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Local Guidelines for Implementing the California Environmental Quality Act (2019) GENERAL PROVISIONS, PURPOSE AND POLICY. 2019 City of Santa Ana Local Guidelines 1-3 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP 1.06 TERMINOLOGY. The terms “must” or “shall” identify mandatory requirements. The terms “may” and “should” are permissive, with the particular decision being left to the discretion of the City. 1.07 PARTIAL INVALIDITY. In the event any part or provision of these Local Guidelines shall be determined to be invalid, the remaining portions that can be separated from the invalid unenforceable provisions shall continue in full force and effect. 1.08 ELECTRONIC DELIVERY OF COMMENTS AND NOTICES. Individuals may file a written request to receive copies of public notices provided for under these Local Guidelines or the State CEQA Guidelines. The requestor may elect to receive these notices via email rather than regular mail. Notices sent by email are deemed delivered when the staff person sending the email sends it to the last email address provided by the requestor to the City. Any request to receive public notices shall be in writing and shall be renewed annually. Individuals may also submit comments on the CEQA documentation for a project via email. Comments submitted via email shall be treated as written comments for all purposes. Comments sent to the City via email are deemed received when they actually arrive in an email account of a staff person who has been designated or identified as the point of contact for a particular project. CEQA also requires the lead agency to make copies of certain environmental documents available in an electronic format (such as Draft Environmental Impact Reports, Draft Negative Declarations and Draft Mitigated Negative Declarations), upon request. 1.09 THE CITY MAY CHARGE REASONABLE FEES FOR REPRODUCING ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTS. A public agency may charge and collect a reasonable fee from members of the public that request a copy of an environmental document, so long as the fee does not exceed the cost of reproduction. The kinds of “environmental documents” that CEQA specifically allows public agencies to seek reimbursement for include: initial studies, negative declarations, mitigated negative declarations, draft and final EIRs, and documents prepared as a substitute for an EIR, negative declaration, or mitigated negative declaration. The City may choose to make documents available to the public-at-large on its website or charge a reasonable fee for reproducing the document in hard-copy form, on compact discs, email attachments, or other digital transfers. Requests for documents made pursuant to the California Public Records Act must comply with the Government Code. (See, for example, Government Code Section 6253.9 for information regarding providing documents in electronic format.)