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Comment on Garry Avenue Business Park Project <br />Planning Commission Agenda Item 2 (Amendment Application No. 2022 -01; Conditional Use Permit No. 2022-14) <br />October 10, 2022 <br />Page 4 of 7 <br /> <br />effects precludes an exemption. (Wildlife Alive v. Chickering (1976) 18 Cal.3d <br />190, 204.) <br /> <br /> Here, the City has issued a notice of exemption alleging that the proposed Project is <br />exempt from CEQA review under Section 15183. However, as discussed below, this exemption <br />is improper, and instead, a full CEQA analysis, such as an EIR, must be prepared for this Project. <br /> <br />DISCUSSION <br /> <br />I. THE PROJECT WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS PECULIAR TO THE <br />PROJECT THAT WERE NOT ANALYZED AS SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS IN <br />THE GENERAL PLAN EIR AND THESE IMPACTS REQUIRE FURTHER <br />ANALYSIS UNDER CEQA <br /> <br />Section 15183 of the California Environmental Quality Act allows a project to avoid <br />environmental review if it is “consistent with the development density established by existing <br />zoning, community plan, or general plan policies for which an EIR was certified . . . except as <br />might be necessary to examine whether there are project-specific significant effects which <br />are peculiar to the project or its site.” (14 CCR § 15183 (emphasis added).) The intention of <br />this section is to “streamline[]” CEQA review for projects and avoid the preparation of repetitive <br />documents. Even when a project is “consistent with the development density established by <br />existing zoning, community plan, or general plan policies for which an EIR was certified,”, <br />environmental review is still required for various types of impacts, including those “peculiar to <br />the project or parcel on which the project would be located,” those which “were not analyzed as <br />significant effects in a prior EIR,” “are potentially significant off-site impacts and cumulative <br />impacts which were not discussed in the prior EIR,” or “[a]re previously identified significant <br />effects which, as a result of substantial new information which was not known at the time the <br />EIR was certified, are determined to have a more severe adverse impact than discussed in the <br />prior EIR.” (14 CCR sec. 15183.) <br /> <br />Section 1518(f) of the CEQA Guidelines states that a Project’s environmental effects are <br />not peculiar to a project if “uniformly applied development policies or standards have been <br />previously adopted” which serve to mitigate environmental impacts, “unless substantial new <br />information shows that the policies or standards will not substantially mitigate the <br />environmental effect.” (Emphasis added). Therefore, the standard set forth by CEQA for this <br />analysis is substantial evidence. <br /> <br />Here, there is substantial evidence demonstrating that the Project will have project- <br />specific significant impacts that were not addressed in the General Plan EIR, and therefore must <br />be addressed through CEQA review now. <br /> <br />II. THE PROJECT WILL HAVE PROJECT-SPECIFIC SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS <br />WHICH WERE NOT ADDRESSED IN THE PREVIOUS GENERAL PLAN <br />UPDATE EIR. <br />