2023-051 - Adopting Local CEQA Guidelines

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Local Guidelines for Implementing the California En iroomental O ialitV Act (2023) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 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 WREN 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 effect of a project or a feasible way to mitigate or avoid such an effect, including a feasible project alternative, that the project proponents decline to implement. Recirculation is required, for example, when: (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 eonclusory 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 2023 City of Santa Ana Local Guidelines 7-30 CBest Best & Krieger LLP