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Appeal Application Nos. 2020-03 and 2020-04 — Central Pointe Mixed -Use Development <br />January 19, 2021 <br />Page 5 <br />and will mitigate impacts below the level of significance. <br />Analysis of Appeals <br />Pursuant to Section 41-645 an appeal from a decision of the Planning Commission can <br />be made by an interested party, individual or group. Two appeal applications were <br />received appealing the Planning Commission's decision to approve Site Plan Review No. <br />2020-04, as conditioned. <br />Appeal No. 2020-03 - The Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility <br />(SAFER) <br />The SAFER appellant is requesting that the City Council overturn the Planning <br />Commission's decision based on failure to comply with the California Environmental Quality <br />Act (CEQA) by failing to prepare a supplemental or tiered EIR for the project for the following <br />reasons: <br />a. The SAFER appellant contends that City improperly relied on the Metro East <br />Mixed -Use Overlay Program EIR in approving the Central Pointe Project. <br />Staff Response — In approving the Central Pointe Project, the Planning <br />Commission found that it was adequately evaluated in the previously certified <br />MEMU EIR prepared for the MEMU Overlay. SAFER contends that this was an <br />error, because the MEMU EIR "was a programmatic EIR, not a project -level EIR," <br />asserting that the project has never been analyzed under CEQA. SAFER is <br />incorrect. <br />A Program EIR is a type of EIR allowed under the California Environmental Quality <br />Act that is used to evaluate a plan or program having multiple components or <br />actions that are related either geographically, through application of rules or <br />regulations, or as logical parts of a long-term plan. Subsequent activities called <br />for by the Program EIR are compared against the Program EIR and, when <br />consistent with the Program EIR, may be approved without the need for further <br />environmental review. <br />Once a project is approved, CEQA does not require that it be analyzed anew every <br />time another discretionary action is required to implement the project. Quite the <br />opposite, where an EIR has previously been prepared for a project, CEQA <br />expressly prohibits agencies from requiring a subsequent or supplemental EIR, <br />except in specified circumstances provided in Public Resource Code 21166 and <br />CEQA Guidelines Section 15162. Specifically, an agency may not require a <br />subsequent or supplemental EIR unless: <br />(1) Substantial changes are proposed in the project which will <br />require major revisions of the previous EIR due to the <br />involvement of new significant environmental effects or a <br />