TO: PLANNING COMMISSION

FROM: SCOTT ANDERSON, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

SUBJECT: UPDATE OF TOWN OF TIBURON’S LOCAL CEQA GUIDELINES

MEETING DATE: OCTOBER 23, 2002

REPORT DATE: OCTOBER 17, 2002

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 BACKGROUND

State law encourages the adoption by local agencies of "local CEQA guidelines" to tailor the State CEQA Guidelines to local processes and needs. The Town of Tiburon originally adopted local CEQA guidelines in 1978; and conducted wholesale revisions in 1991. The 1991 (current) version is attached as Exhibit 2 for reference purposes.

Since 1991, legislative amendments and case law interpretations have incrementally but cumulatively altered CEQA in significant ways. Furthermore, after decades of rulings to the contrary, recent court decisions have begun to penalize agencies who do not complete and certify EIR’s within one year of an application being deemed "complete". In recent months, the Town of Tiburon has been the defendant in one such case, involving the Tiburon Glen project EIR. These court decisions have galvanized the need to update the Town’s local CEQA guidelines in order to minimize confusion and conflict with constantly-changing CEQA laws and court interpretations. The Town Council has indicated its intent to have new local CEQA Guidelines placed before it for adoption at the November 6, 2002 Town Council meeting, and has directed that Staff secure the comments of the Planning Commission prior to that date.

 ISSUES

As was common with local CEQA guidelines of that era, the Town’s 1991 version attempted to "summarize and distill" the major points, timelines, and procedures from the State CEQA Guidelines in a much shorter document. It also included numerous CEQA forms and notices that at that time were not readily available to applicants or the general public. As the CEQA process has become increasingly litigious and complex, serious flaws in the "summarize and distill" approach have appeared. The CEQA process is too complex and changes too rapidly for this approach to be successful given a small town’s limited resources, and Town Staff no longer believes that a summarized and abbreviated local guideline document represents a prudent or viable option. Town Staff favors a more streamlined approach that "augments or clarifies" State CEQA Guidelines in places deemed important to the Town, but otherwise adopts the State CEQA Guidelines intact, so as to reduce the instances of confusion or conflict that have recently led to delays and/or litigation.

ANALYSIS

The proposed amended local CEQA Guidelines document is attached as Exhibit 1. As this is a wholesale rewrite of the prior guidelines, it was not possible to produce a red-lined copy.

The proposed version is much shorter than the old one, mostly through the deletion of Appendices that contained standardized CEQA forms now widely available through the internet. The local CEQA document is intended to be used exclusively as a supplement to the State CEQA Guidelines handbook (which is approximately 150 pages in length), and not as a substitute for it. Provisions of the local guidelines seek only to "supplement", "augment", "clarify", or "amplify" provisions of the State CEQA Guidelines, and to tailor CEQA-related procedures to the specific operations of the Town of Tiburon.

Nearly all passages deleted from the prior local CEQA document are duplicative of text or definitions contained within the State CEQA Guidelines. These passages should be referenced in full by Town Staff, rather than relying on a summary that may leave out critical information.

All major provisions concerning the Planning Commission remain in place. These include:

Hearing and deciding appeals of the Environmental Coordinator’s decision to require preparation of an EIR.

Hosting the scoping meeting prior to preparation of an EIR.

Adopting negative declarations or certifying EIR’s prior to project approval for applications over which the Commission has decision-making authority.

Reviewing and making recommendations to the Town Council regarding negative declarations or EIR’s for applications over which the Commission is an advisory body to the Town Council.

Considering the adequacy of the Draft EIR at a public meeting held following the close of the public comment period.

ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS

Adoption or amendment of these guidelines is not a project under CEQA.

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends that the Planning Commission forward any comments on the Local CEQA Guidelines revisions to the Town Council for its consideration at the November 6, 2002 meeting.

EXHIBITS

\scott\local guidelines update pcreport.doc