Item 27 - Appeal Application Nos. 2020-03 and 2020-04 - Central Pointe Mixed-Use Development

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Central Pointe Mixed -Use Development Project November 9, 2020 Page 7 of 14 V. EVEN IF THE PROJECT IS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE PROGRAM EIR, A SUBSEQUENT EIR IS REQUIRED UNDER CEQA GUIDELINES SECTION 15162. CEQA Guidelines section 15168 provides that a program EIR may be used for later activities and the agency is not required to prepare a new environmental document if the later activity is within the scope of the program covered by the program EIR and "[i]f the agency finds that pursuant to Section 15162, no subsequent EIR would be required." CEQA Guidelines § 15168(c)(2). Additionally, the lead agency's determination of whether a later activity is within the scope of a program EIR is one that the lead agency determines based on substantial evidence in the record. Id. CEQA Guidelines section 15162 provides that if an EIR has been certified for a project, a subsequent EIR should not be prepared unless one of the following occurs: (1) Substantial changes are proposed in the project which will require major revisions of the previous EIR or negative declaration due to the involvement of new significant environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects; (2) Substantial changes occur with respect to the circumstances under which the project is undertaken which will require major revisions of the previous EIR or Negative Declaration due to the involvement of new significant environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects; or (3) New information of substantial importance, which was not known and could not have been known with the exercise of reasonable diligence at the time the previous EIR was certified as complete or the Negative Declaration was adopted, shows any of the following: (A) The project will have one or more significant effects not discussed in the previous EIR or negative declaration; (B) Significant effects previously examined will be substantially more severe than shown in the previous EIR; (C) Mitigation measures or alternatives previously found not to be feasible would in fact be feasible, and would substantially reduce one or more significant effects of the project, but the project proponents decline to adopt the mitigation measure or alternative; or (D) Mitigation measures or alternatives which are considerably different from those analyzed in the previous EIR would substantially reduce one or more significant effects on the environment, but the project proponents decline to adopt the mitigation measure or alternative. Id. § 15162(a). Here, there is substantial evidence of new information of substantial importance, which was not known and could not have been known with the exercise of reasonable diligence at the time the MEMU EIR was certified as complete, including that the Project will have one or more significant effects not discussed in the previous EIRs, and