2004 AGN APR 20 I21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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2003 CEQA LEGISLATION During the 2003 legislative session, Governor Davis signed into law several bills that affect CEQA. Certain bills have made substantive changes to the application of CEQA and warrant discussion below. We have updated your Local Guidelines as necessary to reflect these changes in the law. Senate Bill 1074 ("SB 1074") SB 1074 made a number of technical revisions to CEQA, including corrections to two drafting oversights in last year's SB 1925. First, SB 1074 revises one of the two definitions of "infill site" in Public Resources Code section 21061.0.5(a). For a site to qualify as "infill" under the new definition, the surrounding development must consist of specified amounts of "qualified urban uses" as that terms is defined in Public Resources Code section 21072. Second, SB 1074 clarifies that a housing project that requires rezoning may still qualify for any of the three exemptions established by SB 1925 (and codified in Public Resources Code sections 21159.21 — 21159.24) as long as the proposed project and zoning are consistent with the existing General Plan designation for the site. This provision ensures that the General Plan designation sets the controlling land use density. Third, SB 1074 corrected a drafting error in Public Resources Code section 21092 to indicate that the lead agency is required to provide public notice when it finds, pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21157.1(c), that only limited environmental review is needed for a project because the project was previously analyzed in a Master FIR. Under sections 15177(d) and 15087 of the State CEQA Guidelines, the lead agency fulfills this public notice requirement by following the same procedures that apply when the lead agency is providing notice of availability of a Draft EIR. Finally, SB 1074 made grammatical changes to Public Resources Code section 21080.5 and extended the deadline established by that section for the Secretary of the Resources Agency to develop a protocol for reviewing the certified regulatory programs that currently enjoy exemptions from CEQA; the Secretary's new deadline is July 1, 2004. Revisions to your Local Guidelines are reflected in sections 3.12, 8.10 and 10.22. 2. Senate Bill 666 (SB 666) SB 666 creates specific exemptions from the Subdivision Map Act and CEQA for the Ballona Wetlands parcels on Santa Monica Bay north of the Los Angeles International Airport. The impact of this law is limited to that specific location, so we made no revisions to your Local Guidelines to reflect this legislation. -2-