2023-051 - Adopting Local CEQA Guidelines

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Local Guidelines for Implementing the California Environmental Quality Act (2023) ACTIVITIES EXEMPT FROM CEQA 3.06 PROJECTS WITH NO POSSIBILITY OF SIGNIFICANT EFFECT. Where it can be seen with absolute certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is exempt from CEQA. 3.07 EMERGENCY PROJECTS. The following types of emergency projects are exempt from CEQA (the term "emergency" is defined in Local Guidelines Section 11.20): (a) Work in a disaster -stricken area in which a state of emergency has been proclaimed by the Governor pursuant to Section 8550 of the Government Code. This includes projects that will remove, destroy, or significantly alter a historical resource when that resource represents an imminent threat to the public of bodily harm or of damage to adjacent property or when the project has received a determination by the State Office of Historic Preservation pursuant to Section 5028(b) of the Public Resources Code. (b) Emergency repairs to publicly or privately owned service facilities necessary to maintain service essential to the public health, safety, or welfare. Emergency repairs include those that require a reasonable amount of planning to address an anticipated emergency. (c) Projects necessary to prevent or mitigate an emergency. This does not include long-term projects undertaken for the purpose of preventing or mitigating a situation that has a low probability of occurrence in the short-term, but this exclusion does not apply (i) if the anticipated period of time to conduct an environmental review of such a long-term project would create a risk to public health, safety, or welfare, or (ii) if activities (such as fire or catastrophic risk mitigation or modifications to improve facility integrity) are proposed for existing facilities in response to an emergency at a similar existing facility. (d) Projects undertaken, carried out, or approved by a public agency to maintain, repair, or restore an existing highway damaged by fire, flood, storm, earthquake, land subsidence, gradual earth movement, or landslide, provided that the project is within the existing right of way of that highway and is initiated within one year of the damage occurring. Highway shall have the same meaning as defined in Section 360 of the Vehicle Code. This exemption does not apply to highways designated as official state scenic highways, nor to any project undertaken, carried out, or approved by a public agency to expand or widen a highway damaged by fire, flood, storm, earthquake, land subsidence, gradual earth movement, or landslide. (e) Seismic work on highways and bridges pursuant to Streets and Highways Code section 180.2. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15269.) 3.08 FEASIBILITY AND PLANNING STUDIES. A project that involves only feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions which the City has not yet approved, adopted or funded is exempt from CEQA. (Reference: State CEQA Guidelines, § 15262.) 2023 City of Santa Ana Local Guidelines 3-4 ®Best Best & Krieger LLP