 10 units of housing, the project does either of the following:
A. The project dedicates a minimum of 10 percent of the total number of units, before calculating any density bonus, to housing affordable to households making at or below 80 percent of the area median income. However, if the locality has adopted a local ordinance that requires that greater than 10 percent of the units be dedicated to housing affordable to households making below 80 percent of the area median income, that local ordinance applies.
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-3 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP B. If the project is located within the San Francisco Bay area, the project, in lieu of complying with subclause (A), dedicates 20 percent of the total number of units, before calculating any density bonus, to housing affordable to households making below 120 percent of the area median income with the average income of the units at or below 100 percent of the area median income. However, a local ordinance adopted by the locality applies if it requires greater than 20 percent of the units be dedicated to housing affordable to households making at or below 120 percent of the area median income, or requires that any of the units be dedicated at a level deeper than 120 percent. In order to comply with this subclause, the rent or sale price charged for units that are dedicated to housing affordable to households between 80 percent and 120 percent of the area median income shall not exceed 30 percent of the gross income of the household. For purposes of this subclause, “San Francisco Bay area” means the entire area within the territorial boundaries of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma, and the City and County of San Francisco.
(2) The locality did not submit its latest production report to the department by the time period required by Government Code section 65400, or that production report reflects that there were fewer units of housing affordable to households making at or below 80 percent of the area median income that were issued building permits than were required for the regional housing needs assessment cycle for that reporting period, and the project seeking approval dedicates 50 percent of the total number of units, before calculating any density bonus, to housing affordable to households making at or below 80 percent of the area median income.
However, if the locality has adopted a local ordinance that requires that greater than 50 percent of the units be dedicated to housing affordable to households making at or below 80 percent of the area median income, that ordinance applies.
(3) The locality did not submit its latest production report to the department by the time period required by Government Code section 65400, or if the production report reflects that there were fewer units of housing affordable to any income level described in clause (i) or (ii) that were issued building permits than were required for the regional housing needs assessment cycle for that reporting period, the project seeking approval may choose between utilizing clause (i) or (ii). (C)(i) A development proponent that uses a unit of affordable housing to satisfy the requirements of subparagraph (B) may also satisfy any other local or state requirement for affordable housing, including local ordinances or the Density Bonus Law in Government Code section 65915, provided that the development proponent complies with the applicable requirements in the state or local law.
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-4 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (C)(ii) A development proponent that uses a unit of affordable housing to satisfy any other state or local affordability requirement may also satisfy the requirements of subparagraph (B), provided that the development proponent complies with applicable requirements of subparagraph (B).
(C)(iii) A development proponent may satisfy the affordability requirements of subparagraph (B) with a unit that is restricted to households with incomes lower than the applicable income limits required in subparagraph (B).
(v) The development, excluding any additional density or any other concessions, incentives, or waivers of development standards granted pursuant to the Density Bonus Law in Government Code section 65915, is consistent with objective zoning standards and objective design review standards in effect at the time that the development is submitted to the local government pursuant to this section. For purposes of this paragraph, “objective zoning standards” and “objective design review standards” mean standards that involve no personal or subjective judgment by a public official and are uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark or criterion available and knowable by both the development applicant or proponent and the public official prior to submittal. These standards may be embodied in alternative objective land use specifications adopted by a city or county, and may include, but are not limited to, housing overlay zones, specific plans, inclusionary zoning ordinances, and density bonus ordinances, subject to the following:
(A) A development shall be deemed consistent with the objective zoning standards related to housing density, as applicable, if the density proposed is compliant with the maximum density allowed within that land use designation, notwithstanding any specified maximum unit allocation that may result in fewer units of housing being permitted.
(B) In the event that objective zoning, general plan, or design review standards are mutually inconsistent, a development shall be deemed consistent with the objective zoning standards pursuant to this section if the development is consistent with the standards set forth in the general plan. (C) A project that satisfies the requirements of Government Code section 65852.24 shall be deemed consistent with objective zoning standards, objective design standards, and objective subdivision standards if the project is consistent with the provisions of subdivision (b) of Government Code section 65852.24 and if none of the square footage in the project is designated for hotel, motel, bed and breakfast inn, or other transient lodging use, except for a residential hotel. For purposes of this subdivision, “residential hotel” shall have the same meaning as defined in Section 50519 of the Health and Safety Code. 980
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-5 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (vi) The development is not located on a site that is any of the following:
(A) A coastal zone, as defined in Division 20 (commencing with Section 30000) of the Public Resources Code.
(B) Either prime farmland or farmland of statewide importance, as defined pursuant to United States Department of Agriculture land inventory and monitoring criteria, as modified for California, and designated on the maps prepared by the Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program of the Department of Conservation, or land zoned or designated for agricultural protection or preservation by a local ballot measure that was approved by the voters of that jurisdiction.
(C) Wetlands, as defined in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Manual.
(D) Within a very high fire hazard severity zone, as determined by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to Section 51178, or within a high or very high fire hazard severity zone as indicated on maps adopted by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to Section 4202 of the Public Resources Code. This subparagraph does not apply to sites excluded from the specified hazard zones by a local agency, pursuant to subdivision (b) of Government Code section 51179, or sites that have adopted fire hazard mitigation measures pursuant to existing building standards or state fire mitigation measures applicable to the development.
(E) A hazardous waste site that is listed pursuant to Government Code section 65962.5 or a hazardous waste site designated by the Department of Toxic Substances Control pursuant to Section 25356 of the Health and Safety Code, unless either of the following apply:
(i) The site is an underground storage tank site that received a uniform closure letter issued pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section 25296.10 of the Health and Safety Code based on closure criteria established by the State Water Resources Control Board for residential use or residential mixed uses. This section does not alter or change the conditions to remove a site from the list of hazardous waste sites listed pursuant to Government Code section 65962.5; or (ii) The State Department of Public Health, State Water Resources Control Board, Department of Toxic Substances Control, or a local agency making a determination pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 25296.10 of the Health and Safety Code, has otherwise determined that the site is suitable for residential use or residential mixed uses.
.
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-6 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (F) Within a delineated earthquake fault zone as determined by the State Geologist in any official maps published by the State Geologist, unless the development complies with applicable seismic protection building code standards adopted by the California Building Standards Commission under the California Building Standards Law, Health and Safety Code section 18901, and by any local building department under Chapter 12.2 (commencing with Section 8875) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(G) Within a flood plain as determined by maps promulgated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, unless the development has been issued a flood plain development permit pursuant to Code of Federal Regulations section
59.1. (H) Within a floodway as determined by maps promulgated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, unless the development has received a no-rise certification in accordance with Code of Federal Regulations section
60.3(d)(3).
(I) Lands identified for conservation in an adopted natural community conservation plan pursuant to the Natural Community Conservation Planning Act, Fish and Game Code section 2800, habitat conservation plan pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.), or other adopted natural resource protection plan.
(J) Habitat for protected species identified as candidate, sensitive, or species of special status by state or federal agencies, fully protected species, or species protected by the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.), the California Endangered Species Act, Fish and Game Code section 2050, or the Native Plant Protection Act, Fish and Game Code section 1900.
(K) Lands under conservation easement.
(vii) The development is not located on a site where any of the following apply:
(A) The development would require the demolition of the following types of housing:
(1) Housing that is subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts rents to levels affordable to persons and families of moderate, low, or very low income.
(2) Housing that is subject to any form of rent or price control through a public entity’s valid exercise of its police power. 982
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-7 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (3) Housing that has been occupied by tenants within the past 10 years.
(B) The site was previously used for housing that was occupied by tenants that was demolished within 10 years before the development proponent submits an application under this section.
(C) The development would require the demolition of a historic structure that was placed on a national, state, or local historic register. (D) The property contains housing units that are occupied by tenants, and units at the property are, or were, subsequently offered for sale to the general public by the subdivider or subsequent owner of the property. (viii) The applicant has done both of the following, as applicable:
(A) Certified to the locality that either of the following is true, as applicable:
(1) The entirety of the development is a public work for purposes of Labor Code section 1720.
(2) If the development is not in its entirety a public work, that all construction workers employed in the execution of the development will be paid at least the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for the type of work and geographic area, as determined by the Director of Industrial Relations pursuant to Labor Code sections 1773 and 1773.9, except that apprentices registered in programs approved by the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards may be paid at least the applicable apprentice prevailing rate. If the development is subject to this subparagraph, then for those portions of the development that are not a public work all of the following shall apply:
(I) The development proponent shall ensure that the
prevailing wage requirement is included in all contracts for the performance of the work.
(II) All contractors and subcontractors shall pay to all construction workers employed in the execution of the work at least the general prevailing rate of per diem wages, except that apprentices registered in programs approved by the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards may be paid at least the applicable apprentice prevailing rate.
(III) Except as provided in subsection (V), all contractors and subcontractors shall maintain and verify payroll records 983
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-8 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP pursuant to Labor Code section 1776 and make those records available for inspection and copying as provided in therein. (IV) Except as provided in subsection (V), the obligation of the contractors and subcontractors to pay prevailing wages may be enforced by the Labor Commissioner through the issuance of a civil wage and penalty assessment pursuant to Labor Code section 1741, which may be reviewed pursuant to Labor Code section 1742, within 18 months after the completion of the development, by an underpaid worker through an administrative complaint or civil action, or by a joint labor-management committee through a civil action under Labor Code section 1771.2. If a civil wage and penalty assessment is issued, the contractor, subcontractor, and surety on a bond or bonds issued to secure the payment of wages covered by the assessment shall be liable for liquidated damages pursuant to Labor Code section 1742.1.
(V) Subsections (III) and (IV) shall not apply if all
contractors and subcontractors performing work on the
development are subject to a project labor agreement that requires the payment of prevailing wages to all construction workers employed in the execution of the development and provides for enforcement of that obligation through an arbitration procedure.
For purposes of this clause, “project labor agreement” has the same meaning as set forth in Public Contract Code section 2500(b)(1). (VI) Notwithstanding Labor Code section 1773.1,
subdivision (c), the requirement that employer payments not reduce the obligation to pay the hourly straight time or overtime wages found to be prevailing shall not apply if otherwise provided in a bona fide collective bargaining agreement covering the worker. The requirement to pay at least the general prevailing rate of per diem wages does not preclude use of an alternative workweek schedule adopted pursuant to Labor Code section 511 or 514.
(B)(1) For developments for which any of the following conditions apply, certified that a skilled and trained workforce shall be used to complete the development if the application is approved:
(I) On and after January 1, 2018, until December 31, 2021, the development consists of 75 or more units that are not 100 percent subsidized affordable housing and will be located within a jurisdiction located in a coastal or bay county with a population of 225,000 or more. 984
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-9 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (II) On and after January 1, 2023, until December 31, 2025, the development consists of 50 or more units that are not 100 percent subsidized affordable housing and will be located within a jurisdiction located in a coastal or bay county with a population of 225,000 or more. (III) On and after January 1, 2018, until December 31, 2019, the development consists of 75 or more units that are not 100 percent subsidized affordable housing and will be located within a jurisdiction with a population of fewer than 550,000 and that is not located in a coastal or bay county.
(IV) On and after January 1, 2020, until December 31, 2021, the development consists of more than 50 units and will be located within a jurisdiction with a population of fewer than 550,000 and that is not located in a coastal or bay county.
(V) On and after January 1, 2023, until December 31, 2025, the development consists of more than 25 units and will be located within a jurisdiction with a population of fewer than 550,000 and that is not located in a coastal bay county.
(2) For purposes of this section, “skilled and trained workforce” has the same meaning as provided in the Public Contract Code section 2600. (3) If the development proponent has certified that a skilled and trained workforce will be used to complete the development and the application is approved, the following shall apply:
(I) The applicant shall require in all contracts for the performance of work that every contractor and subcontractor at every tier will individually use a skilled and trained workforce to complete the development.
(II) Every contractor and subcontractor shall use a skilled and trained workforce to complete the development.
(III) Except as provided in subdivision (IV), the applicant shall provide to the locality, on a monthly basis while the development or contract is being performed, a report demonstrating compliance with Public Contract Code section 2600. A monthly report provided to the locality pursuant to this subclause shall be a public record under the California Public Records Act. (Government Code section 7920.000, et seq.) and shall be open to public inspection. An applicant that fails to provide a monthly report demonstrating compliance with Public Contract Code section 2600 shall be subject to a civil penalty of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per month for each month for which the report has not 985
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-10 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP been provided. Any contractor or subcontractor that fails to use a skilled and trained workforce shall be subject to a civil penalty of two hundred dollars ($200) per day for each worker employed in contravention of the skilled and trained workforce requirement. Penalties may be assessed by the Labor Commissioner within 18 months of completion of the development using the same procedures for issuance of civil wage and penalty assessments pursuant to Labor Code section 1741, and may be reviewed pursuant to the same procedures in Labor Code section 1742.
Penalties shall be paid to the State Public Works Enforcement Fund. (IV) Subdivision (III) shall not apply if all contractors and subcontractors performing work on the development are subject to a project labor agreement that requires compliance with the skilled and trained workforce requirement and provides for enforcement of that obligation through an arbitration procedure. For purposes of this subparagraph, “project labor agreement” has the same meaning as set forth in Public Contract Code section 2500(b)(1).
(C) Notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) and (B) above, a development that is subject to approval pursuant to this section is exempt from any requirement to pay prevailing wages or use a skilled and trained workforce if it meets both of the following:
(1) The project includes 10 or fewer units.
(2) The project is not a public work for purposes of Labor Code section 1720.
(ix) The development did not or does not involve a subdivision of a parcel that is, or, notwithstanding this section, would otherwise be, subject to the Subdivision Map Act (Government Code section 66410, et seq.) or any other applicable law authorizing the subdivision of land, unless either of the following apply:
(A) The development has received or will receive financing or funding by means of a low-income housing tax credit and is subject to the requirement that prevailing wages be paid pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (viii). (B) The development is subject to the requirement that prevailing wages be paid, and a skilled and trained workforce used, pursuant to paragraph (h). (x) The development shall not be upon an existing parcel of land or site that is governed under the Mobilehome Residency Law, Civil Code section 798, the Recreational Vehicle Park Occupancy Law, Civil Code section 799.20, the Mobilehome Parks Act, Health and Safety Code section 18200, or the Special Occupancy Parks Act, Health and Safety Code section 18860.
986
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-11 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (b)(i)(A)(1) Before submitting an application for a development subject to the streamlined, ministerial approval process described in this section, the development proponent shall submit to the local government a notice of its intent to submit an application. The notice of intent shall be in the form of a preliminary application that includes all of the information described in Section 65941.1 of the Government Code, as that section read on January 1, 2020. (2) Upon receipt of a notice of intent to submit an application, the local government shall engage in a scoping consultation regarding the proposed development with any California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area, as described in Section 21080.3.1 of the Public Resources Code, of the proposed development. In order to expedite compliance with this subdivision, the local government shall contact the Native American Heritage Commission for assistance in identifying any California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed development.
(3) The timeline for noticing and commencing a scoping consultation in accordance with this subdivision shall be as follows:
A. The local government shall provide a formal notice of a development proponent's notice of intent to submit an application to each California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed development within 30 days of receiving that notice of intent. The formal notice provided pursuant to this subclause shall include all of the following:
1. A description of the proposed development.
2. The location of the proposed development.
3. An invitation to engage in a scoping consultation in accordance with this subdivision.
B. Each California Native American tribe that receives a formal notice pursuant to this clause shall have 30 days from the receipt of that notice to accept the invitation to engage in a scoping consultation.
C. If the local government receives a response accepting an invitation to engage in a scoping consultation pursuant to this subdivision, the local government shall commence the scoping consultation within 30 days of receiving that response.
(B) The scoping consultation shall recognize that California Native American tribes traditionally and culturally affiliated with a geographic area have knowledge and expertise concerning the resources at issue and shall take into account the cultural significance of the resource to the culturally affiliated California Native American tribe. 987
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-12 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (C) The parties to a scoping consultation conducted pursuant to this subdivision shall be the local government and any California Native American tribe traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed development. More than one California Native American tribe traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed development may participate in the scoping consultation.
However, the local government, upon the request of any California Native American tribe traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed development, shall engage in a separate scoping consultation with that California Native American tribe. The development proponent and its consultants may participate in a scoping consultation process conducted pursuant to this subdivision if all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The development proponent and its consultants agree to respect the principles set forth in this subdivision.
(2) The development proponent and its consultants engage in the scoping consultation in good faith.
(3) The California Native American tribe participating in the scoping consultation approves the participation of the development proponent and its consultants. The California Native American tribe may rescind its approval at any time during the scoping consultation, either for the duration of the scoping consultation or with respect to any particular meeting or discussion held as part of the scoping consultation.
(D) The participants to a scoping consultation pursuant to this subdivision shall comply with all of the following confidentiality requirements: (1) Government Code sections 7927.000 and 7927.005; Public Resources Code section 21083.3, subdivision (c); (4) State CEQA Guidelines section 15120, subdivision (d); and any additional confidentiality standards adopted by the California Native American tribe participating in the scoping consultation.
(E) CEQA does not apply to the scoping consultation conducted pursuant to this subdivision.
(b)(ii)(A) If, after concluding the scoping consultation, the parties find that no potential tribal cultural resource would be affected by the proposed development, the development proponent may submit an application for the proposed development that is subject to the streamlined, ministerial approval process described in this section .
(B) If, after concluding the scoping consultation, the parties find that a potential tribal cultural resource could be affected by the proposed development and an enforceable agreement is documented between the California Native American tribe and the local government on methods, measures, and conditions for tribal cultural resource treatment, the development proponent may submit the application for a development subject to the streamlined, ministerial approval process described in this section. The 988
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-13 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP local government shall ensure that the enforceable agreement is included in the requirements and conditions for the proposed development. (C) If, after concluding the scoping consultation, the parties find that a potential tribal cultural resource could be affected by the proposed development and an enforceable agreement is not documented between the California Native American tribe and the local government regarding methods, measures, and conditions for tribal cultural resource treatment, the development shall not be eligible for the streamlined, ministerial approval process described in this section.
(D) For purposes of this paragraph, a scoping consultation shall be deemed to be concluded if either of the following occur:
(1) The parties to the scoping consultation document an enforceable agreement concerning methods, measures, and conditions to avoid or address potential impacts to tribal cultural resources that are or may be present. (2) One or more parties to the scoping consultation, acting in good faith and after reasonable effort, conclude that a mutual agreement on methods, measures, and conditions to avoid or address impacts to tribal cultural resources that are or may be present cannot be reached.
(E) If the development or environmental setting substantially changes after the completion of the scoping consultation, the local government shall notify the California Native American tribe of the changes and engage in a subsequent scoping consultation if requested by the California Native American tribe.
(b)(iii) A local government may only accept an application for streamlined, ministerial approval pursuant to this section if one of the following applies:
(A) A California Native American tribe that received a formal notice of the development proponent's notice of intent to submit an application pursuant to this section did not accept the invitation to engage in a scoping consultation. (B) The California Native American tribe accepted an invitation to engage in a scoping consultation pursuant to this section but substantially failed to engage in the scoping consultation after repeated documented attempts by the local government to engage the California Native American tribe. (C) The parties to a scoping consultation pursuant to this subdivision find that no potential tribal cultural resource will be affected by the proposed development.
(D) A scoping consultation between a California Native American tribe and the local government has occurred and resulted in an agreement. 989
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-14 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (b)(iv) A project shall not be eligible for the streamlined, ministerial process described in this section if any of the following apply:
(A) There is a tribal cultural resource that is on a national, state, tribal, or local historic register list located on the site of the project. (B) There is a potential tribal cultural resource that could be affected by the proposed development and the parties to a scoping consultation conducted pursuant to this subdivision do not document an enforceable agreement on methods, measures, and conditions for tribal cultural resource treatment, as described in this section.
(C) The parties to a scoping consultation conducted pursuant to this subdivision do not agree as to whether a potential tribal cultural resource will be affected by the proposed development.
(b)(v)(A) If, after a scoping consultation conducted pursuant to this subdivision, a project is not eligible for the streamlined, ministerial process described in this section for any or all of the following reasons, the local government shall provide written documentation of that fact, and an explanation of the reason for which the project is not eligible, to the development proponent and to any California Native American tribe that is a party to that scoping consultation:
(1) There is a tribal cultural resource that is on a national, state, tribal, or local historic register list located on the site of the project. (2) The parties to the scoping consultation have not documented an enforceable agreement on methods, measures, and conditions for tribal cultural resource treatment.
(3) The parties to the scoping consultation do not agree as to whether a potential tribal cultural resource will be affected by the proposed development. (b)(v)(B) The written documentation provided to a development proponent pursuant to this paragraph shall include information on how the development proponent may seek a conditional use permit or other discretionary approval of the development from the local government.
(b)(vi) This section is not intended, and shall not be construed, to limit consultation and discussion between a local government and a California Native American tribe pursuant to other applicable law, confidentiality provisions under other applicable law, the protection of religious exercise to the fullest extent permitted under state and federal law, or the ability of a California Native American tribe to submit information to the local government or participate in any process of the local government. (b)(vii) For purposes of this subdivision:
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-15 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (A) “Consultation” means the meaningful and timely process of seeking, discussing, and considering carefully the views of others, in a manner that is cognizant of all parties' cultural values and, where feasible, seeking agreement.
Consultation between local governments and Native American tribes shall be conducted in a way that is mutually respectful of each party's sovereignty.
Consultation shall also recognize the tribes' potential needs for confidentiality with respect to places that have traditional tribal cultural importance. A lead agency shall consult the tribal consultation best practices described in the “State of California Tribal Consultation Guidelines: Supplement to the General Plan Guidelines” prepared by the Office of Planning and Research. (B) “Scoping” means the act of participating in early discussions or investigations between the local government and California Native American tribe, and the development proponent if authorized by the California Native American tribe, regarding the potential effects a proposed development could have on a potential tribal cultural resource, as defined in Section 21074 of the Public Resources Code, or California Native American tribe, as defined in Section 21073 of the Public Resources Code.
(b) (viii) This subdivision (b) shall not apply to any project that has been approved under the streamlined, ministerial approval process provided under this section before September 25, 2020.
(c) (i) If a local government determines that a development submitted pursuant to this section is consistent with the objective planning standards specified in subdivision (a) and pursuant to paragraph (iii) of this subdivision, it shall approve the development. If a local government determines that a development submitted pursuant to this section is in conflict with any of the objective planning standards specified in subdivision (a), it shall provide the development proponent written documentation of which standard or standards the development conflicts with, and an explanation for the reason or reasons the development conflicts with that standard or standards, as follows:
(A) Within 60 days of submittal of the development to the local government pursuant to this section if the development contains 150 or fewer housing units.
(B) Within 90 days of submittal of the development to the local government pursuant to this section if the development contains more than 150 housing units.
(ii) If the local government fails to provide the required documentation pursuant to paragraph (1), the development shall be deemed to satisfy the objective planning standards specified in subdivision (a).
991
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-16 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (iii) For purposes of this section, a development is consistent with the objective planning standards specified in subdivision (a) if there is substantial evidence that would allow a reasonable person to conclude that the development is consistent with the objective planning standards. The local government shall not determine that a development, including an application for a modification under subdivision (g), is in conflict with the objective planning standards on the basis that application materials are not included, if the application contains substantial evidence that would allow a reasonable person to conclude that the development is consistent with the objective planning standards.
(d) (i) Any design review or public oversight of the development may be conducted by the local government’s planning commission or any equivalent board or commission responsible for review and approval of development projects, or the city council or board of supervisors, as appropriate. That design review or public oversight shall be objective and be strictly focused on assessing compliance with criteria required for streamlined projects, as well as any reasonable objective design standards published and adopted by ordinance or resolution by a local jurisdiction before submission of a development application, and shall be broadly applicable to development within the jurisdiction. That design review or public oversight shall be completed, and if the development is consistent with all objective standards, the local government shall approve the development as follows and shall not in any way inhibit, chill, or preclude the ministerial approval provided by this section or its effect, as applicable:
(A) Within 90 days of submittal of the development to the local government pursuant to this section if the development contains 150 or fewer housing units.
(B) Within 180 days of submittal of the development to the local government pursuant to this section if the development contains more than 150 housing units.
(ii) If the development is consistent with the requirements of subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (ix) of subdivision (a) and is consistent with all objective subdivision standards in the local subdivision ordinance, an application for a subdivision pursuant to the Subdivision Map Act (Division 2 (commencing with Government Code section 66410)) shall be exempt from the requirements of CEQA and shall be subject to the public oversight timelines set forth in paragraph (i).
(iii) If a local government determines that a development submitted pursuant to this section is in conflict with any of the standards imposed pursuant to paragraph (i), it shall provide the development proponent written documentation of which objective standard or standards the development conflicts with, and an explanation for the reason or reasons the development conflicts with that objective standard or standards consistent with the timelines described in paragraph (i) of subdivision (c).
(e) (i) Notwithstanding any other law, a local government, whether or not it has adopted an ordinance governing parking requirements in multifamily developments, shall not 992
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-17 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP impose parking standards for a streamlined development that was approved pursuant to this section in any of the following instances:
(A) The development is located within one-half mile of public transit. (B) The development is located within an architecturally and historically significant historic district.
(C) When on-street parking permits are required but not offered to the occupants of the development.
(D) When there is a car share vehicle located within one block of the development.
(ii) If the development does not fall within any of the categories described in paragraph (1), the local government shall not impose parking requirements for streamlined developments approved pursuant to this section that exceed one parking space per unit.
(f) (i) If a local government approves a development pursuant to this section, then, notwithstanding any other law, that approval shall not expire if the project satisfies both of the following requirements:
(A) The project includes public investment in housing affordability, beyond tax credits.
(B) At least 50 percent of the units are affordable to households making at or below 80 percent of the area median income. (ii) If a local government approves a development pursuant to this section and the project does not satisfy the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (f)(i), that approval shall remain valid for three years from the date of the final action establishing that approval, or if litigation is filed challenging that approval, from the date of the final judgment upholding that approval. Approval shall remain valid for a project provided construction activity, including demolition and grading activity, on the development site has begun pursuant to a permit issued by the local jurisdiction and is in progress. For purposes of this subdivision, “in progress” means one of the following:
(A) The construction has begun and has not ceased for more than 180 days.
(B) If the development requires multiple building permits, an initial phase has been completed, and the project proponent has applied for and is diligently pursuing a building permit for a subsequent 993
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-18 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP phase, provided that once it has been issued, the building permit for the subsequent phase does not lapse.
(C) Notwithstanding subparagraph (ii), a local government may grant a project a one-time, one-year extension if the project proponent can provide documentation that there has been significant progress toward getting the development construction ready, such as filing a building permit application.
(iii) If the development proponent requests a modification pursuant to subdivision (g), then the time during which the approval shall remain valid shall be extended for the number of days between the submittal of a modification request and the date of its final approval, plus an additional 180 days to allow time to obtain a building permit. If litigation is filed relating to the modification request, the time shall be further extended during the pendency of the litigation. The extension required by this paragraph shall only apply to the first request for a modification submitted by the development proponent.
(g) (i)(A) A development proponent may request a modification to a development that has been approved under the streamlined, ministerial approval process provided in subdivision (b) if that request is submitted to the local government before the issuance of the final building permit required for construction of the development.
(i)(B) Except as provided in paragraph (g)(iiii), the local government shall approve a modification if it determines that the modification is consistent with the objective planning standards specified in subdivision (a) that were in effect when the original development application was first submitted. (i)(C) The local government shall evaluate any modifications requested pursuant to this subdivision for consistency with the objective planning standards using the same assumptions and analytical methodology that the local government originally used to assess consistency for the development that was approved for streamlined, ministerial approval pursuant to subdivision (b).
(i)(D) A guideline that is adopted or amended by the Department of Housing and Community Development after a development is approved through the streamlined, ministerial approval process described in subdivision (b) shall not be used as a basis to deny proposed modifications.
(ii) Upon receipt of the development proponent’s application requesting a modification, the local government shall determine if the requested modification is consistent with the objective planning standard and either 994
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-19 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP approve or deny the modification request within 60 days after submission of the modification, or within 90 days if design review is required. (iii) Notwithstanding paragraph (g)(i), the local government may apply objective planning standards adopted after the development application was first submitted to the requested modification in any of the following instances:
(A) The development is revised such that the total number of residential units or total square footage of construction changes by 15 percent or more. The calculation of the square footage of construction changes shall not include underground space. (B) The development is revised such that the total number of residential units or total square footage of construction changes by 5 percent or more and it is necessary to subject the development to an objective standard beyond those in effect when the development application was submitted in order to mitigate or avoid a specific, adverse impact as that term is defined in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (j) of Government Code section 65589.5, upon the public health or safety and there is no feasible alternative method to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the adverse impact. The calculation of the square footage of construction changes shall not include underground space.
(C) Objective building standards contained in the California Building Standards Code (Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations), including, but not limited to, building plumbing, electrical fire, and grading codes, may be applied to all modification applications that are submitted prior to the first building permit application. Those standards may be applied to modification applications submitted after first building permit application if agreed to by the development proponent.
(iv) The local government’s review of a modification request pursuant to this subdivision shall be strictly limited to determining whether the modification, including any modification to previously approved density bonus concessions or waivers, modify the development’s consistency with the objective planning standards and shall not reconsider prior determinations that are not affected by the modification. (h) (i) A local government shall not adopt or impose any requirement, including, but not limited to, increased fees or inclusionary housing requirements, that applies to a project solely or partially on the basis that the project is eligible to receive ministerial or streamlined approval pursuant to this section.
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-20 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (ii) A local government shall issue a subsequent permit required for a development approved under this section if the application substantially complies with the development as it was approved pursuant to subdivision (b). Upon receipt of an application for a subsequent permit, the local government shall process the permit without unreasonable delay and shall not impose any procedure or requirement that is not imposed on projects that are not approved pursuant to this section. The local government shall consider the application for subsequent permits based upon the objective standards specified in any state or local laws that were in effect when the original development application was submitted, unless the development proponent agrees to a change in objective standards. Issuance of subsequent permits shall implement the approved development, and review of the permit application shall not inhibit, chill, or preclude the development. For purposes of this paragraph, a “subsequent permit” means a permit required subsequent to receiving approval under subdivision (b), and includes, but is not limited to, demolition, grading, and building permits and final maps, if necessary.
(i) (i) This section shall not affect a development proponent’s ability to use any alternative streamlined by right permit processing adopted by a local government, including the provisions of Government Code section 65583.2(i).
(ii) This section shall not prevent a development from also qualifying as a housing development project entitled to the protections of Government Code section 65589.5. This paragraph does not constitute a change in, but is declaratory of, existing law.
(j) CEQA does not apply to actions taken by a state agency, local government, or the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District to:
(i) Lease, convey, or encumber land owned by the local government or the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District or to facilitate the lease, conveyance, or encumbrance of land owned by the local government, or for the lease of land owned by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District in association with an eligible TOD project, as defined pursuant to Section 29010.1 of the Public Utilities Code, nor to any decisions associated with that lease, or to provide financial assistance to a development that receives streamlined approval pursuant to this section that is to be used for housing for persons and families of very low, low, or moderate income, as defined in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.
(ii) Approve improvements located on land owned by the local government or the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District that are necessary to 996
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-21 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP implement a development that receives streamlined approval pursuant to this section that is to be used for housing for persons and families of very low, low, or moderate income, as defined in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.
(k) For purposes of this section the following definitions shall apply:
(1) “Affordable housing cost” has the same meaning as set forth in section 50052.5 of the Health and Safety Code.
(2) (A) Subject to the qualification provided by subparagraph (B), “affordable rent” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 50063 of the Health and Safety Code.
(B) For a development for which an application pursuant to this section was submitted prior to January 1, 2019, that includes 500 units or more of housing, and that dedicates 50 percent of the total number of units to housing affordable to households making at, or below, 80 percent of the area median income, affordable rent for at least 30 percent of these units shall be set at an affordable rent as defined in subparagraph (k)(1), and “affordable rent” for the remainder of these units shall mean a rent that is consistent with the maximum rent levels for a housing development that receives an allocation of state or federal low-income housing tax credits from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee.
(3) “Department” means the Department of Housing and Community Development.
(4) “Development proponent” means the developer who submits an application for streamlined approval pursuant to this section. (5) “Completed entitlements” means a housing development that has received all the required land use approvals or entitlements necessary for the issuance of a building permit.
(6) “Locality” or “local government” means a city, including a charter city, a county, including a charter county, or a city and county, including a charter city and county.
(7) “Moderate income housing units” means housing units with an affordable housing cost or affordable rent for persons and families of moderate income, as that term is defined in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-22 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (8) “Production report” means the information reported pursuant to `subparagraph (D) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Government Code section 65400.
(9) “State agency” includes every state office, officer, department, division, bureau, board, and commission, but does not include the California State University or the University of California.
(10) “Subsidized” means units that are price or rent restricted such that the units are affordable to households meeting the definitions of very low and lower income, as defined in Sections 50079.5 and 50105 of the Health and Safety Code.
(11) “Reporting period” means either of the following:
(A) The first half of the regional housing needs assessment cycle. (B) The last half of the regional housing needs assessment cycle. (12) “Urban uses” means any current or former residential, commercial, public institutional, transit or transportation passenger facility, or retail use, or any combination of those uses.
(l) The determination of whether an application for a development is subject to the streamlined ministerial approval process provided by subdivision (b) is not a “project” under CEQA.
(m) This section shall remain in effect until January 1, 2026. (Reference: Gov. Code, § 65913.4.)
9.02 MINISTERIAL APPROVAL PROCESS FOR URBAN LOT SPLITS AND HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS WITH NO MORE THAN TWO RESIDENTIAL UNITS WITHIN A SINGLEFAMILY RESIDENTIAL ZONE (SB 9) (a) A proposed housing development containing no more than two residential units within a single-family residential zone shall be considered ministerially, without discretionary review or a hearing, and shall therefore not be subject to CEQA, if the proposed housing development meets all of the following requirements:
(1) The parcel subject to the proposed housing development is located within a city, the boundaries of which include some portion of either an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau, or for unincorporated areas, a legal parcel wholly within the boundaries of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau.
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 9-23 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (2) The parcel is not located on a site that is any of the following:
(A) Either prime farmland or farmland of statewide importance, as defined pursuant to United States Department of Agriculture land inventory and monitoring criteria, as modified for California, and designated on the maps prepared by the Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program of the Department of Conservation, or land zoned or designated for agricultural protection or preservation by a local ballot measure that was approved by the voters of that jurisdiction;
(B) Wetlands, as defined in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Manual, Part 660 FW 2 (June 21, 1993);
(C) Within a very high fire hazard severity zone, as determined by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to
Government Code section 51178, or within a high or very high fire hazard severity zone as indicated on maps adopted by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to Section 4202 of the Public Resources Code—unless the parcel is a site excluded from the specified hazard zone by a local agency, or is a site that has adopted fire hazard mitigation measures pursuant to existing building standards or state fire mitigation measures applicable to the development;
(D) A hazardous waste site that is listed pursuant to Government Code section 65962.5 or a hazardous waste site designated by the Department of Toxic Substances Control pursuant to Section 25356 of the Health and Safety Code, unless the State Department of Public Health, State Water Resources Control Board, or Department of Toxic Substances Control has cleared the site for residential use or residential mixed uses;
(E) Within a delineated earthquake fault zone as determined by the State Geologist in any official maps published by the State Geologist, unless the development complies with applicable seismic protection building code standards adopted by the California Building Standards Commission under the California Building Standards Law, and by any local building department; (F) Within a special flood hazard area subject to inundation by the 1 percent annual chance flood (100-year flood) as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in any official maps published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency;
(G) Within a regulatory floodway as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in any official maps published by 999
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development has received a no-rise certification;
(H) Lands identified for conservation in an adopted natural community conservation plan pursuant to the Natural Community
Conservation Planning Act, habitat conservation plan pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, or other adopted natural resources protection plan;
(I) Habitat for protected species identified as candidate, sensitive, or species of special status by state or federal agencies, fully protected species, or species protected by the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, the California Endangered Species Act, or the Native Plant Protection Act; or lands under conservation easement; or
(J) Lands under conservation easement.
(3) Notwithstanding any provision of this section or any local law, the proposed housing development would not require demolition or alteration of any of the following types of housing:
(A) Housing that is subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts rents to levels affordable to persons and families of moderate, low, or very low income;
(B) Housing that is subject to any form of rent or price control through a public entity’s valid exercise of its police power;
(C) Housing that has been occupied by a tenant in the last three years. (4) The parcel subject to the proposed housing development is not a parcel on which an owner of residential real property has exercised the owner’s rights to withdraw accommodations from rent or lease within 15 years before the date that the development proponent submits an application. (5) The proposed housing development does not allow the demolition of more than 25 percent of the existing exterior structural walls, unless the housing development meets at least one of the following conditions:
(A) If a local ordinance so allows; or
(B) The site has not been occupied by a tenant in the last three years (6) The development is not located within a historic district or property included on the State Historic Resources Inventory, as defined in Section 5020.1 of the Public Resources Code, or within a site that is designated or 1000
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Other regulations governing the approval of a housing development under this section are set forth in Government Code section 65852.21(a). (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of local law, a local agency shall ministerially approve, as set forth in this section, a parcel map for an urban lot split—and such urban lot split shall therefore not be subject to CEQA—only if the local agency determines that the parcel map for the urban lot split meets all of the following requirements:
(1) The parcel map subdivides an existing parcel to create no more than two new parcels of approximately equal lot area provided that one parcel shall not be smaller than 40 percent of the lot area of the original parcel proposed for subdivision.
(2) Both newly created parcels are no smaller than 1,200 square feet, except that a local agency may by ordinance adopt a smaller minimum lot size subject to ministerial approval.
(3) The parcel being subdivided meets all of the following requirements:
(A) The parcel is located within a single-family residential zone. (B) The parcel subject to the proposed urban lot split is located within a city, the boundaries of which include some portion of either an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau, or, for unincorporated areas, a legal parcel wholly within the boundaries of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau.
(C) The parcel is not located on a site enumerated in Paragraph (a)(2) above.
(D) The proposed urban lot split would not require demolition or alteration of any of the following types of housing:
(i) Housing that is subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts rents to levels affordable to persons and families of moderate, low, or very low income.
(ii) Housing that is subject to any form of rent or price control through a public entity’s valid exercise of its police power. (iii) A parcel or parcels on which an owner of residential real property has exercised the owner’s rights to withdraw
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(iv) Housing that has been occupied by a tenant in the last three years.
(E) The parcel is not located within a historic district or property included on the State Historic Resources Inventory, as defined in Section 5020.1 of the Public Resources Code, or within a site that is designated or listed as a city or county landmark or historic property or district pursuant to a city or county ordinance. (F) The parcel has not been established through prior exercise of an urban lot split as provided for in this section.
(G) Neither the owner of the parcel being subdivided nor any person acting in concert with the owner has previously subdivided an adjacent parcel using an urban lot split as provided for in this section.
Other regulations governing the approval of an urban lot split under this section are set forth in Government Code section 65852.21(b).
9.03 APPROVAL OF ORDINANCE TO ZONE ANY PARCEL FOR UP TO 10 UNITS OF RESIDENTIAL DENSITY PER PARCEL IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES (SB 10)
(a) A local government may adopt an ordinance to zone a parcel for up to 10 units of residential density per parcel, at a height specified by the local government in the ordinance, if the parcel is located in a transit-rich area or an urban infill site. This subsection shall not apply to either of the following:
(1) Parcels located within a very high fire hazard severity zone, as determined by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to Government Code section 51178, or within a high or very high fire hazard severity zone as indicated on maps adopted by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to Section 4202 of the Public Resources Code. This paragraph does not apply to sites that have adopted fire hazard mitigation measures pursuant to existing building standards or state fire mitigation measures applicable to the development.
(2) Any local restriction enacted or approved by a local initiative that designates publicly owned land as open-space land, as defined in subdivision (h) of Section 65560, or for park or recreational purposes. (b) An ordinance adopted in accordance with this section, and any resolution to amend the jurisdiction’s General Plan, ordinance, or other local regulation adopted to be consistent with that zoning ordinance, shall not constitute a “project” under CEQA.
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Other regulations governing the approval of an ordinance under this section are set forth in Government Code section 65913.5.
9.04 HOUSING SUSTAINABILITY DISTRICTS.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries. The general plan must contain seven mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law provides for various reforms and incentives intended to facilitate and expedite the construction of affordable housing. Senate Bill 73 authorizes a city, county, or city and county, including a charter agency, to establish by ordinance a housing sustainability district that meets specified requirements, including authorizing residential use within the district through the ministerial issuance of a permit. The agency is authorized to apply to the Department of Housing and Community Development for approval of a zoning incentive payment and requires the agency to provide specified information about the proposed housing sustainability district ordinance. The department is required to approve a zoning incentive payment if the ordinance meets the above-described requirements and the agency’s housing element is in compliance with specified law.
A city, county, or city and county with a housing sustainability district would be entitled to a zoning incentive payment, subject to appropriation of funds for that purpose, and require that one-half of the amount be paid when the department approves the zone and one-half of the amount be paid when the department verifies that permits for the construction of the units have issued within the zone, provided that the city, county, or city and county has received a certificate of compliance for the applicable year. If the agency reduces the density of sites within the district from specified levels set forth in the Senate Bill 73, the agency would be required to return the full amount of zoning incentive payments it has received to the department. The bill also authorizes a developer to develop a project in a housing sustainability district in accordance with the already existing land use approval procedures that would otherwise apply to the parcel in the absence of the establishment of the housing sustainability district pursuant to its provisions, as provided.
As it relates specifically to CEQA, a Lead Agency designating a housing sustainability district is required to prepare an EIR pursuant to Government Code section 66201 to identify and mitigate, to the extent feasible, environmental impacts resulting from the designation. The EIR 1003
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9.05 INTERIM MOTEL HOUSING PROJECTS.
“Interim motel housing projects” are statutorily exempt from CEQA. A project is exempt from CEQA as an “interim motel housing project” where the project consists of the conversion of a structure with a certificate of occupancy as a motel, hotel, residential hotel, or hostel to supportive or transitional housing and the conversion meets at least one of the following conditions: (1) the conversion does not result in the expansion of more than 10 percent of the floor area of any individual living unit in the structure; and (2) the conversion does not result in any significant effects relating to traffic, noise, air quality, or water quality.
If the City determines that a project is exempt from CEQA as an interim motel housing project, it must file a Notice of Exemption with the State Clearinghouse. (Reference: Pub. Resources Code, § 21080.50 [in effect until January 1, 2025].)
9.06 SUPPORTIVE HOUSING AND “NO PLACE LIKE HOME” PROJECTS.
A decision by the City to seek funding from, or the Department of Housing and Community Development’s awarding of funds pursuant to, the “No Place Like Home Program” (set forth in Part 3.9 of Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, commencing with Section 5849.1) does not constitute a “project” under CEQA. “Supportive housing” in areas where multifamily and mixed uses are permitted may be a “use by right” and thus exempt from CEQA if the supportive housing project meets certain criteria set forth in Government Code section 65651. A “supportive housing” project is a project that provides housing with no limit on length of stay, that is occupied by persons within the target population—i.e., persons with disabilities, families who are homeless, or homeless youth—and that is linked to onsite or offsite services that assist the supportive housing resident to retain housing, improve their health status, and maximize their ability to live and, when possible, work in the community. A policy by a city or county to approve as a use by right proposed housing developments with a limit higher than 50 units does not constitute a “project” under CEQA. To see the requirements of the exemptions relating to supportive housing, please see Government Code section 65651.
If a No Place Like Home project is not exempt from CEQA under Government Code section 65651, the development applicant may request, within 10 days after the City determines the type of environmental documentation required for the project under CEQA, that the City prepare and certify the record of proceeding for the environmental review of the No Place Like Home project in accordance with Public Resources Code section 21186. 1004
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(Reference: Pub. Resources Code, § 21163, et seq.; Gov. Code, § 65651; Health & Safety Code, § 50675.14.)
9.07 SHELTER CRISIS AND EMERGENCY HOUSING.
An action taken by certain cities, counties, or state agencies to lease, convey, or encumber land owned by a city or county—or an action to facilitate the lease, conveyance, or encumbrance of land owned by the local government—for, or to provide financial assistance to, a homeless shelter constructed pursuant to the provisions of Government Code section 8698.4 is statutorily exempt from CEQA. This narrow exception applies to specified efforts to assist specified cities or counties that have declared a shelter crisis and seek to build a homeless shelter. To see all the requirements of this exemption, please see Government Code section 8698.4.
(Reference: Gov. Code, § 8698.4 [in effect until January 1, 2023].)
9.08 AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS IN COMMERCIAL ZONES.
A proposed affordable multifamily housing development project is subject to streamlined, ministerial review and is not subject to CEQA if it meets the following requirements:
1. One hundred percent of the units within the development project, excluding managers’ units, must be dedicated to lower income households at an affordable cost, as defined by Section 50052.5 of the Health and Safety Code, or an affordable rent set in an amount consistent with the rent limits established by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. The units must be subject to a recorded deed restriction for a period of 55 years for rental units and 45 years for owner-occupied units.
2. The proposed development must meet applicable objective zoning standards, objective subdivision standards, and objective design review standards as further defined in Government Code section 65912.113(f) & (g).
3. The proposed housing development must meet certain density requirements set forth in Government Code section 65583.2(c)(3).
4. The project must be located in a zone where office, retail, or parking are a principally permitted use.
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5. At least 75 percent of the perimeter of the project site must adjoin parcels that are developed with urban uses. Parcels that are only separated by a street or highway shall be considered adjoined.
6. The project may not be located on a site or adjoined to any site where more than one-third of the square footage on the site is dedicated to industrial use.
7. The project site must be located on a legal parcel or parcels that are either (a) in a city where the city boundaries include some portion of either an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau; or (b) in an unincorporated area, and the legal parcel or parcels are wholly within the boundaries of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau.
8. None of the proposed housing may be located within 500 feet of a freeway.
9. None of the proposed housing may be located within 3,200 feet of a facility that actively extracts or refines oil or natural gas.
10. The project may not be located on a site that qualifies as either prime farmland or farmland of statewide importance.
11. The project site may not be located in wetlands.
12. The project site may not be located in a very high fire hazard severity zone.
13. The project site may not be located on a hazardous waste site, with limited exceptions as set forth in Government Code section 65913.4(a)(6)(E).
14. The project site may not be located within a delineated earthquake fault zone, unless the development complies with applicable seismic protection building code standards as set forth in Government Code section 65913.4(a)(6)(F).
15. The project may not be located within a special flood hazard area subject to inundation by the 1 percent annual chance flood (100-year flood) as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”).
16. The project site may not be located within a regulatory floodway as determined by FEMA, with limited exceptions as set forth in Government Code section 65913.4(a)(6)(H).
17. The project site may not be located on lands identified for conservation in an adopted natural community conservation plan pursuant to the Natural Community Conservation Planning Act, habitat conservation plan pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act, or other adopted natural resource protection plan.
18. The project site may not be located on habitat for protected species identified as candidate, sensitive, or species of special status by state or federal agencies, fully 1006
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19. The project site may not be located on lands under conservation easement.
20. The project site may not be located on an existing parcel of land or site that is governed under the Mobilehome Residency Law, the Recreational Vehicle Park Occupancy Law, the Mobilehome Parks Act, or the Special Occupancy Parks Act.
21. For a project proposed on a site within a neighborhood plan area, the applicable neighborhood plan must permit multifamily housing development on the site.
Additional requirements apply to projects within a neighborhood plan area as of January 1, 2024, as set forth in Government Code section 65912.113(i).
22. For a project proposed on a vacant site, the project may not result in significant and unavoidable impacts to tribal cultural resources on the site.
23. The development proponent must complete a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, and the proponent must undertake additional measures if a recognized environmental condition is found as set forth in Government Code section 65912.113(c).
A project approved under this section must meet certain labor standards, as set forth in Government Code section 65912.130, et seq. For example, a private housing development project under this section is subject to a requirement that all construction workers employed in the execution of the development be paid at least the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for the type of work and geographic area, as determined by the Director of Industrial Relations. (Reference: Gov. Code, § 65912.110, et seq.)
9.09 MIXED-INCOME HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS ALONG COMMERCIAL CORRIDORS.
A proposed multifamily housing development project is subject to streamlined, ministerial review and is not subject to CEQA if it meets the following requirements:
1. The proposed development project must meet all of the following affordability criteria, as set forth in greater detail in Government Code section 65912.122:
(a)(1) A rental housing development shall include either of the following:
(A) Eight percent of the units for very low income households and 5 percent of the units for extremely low income households; or (B) Fifteen percent of the units for lower income households. (2) The development proponent must agree to, and the local government must ensure, the continued affordability of all affordable rental units included pursuant to this section for 55 years.
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(A) Thirty percent of the units must be offered at an affordable housing cost, as defined in Section 50052.5 of the Health and Safety Code, to moderate-income households; or
(B) Fifteen percent of the units must be offered at an affordable housing cost, as defined in Section 50052.5 of the Health and Safety Code, to lower income households.
(2) The development proponent must agree to, and the local government must ensure, the continued affordability of all affordable rental units included pursuant to this section for 45 years.
(c) If the local government has a local affordable housing requirement, the housing development project shall comply with all of the following:
(1) The development project shall include the percentage of affordable units required by this section or the local requirement, whichever is higher.
(2) The development project shall meet the lowest income targeting in either policy.
(3) If the local affordable housing requirement requires greater than 15 percent of the units to be dedicated for lower income households and does not require the inclusion of units affordable to very low and extremely low income households, then the rental housing development shall do both of the following:
(A) Include 8 percent of the units for very low income
households and 5 percent of the units for extremely low income households; and
(B) Fifteen percent of units affordable to lower income households shall be subtracted from the percentage of units required by the local policy at the highest required
affordability level.
(d) Affordable units in the development project shall have the same bedroom and bathroom count ratio as the market rate units, be equitably distributed within the project, and have the same type or quality of appliances, fixtures, and finishes.
2. The project site must abut a commercial corridor and have frontage along the commercial corridor of at least 50 feet.
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3. The project site may not be greater than 20 acres.
4. The project must be located in a zone where office, retail, or parking are a principally permitted use.
5. At least 75 percent of the perimeter of the project site must adjoin parcels that are developed with urban uses. Parcels that are only separated by a street or highway shall be considered adjoined.
6. The project may not be located on a site or adjoined to any site where more than one-third of the square footage on the site is dedicated to industrial use.
7. The project site must be located on a legal parcel or parcels that are either (a) in a city where the city boundaries include some portion of either an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau; or (b) in an unincorporated area, and the legal parcel or parcels are wholly within the boundaries of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau.
8. The proposed development must meet applicable objective zoning standards, objective subdivision standards, and objective design review standards as further explained in Government Code section 65912.123(j).
9. The proposed housing development must meet certain density requirements set forth in Government Code section 65912.123(b).
10. The proposed housing development must meet certain height and setback requirements set forth in Government Code section 65912.123(c)-(d).
11. The project may not be located on a site where any of the following would apply:
(a) The development would require the demolition of the following types of housing: (i) housing that is subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts rents to levels affordable to persons and families of moderate, low, or very low income; (ii) housing that is subject to any form of rent or price control through a public entity’s valid exercise of its police power; (iii) or housing that has been occupied by tenants within the past 10 years, excluding any manager’s units.
(b) The site was previously used for permanent housing that was occupied by tenants, excluding any manager’s units, that was demolished within 10 years before the development proponent submitted its application for the development.
(c) The site would require the demolition of a historic structure that was placed on a national, state, or local historic register. (d) The property contains one to four dwelling units.
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(f) The existing parcel of land or site is governed under the Mobilehome Residency Law, the Recreational Vehicle Park Occupancy Law, the Mobilehome Parks Act, or the Special Occupancy Parks Act
12. None of the proposed housing may be located within 500 feet of a freeway.
13. None of the proposed housing may be located within 3,200 feet of a facility that actively extracts or refines oil or natural gas.
14. The project may not be located on a site that qualifies as either prime farmland or farmland of statewide importance.
15. The project site may not be located in wetlands.
16. The project site may not be located in a very high fire hazard severity zone.
17. The project site may not be located on a hazardous waste site, with limited exceptions as set forth in Government Code section 65913.4(a)(6)(E).
18. The project site may not be located within a delineated earthquake fault zone, unless the development complies with applicable seismic protection building code standards as set forth in Government Code section 65913.4(a)(6)(F).
19. The project may not be located within a special flood hazard area subject to inundation by the 1 percent annual chance flood (100-year flood) as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”).
20. The project site may not be located within a regulatory floodway as determined by FEMA, with limited exceptions as set forth in Government Code section 65913.4(a)(6)(H).
21. The project site may not be located on lands identified for conservation in an adopted natural community conservation plan pursuant to the Natural Community Conservation Planning Act, habitat conservation plan pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act, or other adopted natural resource protection plan.
22. The project site may not be located on habitat for protected species identified as candidate, sensitive, or species of special status by state or federal agencies, fully protected species, or species protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, the California Endangered Species Act, or the Native Plant Protection Act.
23. The project site may not be located on lands under conservation easement.
24. For a project proposed on a site within a neighborhood plan area, the applicable neighborhood plan must permit multifamily housing development on the site. 1010
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25. For a project proposed on a vacant site, the project may not result in significant and unavoidable impacts to tribal cultural resources on the site.
26. The development proponent must complete a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, and the proponent must undertake additional measures if a recognized environmental condition is found as set forth in Government Code section 65912.123(f).
A project approved under this section must meet certain labor standards, as set forth in Government Code section 65912.130, et seq. For example, a private housing development project under this section is subject to a requirement that all construction workers employed in the execution of the development be paid at least the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for the type of work and geographic area, as determined by the Director of Industrial Relations. (Reference: Gov. Code, § 65912.120, et seq.)
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10. CEQA LITIGATION
10.01 TIMELINES.
When a CEQA lawsuit is filed, there are numerous and complex time requirements that must be met. Pressing deadlines begin to run in the days immediately after a CEQA lawsuit has been filed with the Court. For example, within ten (10) business days of the public agency being served with a petition or complaint alleging a violation of CEQA, the City, if it was the Lead Agency, must provide the petitioner with a list of Responsible Agencies and public agencies with jurisdiction by law over any natural resource affected by the project at issue. There are a variety of other deadlines that apply in CEQA litigation.
If a CEQA lawsuit is filed, CEQA counsel should be contacted immediately in order to ensure that all the applicable deadlines are met.
10.02 MEDIATION AND SETTLEMENT.
After Litigation Has Been Filed. The parties in a CEQA lawsuit are required to meet and discuss settlement. Within twenty (20) days of being served with a CEQA legal challenge, the public agency named in the lawsuit must file a notice with the court setting forth the time and place for a settlement meeting. The meeting must be scheduled and held not later than forty-five (45) days from the date of service of the petition or complaint upon the public agency. Usually the main parties to the litigation (such as the Lead Agency, the developer of the project if there is one, and those challenging the project and their respective attorneys) meet to discuss settlement; there is no requirement to hire a professional mediator. The settlement meeting is usually subject to a confidentiality agreement.
If the parties in a CEQA lawsuit are in settlement or mediation, that attempt is intended to occur concurrently with the litigation. This means that the respondent public agency will be required to comply with all existing litigation timelines and requirements (for example, preparing and lodging the administrative record discussed below) while simultaneously conducting settlement or mediation, unless the parties enter into an alternate agreement to stay the litigation and that agreement is approved by the court.
10.03 ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD.
A. Contents of Administrative Record.
When the Lead Agency’s CEQA finding(s) and/or action is challenged in a lawsuit, the Lead Agency must certify the administrative record that formed the basis of the Lead Agency’s decision. To the extent the documents listed below exist and are not subject to a privilege that exempts them from disclosure, the following items should be included in the administrative record:
(1) All project application materials;
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(3) All staff reports and related documents prepared by the public agency and written testimony or documents submitted by any person relevant to any findings or statement of overriding considerations adopted by the public agency pursuant to CEQA or these Local Guidelines;
(4) Any transcript or minutes of the proceedings at which the decision-making body of the public agency heard testimony on or considered any environmental document on the project, and any transcript or minutes of proceedings before any advisory body to the respondent public agency that were presented to the decision-making body prior to action on the environmental documents or on the project;
(5) All notices issued by the public agency to comply with CEQA or with any other law governing the processing and approval of the project; (6) All written comments received in response to, or in connection with, environmental documents prepared for the project, including responses to the notice of preparation;
(7) All written evidence or correspondence submitted to, or transferred from, the public agency with respect to compliance with CEQA or with respect to the project;
(8) Any proposed decisions or findings submitted to the decision-making body of the public agency by its staff or the project proponent, project opponents, or other persons, to the extent such documents are subject to public disclosure; (9) The documentation of the final public agency decision, including the final environmental impact report, mitigated negative declaration, or negative declaration, and all documents, in addition to those referenced in paragraph (3) above, cited or relied on in the findings or in a statement of overriding considerations adopted pursuant to CEQA;
(10) Any other written materials relevant to the respondent public agency’s compliance with CEQA or to its decision on the merits of the project, including the initial study; any drafts of any environmental document, or portions thereof, that were released for public review; copies of studies or other documents relied upon in any environmental document prepared for the project and either made available to the public during the public review period or included in the public agency’s files on the project; and internal agency communications related to the project or to compliance with CEQA, to the extent such documents are subject to public disclosure; and
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B. Organization of Administrative Record.
The administrative record should be organized as follows:
(1) Index. A detailed index must be included at the beginning of the administrative record listing each document in the order presented. Each entry must include the document’s title, date, brief description, and the volume and page where the document begins;
(2) The Notice of Determination;
(3) The resolutions or ordinances adopted by the Lead Agency approving the project; (4) The findings required by Public Resources Code section 21081, including any statement of overriding considerations;
(5) The Final EIR, including the Draft EIR or a revision of the draft, all other matters included in the Final EIR (such as traffic studies and air quality studies), or other types of environmental documents prepared under CEQA, such as a negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or addenda; (6) The initial study;
(7) Staff reports prepared for the administrative bodies providing subordinate approvals or recommendations to the Lead Agency, in chronological order; (8) Transcripts and minutes of hearings, in chronological order; and (9) All other documents appropriate for inclusion in the administrative record, in chronological order.
Each section listed above must be separated by tabs or marked with electronic bookmarks. Oversized documents (such as building plans and maps) must be presented in a manner that allows them to be easily unfolded and viewed.
The court may issue an order allowing the documents to be organized in a different manner.
C. Preparation of Administrative Record.
The administrative record can be prepared: (1) by the petitioner, if the petitioner elects to do so, or (2) by the Lead Agency. The petitioner and the Lead Agency can also agree on any alternative method of preparing the record. However, when a third party such as the project applicant prepares or assists with the preparation of the administrative record, the Lead Agency 1014
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Notwithstanding the above, upon the written request of a project applicant received no later than 30 days after the date that the Lead Agency makes a determination pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21080.1, 21094.5, or Chapter 4.2 (commencing with Public Resources Code section 21155) and with the written consent of the Lead Agency sent within 10 business days from receipt of the written request, the Lead Agency may prepare the administrative record concurrently with the administrative process. Should the Lead Agency and the project applicant so desire to pursue concurrent record preparation, the parties must comply with the provisions of Public Resources Code section 21167.6.2.
D. Special Circumstances For Environmental Leadership Projects.
Special timing considerations and requirements apply if the Project is certified by the Governor as an Environmental Leadership Project pursuant to the “Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021.” For example, the administrative record must be finished and certified within five (5) days of project approval. See Public Resources Code section 21186 for a complete discussion of the special requirements related to the preparation of an administrative record for an Environmental Leadership Project. 1015
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11. DEFINITIONS
Whenever the following terms are used in these Local Guidelines, they shall have the following meaning unless otherwise expressly defined:
11.01 “Agricultural Employee” means a person engaged in agriculture, which includes farming in all its branches, and, among other things, includes: (1) the cultivation and tillage of the soil, (2) dairying, (3) the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities, (4) the raising of livestock, bees, furbearing animals, or poultry, and (5) any practices (including any forestry or lumbering operations) performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparation for market and delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market.
This definition does not include any person covered by the National Labor Relations Act as agricultural employees pursuant to Section 2(3) of the Labor Management Relations Act (Section 152(3), Title 29, United States Code) and Section 3(f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (Section 203(f), Title 29, United States Code). This definition does not apply to employees who perform work to be done at the site of the construction, alteration, painting, or repair of a building, structure, or other work (as these terms have been construed under Section 8(e) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 United States Code section 158(e)) or logging or timber-clearing operations in initial preparation of land for farming, or who does land leveling or only land surveying for any of the above. As used in this definition, “land leveling” shall include only major land moving operations changing the contour of the land, but shall not include annual or seasonal tillage or preparation of land for cultivation. (State CEQA Guidelines section 15191(a).)
11.02 “Applicant” means a person who proposes to carry out a project that requires a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use, or requires financial aid from one or more public agencies when applying for governmental approval or assistance.
11.03 “Approval” means a decision by the decision-making body or other authorized body or officer of the City which commits the City to a definite course of action with regard to a particular project. With regard to any project to be undertaken directly by the City, approval shall be deemed to occur on the date when the decision-making body adopts a motion or resolution determining to proceed with the project, which in no event shall be later than the date of adoption of plans and specifications. As to private projects, approval shall be deemed to have occurred upon the earliest commitment to provide service or the issuance by the City of a discretionary contract, subsidy, or other form of financial assistance, lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use of the project. The mere acquisition of land by the City shall not, in and of itself, be deemed to constitute approval of a project.
For purposes of these Local Guidelines, all environmental documents must be completed as of the time of project approval.
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11.04 “Baseline” refers to the pre-project environmental conditions. By comparing the project’s potential impacts to the baseline, the Lead Agency determines whether the project’s impacts are substantial enough to be significant under the relevant thresholds of significance. Generally, the baseline is the environmental conditions existing on the date the environmental analysis begins, such as the date the Notice of Preparation is published for an EIR or the date the Notice of Intent to Adopt a Negative Declaration is published. However, in certain circumstances, an earlier or later date may provide a more accurate environmental analysis. The City may establish any baseline that is appropriate, including an earlier or later date, as long as the choice of baseline can be supported by substantial evidence.
11.05 “California Native American Tribe” means a Native American tribe located in California that is on the contact list maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission for the purposes of Chapter 905 of the Statutes of 2004.
11.06 “Categorical Exemption” means an exemption from CEQA for a class of projects based on a finding by the Secretary of the Resources Agency that the class of projects does not have a significant effect on the environment.
11.07 “Census-Defined Place” means a specific unincorporated land area within boundaries determined by the United States Census Bureau in the most recent decennial census.
11.08 “CEQA” means the California Environmental Quality Act, codified at California Public Resources Code sections 21000, et seq.
11.09 “City” means the City of Palm Desert.
11.10 “Clerk” means either the “Clerk of the Board” or the “County Clerk” depending upon the county. Please refer to the “Index to Environmental Filing by County” in the Staff Summary to determine which applies.
11.11 “Community-Level Environmental Review” means either (1) or (2) below:
(1) An EIR certified for any of the following:
(a) A general plan;
(b) A revision or update to the general plan that includes at least the land use and circulation elements;
(c) An applicable community plan;
(d) An applicable specific plan; or
(e) A housing element of the general plan, if the Environmental Impact Report analyzed the environmental effects of the density of the proposed project;
(2) A Negative Declaration or Mitigated Negative Declaration adopted as a subsequent environmental review document, following and based upon an EIR on a general plan, an applicable community plan or specific plan, provided that the subsequent environmental review document is allowed by 1017
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11.12 “Consultation” means the meaningful and timely process of seeking, discussing, and considering carefully the views of others, in a manner that is cognizant of all parties' cultural values and, where feasible, seeking agreement. Consultation between government agencies and Native American tribes shall be conducted in a way that is mutually respectful of each party's sovereignty. Consultation shall also recognize the tribes' potential needs for confidentiality with respect to places that have traditional tribal cultural significance.
11.13 “Cumulative Impacts” means two or more individual effects which, when considered together, are considerable or which compound or increase other environmental impacts. The individual effects may be changes resulting from a single project or a number of separate projects, whether past, present or future.
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 future projects. Cumulative impacts can result from individually minor but collectively significant projects taking place over a period of time.
11.14 “Cumulatively Considerable” means that the incremental effects of an individual project are significant when viewed in connection with the effects of past projects, the effects of other current projects, and the effects of probable future projects.
11.15 “Decision-Making Body” means the body within the City, e.g. the City Council, which has final approval authority over the particular project.
11.16 “Developed Open Space” means land that meets each of the following three criteria:
(1) Is publicly owned, or financed in whole or in part by public funds; (2) Is generally open to, and available for use by, the public; and (3) Is predominantly lacking in structural development other than structures associated with open spaces, including, but not limited to, playgrounds, swimming pools, ball fields, enclosed child play areas, and picnic facilities.
Developed Open Space may include land that has been designated for acquisition by a public agency for developed open space purposes, but does not include lands acquired by public funds dedicated to the acquisition of land for housing purposes.
11.17 “Development Project” means any project undertaken for the purpose of development, including any project involving the issuance of a permit for construction or reconstruction but not a permit to operate. It does not include any ministerial projects proposed to be carried out or approved by public agencies. (Government Code section 65928.)
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11.18 “Discretionary Project” means a project for which approval requires the exercise of independent judgment, deliberation, or decision-making on the part of the City. To determine whether a project is discretionary, the key question is whether the public agency can use its subjective judgment to decide whether and how to carry out or approve a project.
11.19 “EIR” means Environmental Impact Report, a detailed written statement setting forth the environmental effects and considerations pertaining to a project. EIR may mean a Draft or a Final version of an EIR, a Project EIR, a Subsequent EIR, a Supplemental EIR, a Tiered EIR, a Staged EIR, a Program EIR, a Redevelopment EIR, a Master EIR, or a Focused EIR.
11.20 “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, landslide or other natural disaster, as well as such occurrences as riot, war, terrorist incident, accident or sabotage.
11.21 “Endangered, Rare or Threatened Species” means certain species or subspecies of animals or plants. A species or subspecies of animal or plant is “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. A species or subspecies of animal or plant is “Threatened” when it is listed as a threatened species pursuant to the California Endangered Species Act or the Federal Endangered Species Act. A species or subspecies of animal or plant is “Rare” when either:
(1) 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
(2) The species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range and many be considered “threatened” as that term is used in the Federal Endangered Species Act.
For purposes of analyzing impacts to biological resources, a species of animal or plant shall be presumed to be endangered, rare or threatened if it is listed under the California Endangered Species Act or the Federal Endangered Species Act.
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 the Director of Food and Agriculture (with regard to economic pests) or the Director of Health Services (with regard to health risks).
11.22 “Environment” means the physical conditions which exist in 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 1019
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11.23 “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.
11.24 “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 City to the comments received.
11.25 “Greenhouse Gases” include, but are not limited to, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.
11.26 “Guidelines” or “Local Guidelines” means the City’s Local Guidelines for implementing the California Environmental Quality Act.
11.27 “Highway” shall have the same meaning as defined in Section 360 of the Vehicle Code.
11.28 “Historical Resources” include:
Resources listed in, or eligible for listing in, the California Register of Historical Resources shall be considered historical resources.
A resource may be listed in the California Register if it meets any of the following National Register of Historic Places criteria:
(a) Is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of California’s history and cultural heritage; (b) Is associated with the lives of persons important in our past; (c) Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region, or method of construction, or represents the work of an important creative individual, or possesses high artistic values; or (d) Has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
A resource may also be listed in the California Register if it is identified as significant in an historical resource survey that meets all of the following criteria:
(a) The survey has been or will be included in the State Historic Resources Inventory;
(b) The survey and the survey documentation were prepared in accordance with office procedures and requirements; and
(c) The resource is evaluated and determined by the office to have a significance rating of Category 1 to 5 on DPR Form 523. 1020
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Any of the following may be considered historically significant: any object, building, structure, site, area, place, record or manuscript which a Lead Agency determines, based upon substantial evidence in light of the whole record, to be historically significant or significant in the architectural, engineering, scientific, economic, agricultural, educational, social, political, military or cultural annals of California.
The Lead Agency is not precluded from determining that a resource is a historical resource, as defined in Public Resources Code sections 5020.1(j) or 5024.1, even if it is: (a) not listed in, or is not determined to be eligible for listing in, the California Register of Historical Resources; (b) not included in a local register of historical resources; or (c) not identified in a historical resources survey.
11.29 “Infill Site” means a site in an urbanized area that meets either of the following criteria:
(1) The site has been previously developed for qualified urban uses; or (2) The site has not been previously developed for qualified urban uses and both (a) and (b) are met:
(a) the site is immediately adjacent to parcels that are developed with qualified urban uses, or
1. at least 75 percent of the perimeter of the site adjoins, or is separated only by an improved public right-of-way from, parcels that are developed with existing qualified urban uses at the time the Lead Agency receives an application for an approval; and
2. the remaining 25 percent of the perimeter of the site adjoins parcels that had been previously developed for qualified urban uses;
(b) No parcel within the site has been created within the past 10 years unless the parcel was created as a result of the plan of a redevelopment agency.
(Public Resources Code section 21061.3.)
11.30 “Initial Study” means a preliminary analysis conducted by the City to determine whether an EIR, a Negative Declaration, or a Mitigated Negative Declaration must be prepared or to identify the significant environmental effects to be analyzed in an EIR. 1021
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11.31 “Jurisdiction by Law” means the authority of any public agency to grant a permit or other entitlement for use, to provide funding for the project in question or to exercise authority over resources which may be affected by the project.
The City will have jurisdiction by law over a project when the City has primary and exclusive jurisdiction over the site of the project, the area in which the major environmental effects will occur, or the area in which reside those citizens most directly concerned by any such environmental effects.
11.32 “Land Disposal Facility” means a hazardous waste facility where hazardous waste is disposed in, on, or under land. (Health and Safety Code section 25199.1(d).)
11.33 “Large Treatment Facility” means a treatment facility which treats or recycles one thousand (1,000) or more tons of hazardous waste during any one month of the current reporting period commencing on or after July 1, 1991. (Health and Safety Code section 25205.1(d).)
11.34 “Lead Agency” means the public agency which has the principal responsibility for preparing environmental documents and for carrying out or approving a project when more than one public agency is involved with the same underlying activity.
11.35 “Low- and Moderate-Income Households” means persons and families of low or moderate income as defined in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code—i.e., persons and families whose income does not exceed 120% of area median income, adjusted for family size by the Department of Housing and Community Development, in accordance with adjustment factors adopted and amended from time to time by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937. (Public Resources Code section 21159.20(d); State CEQA Guidelines section 15191(f).)
11.36 “Low-Income Households” means households of persons and families of very low and low income. Low-income persons or families are those eligible for financial assistance from governmental agencies for occupants of state-funded housing. Very low income persons are those whose incomes do not exceed the qualifying limits for very low income families as established and amended pursuant to Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937. Such limits are published and updated in the California Code of Regulations. (Public Resources Code section 21159.20(c); Health and Safety Code sections 50105 and 50106; State CEQA Guidelines section 15191(g).)
11.37 “Low-Level Flight Path” means any flight path for any aircraft owned, maintained, or under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Defense that flies lower than 1,500 feet above ground level, as indicated in the United States Department of Defense Flight Information Publication, “Area Planning Military Training Routes:
North and South America (AP/1B)” published by the United States National Imagery and Mapping Agency or its successor.
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11.38 “Lower Income Households” is defined in Health and Safety Code section 50079.5 to mean any of the following:
(1) “Lower income households” means persons and families whose income does not exceed the qualifying limits for lower income families as established and amended from time to time pursuant to Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937;
(2) “Very low income households” means persons and families whose incomes do not exceed the qualifying limits for very low income families as defined in Health and Safety Code 50105; or
(3) “Extremely low income households” means persons and families whose incomes do not exceed the qualifying limits for extremely low income families as defined in Health and Safety Code section 50106.
11.39 “Major Transit Stop” means a site containing an existing rail or bus rapit transit station, a ferry terminal served by either a bus or rail transit service, or the intersection of two or more major bus routes with a frequency of service interval of fifteen (15) minutes or less during the morning and afternoon peak commute periods. (Pub. Resources Code, § 21064.3; see also Pub. Resources Code, § 21060.2; State CEQA Guidelines section 15191(i).)
11.40 “Metropolitan Planning Organization” or “MPO” means a federally-designated agency that provides transportation planning and programming in metropolitan areas.
A MPO is designated for each urban area that has been defined in the most recent federal census as having a population of more than 50,000 people. There are 18 federally-designated MPOs in California. Non-urbanized (rural) areas do not have a designated MPO.
11.41 “Military Impact Zone” means any area, including airspace, that meets both of the following criteria:
(1) Is located within two miles of a military installation, including, but not limited to, any base, military airport, camp, post, station, yard, center, homeport facility for a ship, or any other military activity center that is under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Defense; and (2) Covers greater than 500 acres of unincorporated land, or greater than 100 acres of city incorporated land.
11.42 “Military Service” means the United States Department of Defense or any branch of the United States Armed Forces.
11.43 “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 standards or objective measurements, and the public official 1023
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11.44 “Mitigated Negative Declaration” or “MND” means a Negative Declaration prepared for a Project when the Initial Study has identified potentially significant effects on the environment, but: (1) revisions in the project plans or proposals made, or agreed to, by the applicant before the proposed Negative Declaration and Initial Study are released for public review would avoid the effects or mitigate the effects to a point where clearly no significant effect on the environment would occur, and (2) there is no substantial evidence in light of the whole record before the public agency that the project, as revised, may have a significant effect on the environment.
11.45 “Mitigation” includes avoiding the environmental impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action, minimizing impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation, rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating or restoring the impacted environment, reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action, or compensating for the impact by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments, including through permanent protection of such resources in the form of conservation easements.
11.46 “Negative Declaration” or “ND” means a written statement by the City 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.
11.47 “Notice of Completion” means a brief report filed with the Office of Planning and Research by the City when it is the Lead Agency as soon as it has completed a Draft EIR and is prepared to send out copies for review.
11.48 “Notice of Determination” means a brief notice to be filed by the City when it approves or determines to carry out a project which is subject to the requirements of CEQA.
11.49 “Notice of Exemption” means a brief notice which may be filed by the City when it has approved or determined to carry out a project, and it has determined that the project is exempt from the requirements of 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.
11.50 “Notice of Preparation” means a brief notice sent by a Lead Agency to notify the Responsible Agencies, Trustee Agencies, the Office of Planning and Research, and 1024
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The purpose of this 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.
11.51 “Oak” means a native tree species in the genus Quercus, not designated as Group A or Group B commercial species pursuant to regulations adopted by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to Public Resources Code section 4526, and that is five (5) inches or more in diameter at breast height. (Public Resources Code section 21083.4(a).)
11.52 “Oak Woodlands” means an oak stand with a greater than 10 percent canopy cover or that may have historically supported greater than 10 percent canopy cover. (Fish & Game Code section 1361(h).)
11.53 “Offsite Facility” means a facility that serves more than one generator of hazardous waste. (Public Resources Code section 21151.1(h).)
11.54 “Person” includes any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business, trust, corporation, company, city, county, city and county, town, the state, and any of the agencies which may be political subdivisions of such entities, and, to the extent permitted by federal law, the United States, or any of its agencies or political subdivisions.
11.55 “Pipeline” as defined in these Local Guidelines depends on the context. Please see Local Guidelines Sections 3.10 and 3.11 for specific definitions.
11.56 “Private Project” means a project which will be carried out by a person other than a governmental agency, but which will need a discretionary approval from the City.
Private projects will normally be those listed in subsections (2) and (3) of Local Guidelines Section 11.57.
11.57 “Project” means the whole of an action or activity which may cause either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect change in the environment, and is any of the following:
(1) A discretionary activity directly undertaken by the City including but not limited to public works construction and related activities, clearing or grading of land, or improvements to existing public structures; (2) A discretionary activity which involves a public agency’s issuance to a person of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use, or which is supported, in whole or in part, through contracts, grants, subsidies, loans or other forms of assistance by the City; or
(3) A discretionary project proposed to be carried out or approved by public agencies, including but not limited to the enactment and amendment of local General Plans or elements thereof, the enactment of zoning ordinances, the 1025
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The presence of any real degree of control over the manner in which a project is completed makes it a discretionary project.
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.
11.58 “Project-Specific Effects” means all the direct or indirect environmental effects of a project other than cumulative effects and growth-inducing effects. (Public Resources Code section 21065.3; State CEQA Guidelines section 15191(j).)
11.59 “Public Water System” means a system for the provision of piped water to the public for human consumption that has 3,000 or more service connections. A public water system includes all of the following: (A) Any collection, treatment, storage, and distribution facility under control of the operator of the system which is used primarily in connection with the system; (B) Any collection or pretreatment storage facility not under the control of the operator that is used primarily in connection with the system; (C) Any person who treats water on behalf of one or more public water systems for the purpose of rendering it safe for human consumption. (State CEQA Guidelines section 15155.)
11.60 “Qualified Urban Use” means any residential, commercial, public institutional, transit or transportation passenger facility, or retail use, or any combination of those uses. (Public Resources Code section 21072; State CEQA Guidelines section 15191(k).)
11.61 “Residential” means a use consisting of either residential units only or residential units and primarily neighborhood-serving goods, services, or retail uses that do not exceed 15% of the total floor area of the project. (State CEQA Guidelines section 15191(l).) Residential, pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21159.24, shall mean a use consisting of either of the following:
(1) Residential units only.
(2) Residential units and primarily neighborhood-serving goods, services, or retail uses that do not exceed 25 percent of the total building square footage of the project.
11.62 “Responsible Agency” means a public agency which proposes to carry out or approve a project for which a Lead Agency has prepared the environmental documents. For the purposes of CEQA, the term “Responsible Agency” includes all federal, state, regional and local public agencies other than the Lead Agency which have discretionary approval power over the project.
11.63 “Riparian areas” mean those areas transitional between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and that are distinguished by gradients in biophysical conditions, 1026
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) DEFINITIONS 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 11-12 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP ecological processes, and biota. A riparian area is an area through which surface and subsurface hydrology connect waterbodies with their adjacent uplands. A riparian area includes those portions of terrestrial ecosystems that significantly influence exchanges of energy and matter with aquatic ecosystems. A riparian area is adjacent to perennial, intermittent, and ephemeral streams, lakes, and estuarine-marine shorelines.
11.64 “Roadway” means a roadway as defined pursuant to Section 530 of the Vehicle Code and the previously graded and maintained shoulder that is within a roadway right-ofway of no more than five feet from the edge of the roadway.
11.65 “Significant Effect” means a substantial, or potentially substantial, adverse change in any of the physical conditions within the area affected by the activity including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, ambient noise, and objects of historic or aesthetic significance. A social or economic change related to a physical change may be considered in determining whether the physical change is significant.
11.66 “Significant Value as a Wildlife Habitat” includes wildlife habitat of national, statewide, regional, or local importance; habitat for species protected by the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531, et seq.), the California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code), or the Native Plant Protection Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 1900) of Division 2 of the Fish and Game Code); habitat identified as candidate, fully protected, sensitive, or species of special status by local, state, or federal agencies; or habitat essential to the movement of resident or migratory wildlife.
11.67 “Special Use Airspace” means the land area underlying the airspace that is designated for training, research, development, or evaluation for a military service, as that land area is established by the United States Department of Defense Flight Information Publication, “Area Planning: Special Use Airspace: North and South America (AP/1A)” published by the United States National Imagery and Mapping Agency or its successor.
11.68 “Staff” means the City Manager or his or her designee.
11.69 “Standard” means a standard of general application that is all of the following:
(1) A quantitative, qualitative or performance requirement found in a statute, ordinance, resolution, rule, regulation, order, or other standard of general application;
(2) Adopted for the purpose of environmental protection; (3) Adopted by a public agency through a public review process; (4) Governs the same environmental effect which the change in the environment is impacting; and
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The definition of “standard” includes any thresholds of significance adopted by the City which meet the requirements of this Section.
If there is a conflict between standards, the City shall determine which standard is appropriate based upon substantial evidence in light of the whole record.
11.70 “State CEQA Guidelines” means the Guidelines for Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act as adopted by the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency as they now exist or hereafter may be amended. (California Administrative Code, Title 14, Sections 15000, et seq.)
11.71 “Substantial Evidence” means reliable information on which a fair argument can be based to support an inference or conclusion, even though another conclusion could be drawn from that information. “Substantial evidence” includes facts, reasonable assumptions predicated upon facts, and expert opinion supported by facts. “Substantial evidence” does not include argument, speculation, unsubstantiated opinion or narrative, evidence which is clearly inaccurate or erroneous, or evidence of social or economic impacts which do not contribute to, or are not caused by, physical impacts on the environment.
11.72 “Sustainable Communities Strategy” is an element of a Regional Transportation Plan, which must be adopted by the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the region. (See Local Guidelines Section 11.40.) The Sustainable Communities Strategy is an integrated land use and transportation plan intended to reduce greenhouse gases. The Sustainable Communities Strategy includes various components such as:
consideration of existing densities and uses within the region, identification of areas within the region that can accommodate an eight-year projection of the region’s housing needs, development of projections for growth in the region, identification of existing transportation networks, and preparation of a forecast for development pattern for the region that can be integrated with transportation networks.
11.73 “Tiering” means 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; or (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.
(Public Resources Code sections 21003, 21061 and 21100.) 1028
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11.74 “Transit Priority Area” means an area within one-half mile of a major transit stop that is existing or planned, if the planned stop is scheduled to be completed within the planning horizon included in a Transportation Improvement Program adopted pursuant to Section 450.216 or 450.322 of Title 23 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
11.75 “Transit Priority Project” means a mixed use project that is consistent with the general use designation, density, building intensity, and applicable policies specified for the project area in either a sustainable communities strategy or an alternative planning strategy for which the California Air Resources Board has accepted a Metropolitan Planning Organization’s determination that the sustainable communities strategy or the alternative planning strategy would, if implemented, achieve the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. Such a project may be exempt from CEQA if a detailed laundry list of requirements is met. To qualify for the exemption, the Transit Priority Project must:
(1) contain at least 50 percent residential use based on total building square footage;
(2) if the project contains between 26 percent and 50 percent non-residential uses, the floor-to-area ratio (FAR) must be at least 0.75;
(3) have a minimum net density of 20 dwelling units per acre; (4) be located within a half mile of a major transit stop or high-quality transit corridor included in a regional transportation plan; and (5) meet all the requirements of Public Resources Code section 21155.1.
11.76 “Transportation Facilities” includes major local arterials and public transit within five (5) miles of the project site, and freeways, highways, and rail transit service within ten (10) miles of the project site.
11.77 “Tribal Cultural Resources” are either of the following:
(1) Sites, features, places, cultural landscapes, sacred places, and objects with cultural value to a California Native American tribe that are either of the following:
(a) Included or determined to be eligible for inclusion in the California Register of Historical Resources.
(b) Included in a local register of historic resources as defined in subdivision (k) of Public Resources Code section 5020.1. (2) A resource determined by the Lead Agency, in its discretion and supported by substantial evidence, to be significant pursuant to criteria set forth in subdivision (c) of Public Resources Code section 5024.1. In applying the criteria set forth in subdivision (c) of Section 5024.1 for the purposes of this 1029
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) DEFINITIONS 2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 11-15 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP definition, the Lead Agency shall consider the significance of the resource to a California Native American tribe.
A cultural landscape that meets the criteria set forth above is a tribal cultural resource to the extent that the landscape is geographically defined in terms of the size and scope of the landscape.
A historic resource described in Public Resources Code section 21084.1, a unique archaeological resource as defined in subdivision (g) of Public Resources Code section 21083.2, or a “nonunique archaeological resource” as defined in subdivision (h) of Public Resources Code section 21083.2 may also be a tribal cultural resource if it conforms with the criteria of Tribal cultural resources.
11.78 “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 may include, but are not limited to, the following:
(a) The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (“DFW”) with regard to the fish and wildlife of the state, designated rare or endangered native plants, and game refuges, ecological reserves, and other areas administered by DFW;
(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; and/or
(e) The State Water Resources Control Board with respect to surface waters.
11.79 “Urban Growth Boundary” means a provision of a locally adopted general plan that allows urban uses on one side of the boundary and prohibits urban uses on the other side of the boundary.
11.80 “Urbanized Area” means either of the following:
(1) An incorporated city that either by itself or in combination with two contiguous incorporated cities has a population of at least one hundred thousand (100,000) persons;
(2) An unincorporated area that meets both of the following requirements:
(a) The unincorporated area is either:
(i) completely surrounded by one or more incorporated cities, has a population of at least 100,000 persons either by itself or in combination with the surrounding incorporated city or cities, and has a population density that at least equals the population density of the surrounding city or cities; or
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provision of a locally adopted general plan that allows urban uses on one side of the boundary and prohibits urban uses on the other side.
(b) The board of supervisors with jurisdiction over the unincorporated area has taken all three of the following steps:
1. Prepared a draft document by which the board would find that the general plan, zoning ordinance, and related policies and programs applicable to the unincorporated area are consistent with principles that encourage compact development in a manner that promotes efficient transportation systems,
economic growth, affordable housing, energy efficiency, and an appropriate balance of jobs and housing, and protects the environment, open space and agricultural areas;
2. Submitted the draft document to the Office of Planning and Research and allowed OPR thirty (30) days to submit
comments on the draft finding to the board; and
3. At least thirty (30) days after submitting the draft document to OPR, the board has adopted a final finding in substantial conformity with the draft finding described in the draft document.
(Public Resources Code sections 21083, 21159.20-21159.24; State CEQA Guidelines section 15191(m).)
11.81 “Water Acquisition Plans” means any plans for acquiring additional water supplies prepared by the public water system or a city or county Lead Agency pursuant to subdivision (a) of section 10911 of the Water Code.
11.82 “Water Assessment” or “Water Supply Assessment” means the water supply assessment that must be prepared by the governing body of a public water system, or a city or county, pursuant to and in compliance with sections 10910 to 10915 of the Water Code, and that includes, without limitation, the elements of the assessment required to comply with subdivisions (d), (e), (f), and (g) of section 10910 of the Water Code.
11.83 “Water Demand Project” means any one of the following:
(A) A residential development of more than 500 dwelling units; (B) A shopping center or business establishment employing more than 1,000 persons or having more than 500,000 square feet of floor space; (C) A commercial office building employing more than 1,000 persons or having more than 250,000 square feet of floor space;
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Except, a proposed photovoltaic or wind energy generation facility approved on or after October 8, 2011, is not a Water Demand Project if the facility would demand no more than 75 acre-feet of water annually. (F) A mixed-use project that includes one or more of the projects specified in subdivisions (A); (B), (C), (D), (E), or (G) of this section; (G) A project that would demand an amount of water equivalent to, or greater than, the amount of water required by a 500 dwelling unit project; or (H) For public water systems with fewer than 5,000 service connections, a project that meets the following criteria:
(1) A proposed residential, business, commercial, hotel or motel, or industrial development that would account for an increase of 10 percent or more in the number of a public water system’s existing service connections; or
(2) A mixed-use project that would demand an amount of water equivalent to, or greater than, the amount of water required by residential development that would represent an increase of 10 percent or more in the number of the public water system’s existing service connections. (State CEQA Guidelines section 15155.)
11.84 “Waterway” means a bay, estuary, lake, pond, river, slough, or a perennial, intermittent, or ephemeral stream, lake, or estuarine-marine shoreline.
11.85 “Wetlands” has the same meaning as that term is construed in the regulations issued by the United States Army Corps of Engineers pursuant to the Clean Water Act.
Thus, “wetlands” means areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas. (Public Resources Code section 21159.21(d), incorporating Title 33, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 328.3.)
11.86 “Wildlife Habitat” means the ecological communities upon which wild animals, birds, plants, fish, amphibians, and invertebrates depend for their conservation and protection. (Public Resources Code section 21159.21.)
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11.87 “Zoning Approval” means any enactment, amendment, or appeal of a zoning ordinance; granting of a conditional use permit or variance; or any other form of land use, subdivision, tract, or development approval required from the city or county having jurisdiction to permit the particular use of the property. 1033
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California Environmental Quality Act (2024) FORMS
2024 City of Palm Desert Local Guidelines 12-1 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP
12. FORMS
See forms A – S which accompany these Guidelines.
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13. COMMON ACRONYMS
A. **************************************************
ADEIR – Administrative Draft Environmental Impact Report AQMD – Air Quality Management District
AQMP – Air Quality Management Plan
AR – Administrative Record
ARB – Air Resources Board
B. **************************************************
BMP – Best Management Practices
BO – Biological Opinion
C. **************************************************
Cal EPA – California Environmental Protection Agency
CAP – Climate Action Plan
CCAA – California Clean Air Act
CCR – California Code of Regulations (Title 14 Sections 15000 et seq. are also known as the State CEQA Guidelines.)
CE – Categorical Exclusion (NEPA)
CESA – California Endangered Species Act
CEQA – California Environmental Quality Act
CFR – Code of Federal Regulations
CMP – Congestion Management Plan
CRWQCB – California Regional Water Quality Control Board D. **************************************************
DEIR – Draft Environmental Impact Report
DFW – Department of Fish and Wildlife
E. **************************************************
EA – Environmental Assessment (NEPA term)
EIR – Environmental Impact Report
EIS – Environmental Impact Statement (NEPA term)
EPA – Environmental Protection Agency
ESA – Endangered Species Act; Environmental Site Assessment F. **************************************************
FCAA – Federal Clean Air Act
FEIR – Final Environmental Impact Report
FOIA – Freedom of Information Act (Federal)
FONSI – Finding of No Significant Impact (NEPA term)
FWS – Fish and Wildlife Service
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GHG – Greenhouse Gas
GW – Ground Water
H. **************************************************
HH&E – Human Health and Environment
HRA – Health Risk Assessment
HS – Hazardous Substance
I. **************************************************
IS – Initial Study
J. **************************************************
K. **************************************************
L. **************************************************
LADD – Lifetime Average Daily Dose; Lowest Acceptable Daily Dose LEA – Local Enforcement Agency
LESA – Land Evaluation and Site Assessment
LUFT – Leaking Underground Fuel Tank
LUST – Leaking Underground Storage Tanks. Reference Part 213 of Public Act 451 of 1994.
M. **************************************************
MEIR – Master Environmental Impact Report
MMRP – Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Plan
MPO – Metropolitan Planning Organization
MND – Mitigated Negative Declaration
N. **************************************************
ND – Negative Declaration
NEPA – National Environmental Policy Act
NOA – Notice of Availability
NOC – Notice of Completion
NOD – Notice of Determination
NOE – Notice of Exemption
NOI – Notice of Intent
NOP – Notice of Preparation
NOV – Notice of Violation
O. **************************************************
OPR – Office of Planning and Research
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PEIR – Program Environmental Impact Report. Sometimes also used to describe a Project Environmental Impact Report
PM – Particulate Matter
PRA – Public Records Act
PSA – Permit Streamlining Act
Q. **************************************************
R. **************************************************
RCRA – Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976) Governs definition, handling, and disposal of hazardous waste.
S. **************************************************
SCH – State Clearinghouse
SEIR – Supplemental or Subsequent Environmental Impact Report SMARA – Surface Mining and Reclamation Act
SWMP – Stormwater Monitoring Program
SWPPP – Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program
T. **************************************************
TCM – Transportation Control Measure
TCP – Transportation Control Plan
TDS – Total Dissolved Solids
TMP – Transportation Management Plan
Title V – refers to Title V of the Clean Air Act related to ambient air quality provisions TLV – Threshold Limit Value
U. **************************************************
UBC – Uniform Building Code
UFC – Uniform Fire Code
UGST – Underground Storage Tank
USDW – Underground Source of Drinking Water
UWMP – Urban Water Management Plan
V. **************************************************
VOC – Volatile Organic Compounds (Health & Safety Code, Section 25123.6.) VOS – Vehicle Operating Survey
W. **************************************************
WQS – Water Quality Standard
WSA – Water Supply Assessment
WTP – Water Treatment Plant. A facility designed to provide treatment to water.
WWTP – Wastewater Treatment Plan
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Y. **************************************************
Z. **************************************************
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