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MainPlace Transformation Project <br />City Council Agenda Item 75D <br />June 4, 2019 <br />Page 11 <br />supplemental EIR if the changes are "[s]ubstantial" and require "major revisions" of the previous <br />EIR. Friends of Coll. of San Mateo Gardens v. San Mateo Cty. Cmty. Coll. Dist. (2016) 1 Cal.5th <br />937, 943. "[W]hen there is a change in plans, circumstances, or available information after a <br />project has received initial approval, the agency's environmental review obligations "turn[ ] on <br />the value of the new information to the still pending decisionmaking process." Id., 1 Cal.5th at <br />951-52. The agency must "decide under CEQA's subsequent review provisions whether project <br />changes will require major revisions to the original environmental document because of the <br />involvement of new, previously unconsidered significant environmental effects." Id., 1 Cal.5th at <br />952. Section 21166 and CEQA Guidelines § 15162 "do[] not permit agencies to avoid their <br />obligation to prepare subsequent or supplemental EIRs to address new, and previously unstudied, <br />potentially significant environmental effects." Id., 1 Cal.5th at 958. <br />All of the evidence indicates that the project considered by the 1983 EIR has undergone <br />significant changes to the project and its circumstances requiring substantial revisions to that 35- <br />year old EIR. <br />A. A New EIR is Required Because the Addition of 1,900 Residential Units is a <br />Substantial Change from the 1983 Project and there is Substantial Evidence that <br />the Residential Element of the Project Will Result in Emissions of Formaldehyde <br />to the Air that Will Have a Significant Health Impact on Future Residents. <br />Even if the 1983 EIR was somehow relevant to the current Project, the City would still be <br />required to prepare an SEIR. The inclusion of 1,900 new residential units as part of the Project is <br />a substantial change from the 1983 project. "The purpose behind the requirement of a <br />subsequent or supplemental EIR or negative declaration is to explore environmental impacts not <br />considered in the original environmental document." Friends of College of San Mateo Gardens <br />v. San Mateo (2016) 1 Cal.5th 937, 949 (quoting Save Our Neighborhood v. Lishman (2006) 140 <br />Ca1.AppAth 1288, 1296). <br />As discussed above, the expert opinion of Mr. Offermann constitutes substantial evidence <br />that the residential component of the Project will result in a significant air quality impact to <br />residential occupants of the Project. This impact is significant and new. It could not have been <br />known in 1983 because there was no residential element of the Project at that time. Accordingly, <br />the City violated CEQA by not preparing an SEIR to analyze and mitigate this new significant <br />impact. <br />There is no substantial evidence in the record to support a conclusion that the Project will <br />not have a new significant indoor air quality impact as a result of significant changes to the <br />Project when compared to the project analyzed in the 1983 EIR. Accordingly, the City's <br />decision to prepare an Addendum rather than an SEIR is not supported by substantial evidence, <br />and approval of the Project based on the Addendum would constitute an abuse of discretion. <br />