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

Home Browse Search

applicable guidance are used. Therefore, since our screening -level HRA indicates a potentially significant impact, the City should prepare a Project -specific EIR with an HRA which makes a reasonable effort to connect the Project's air quality emissions and the potential health risks posed to nearby receptors. 4) Updated Analysis Indicates Potentially Significant GHG Impact As previously stated, the Staff Report relies upon the 2018 DSEIR for project -level environmental review pursuant to CEQA guidelines section 15162 and 15168. Regarding the Approved Project's greenhouse gas ("GHG") impact, the 2018 DSEIR states: "[C]onsistency with the City's CAP is the most relevant approach for analyzing the project's incremental contribution to the cumulative effect of GHG emissions because the City's CAP is consistent with AB 32 and considered to be a qualifying plan through 2020 under State CEQA Guidelines Section 15183.5" (p. 4-59). Thus, the 2018 DSEIR utilized the City's Climate Action Plan ("CAP") to evaluate the Approved Project's GHG impact and conclude that emissions would be less than significant. Based on this analysis, the proposed Project's GHG emissions are presumed to be insignificant. However, the Project's reliance on the 2018 DSEIR, as well as the subsequent less -than -significant impact conclusion, is incorrect for two reasons. First, according to CEQA Guidelines section 15162: (a) When an EIR has been certified or a negative declaration adopted for a project, no subsequent EIR shall be prepared for that project unless the lead agency determines, on the basis of substantial evidence in the light of the whole record, one or more of the following: (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" (emphasis added). As you can see in the excerpt above, if substantial changes occur with respect to the circumstances under which the project is undertaken, a subsequent EIR should be prepared. Here, as previously stated, the 2018 DSEIR relied upon the City's CAP. However, as stated in the 2018 DSEIR, the City's CAP is consistent with AB 32 and only qualified up to 2020 (p. 4-69). Regarding the use of CAPs and GHG reduction plans ("GGRPs") qualified up to 2020, AEP's Beyond Newhall and 2020: A Field Guide to New CEQA Greenhouse Gas Thresholds and Climate Action Plan Targets for California states: 13