RES 96087 - Laserfiche WebLink

(b) An environmental review under the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is required when a discretionary decision of a public agency is needed to implement or authorize a project or a public action (such as a general plan). Because the "trigger" for the preparation of an EIR or other CEQA document is a public agency decision, interested panies and the public may have views on the underlying decision as well as on the environmental review. It is not uncommon (and in many jurisdictions it is standard practice) to combine the public hearing on the environmental document with the public hearing on the underlying public action. Comments presented in such hearings may address the substantive action or the CEQA document or both. and the comments do not always specify whether it is the action or the CEQA document that has prompted the comment. In all cases in which the comment letter specified a concern with the OEIR, a written response has been prepared. A review of the three documents cited by the commenter discloses that the absence of responses simply reflects an absence of OEIR comments. No "deficiency" in the provision of written responses has occurred. See also Response 3. 3. Comment: (a) The FEIR addresses comments "arbitrarily": some are responded to and others are ignored on a "pick and choose" basis. This approach is inconsistent with CEQA requirements for a good faith response. (b) The HCD letter identifies issues regarding the draft General Plan Housing Element "which were not raised in the DEIR and for which no information exists in the record which would provide the Council an ability to make a 'reasoned choice' among project alternatives or to evaluate and potentially mitigate project impacts related to the Housing Element. " Response: (a) The rationale for the selection of comments that received responses in the FEIR is explained in Response 2. . (b) The commenter is correct in noting that not every comment received a response in the FEIR. This is because a comment was not considered as raising a CEQA issue unless it referred specifically to the OEIR or the comment addressed a subject that falls within the statutory definition of "environment" as set forth in Public Resources Code ~21060.5: "the physical conditions that exist within the area that will be affected by a proposed project, including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, noise, objects of historic or aesthetic significance." 2