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<br />Mr. Fialho said the scoping session is purely a technical term. These workshops and the <br />comments presented are incorporated into the EIR process. If a citizen wants to comment on <br />the General Plan, they can email Jerry Iserson, Director of Planning, or telephone him or Janice <br />Stern, Principal Planner. <br /> <br />Mr. Sullivan commented that usually when there is a scoping session for an EIR, there is <br />a known project first then there is a scoping session, then the draft EIR is prepared. When that <br />is complete there is another public comment period and that process will still take place. Any <br />email, phone call, or comment at a public meeting has to be addressed in the final EIR. There <br />will be workshops and those issues will be folded into the EIR at some point. He asked the City <br />Attorney if there were any legal issues involved. If a person did not bring up an issue at the <br />scoping session, does that person lose their ability to later file a lawsuit against the city. <br /> <br />Michael Roush said no. The scoping session is required by CEQA. Staff is getting it <br />done early so the consultant can start work on the EIR in order to get it done in conjunction with <br />the General Plan in the next year or year and a half. There will be ample time for people to <br />comment on any other issues that are brought up at subsequent workshops. People can then <br />comment on the adequacy of the draft EIR. Those comments will be responded to in the final <br />EIR. It is extremely unlikely that any issue of an environmental nature will not be addressed in <br />this process. Typically a scoping session is held because there is not a series of public <br />workshops that deal with all the issues. Essentially, there have already been a series of <br />scoping sessions and the formal one is being held next Monday, but staff would continue on the <br />informal scoping session for the remainder of these workshops. <br /> <br />Mr. Sullivan said ultimately the final EIR would be approved by the Planning Commission <br />and City Council. <br /> <br />Mr. Roush said the Planning Commission would make a recommendation whether it <br />should be certified then the City Council would decide. If it felt it should not be certified, then it <br />would return the matter to staff to do additional work on some or all portions of the elements, <br />then it would come back through the process again. <br /> <br />Ms. Maas asked if there was a notice for the scoping session. <br /> <br />Mr. Roush said a notice was not mailed to every household, but it was in the newspaper <br />and on the Internet. <br /> <br />Mr. Fialho said the notice was in the Pleasanton Weekly, on the city's website and <br />posted at city hall. A massive mailing was sent to anyone who had demonstrated an interest in <br />the General Plan in the past either through these workshops or any other forum. <br /> <br />Mr. Sullivan asked staff to clearly describe the EIR process at the scoping session, how <br />long it takes, opportunities for public input, limitations, etc. <br /> <br />Mr. Brozosky asked when the scoping ends. Workshops are still occurring, but there <br />has to be a point where one stops gathering information and starts producing the EIR based on <br />the scoping. <br /> <br />Joint Workshop <br />City CounciVPlanning Commission <br /> <br />16 <br /> <br />01/24/06 <br />