Policy for Preparation and Processing of Environmental Documents

Table of Contents

Updated October 7, 2002

Policy for CEQA Compliance

The Local Agency Formation Commission of Mendocino County is a regulatory agency with quasi-legislative authority. LAFCO's are established by State Law (Government Code Sections 56000 et seq.) to assist the Legislature in promoting orderly development and in balancing development with competing state interests of discouraging urban sprawl, preserving open space, prime agricultural and resource lands, and extending governmental services efficiently.

LAFCO's are responsible for coordinating logical and timely changes in local government boundaries, including annexations and detachments of territory, incorporation of cities, formations of special districts, and consolidations, mergers, and dissolutions of districts. LAFCO also reviews ways to reorganize, simplify, and streamline governmental structure. LAFCO of Mendocino County has jurisdiction over changes in local government boundaries for cities and special districts occurring in Mendocino County. Changes of organization or reorganization of districts and cities are considered projects under CEQA.

CEQA defines a project “as the whole of an action which has the potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment or a reasonably foreseeable indirect change in the environment.” As used in CEQA the term “project” is very broad. A project under CEQA is considered to be an activity directly undertaken through public agency contracts, grants, subsidies, loans, or other assistance from a public agency or an activity involving the public agency issuance of a lease, permit, license, certificate or other discretionary entitlement for use, unless exempted. In Bozung vs. Local Agency Formation Commission (1975), CEQA was judged to apply to changes of organization or reorganization.

Because of the potential indirect changes in the physical environment, “project” refers to the underlying activity being approved by an agency, not just the government permits necessary to develop such an undertaking. If a change of organization or reorganization is required for a project, any CEQA process must account for the direct effects of a project, if there is development, and for those potential indirect effects caused by organizational changes. Therefore, the CEQA process must include a review of those issues required to be examined by LAFCO in its approval process as mandated in Section 56668 of the Government Code.

Many LAFCO projects will be initiated by a land use authority, such as a city or the county, with annexation to a special district required as a condition of approval for purposes of receiving specialized services such as water or sewer. Many changes in organization or reorganization sought by individuals, districts and cities as applicants to LAFCO will have underlying activity such as physical construction or development of infrastructure (e.g. housing or building development, water and sewer pipeline extensions, roadways, development of treatment facilities or the like), which are part of the project. In cases where building or housing developments are sought, the principal responsible agency will normally be the agency with general governmental powers, such as the city or county that authorizes the development. In cases where service infrastructure is to be developed or service is to be extended to existing development, the principal responsible agency would generally be the agency responsible for carrying out the infrastructure development or service extension of the project, unless it is part of a land use development project by a city or county mentioned previously. All of the variations possible under these conditions would normally mean that LAFCO would not be the principal agency and therefore not the Lead Agency. In some cases, changes in organization or reorganization sought by districts will have no underlying physical project; therefore the principal responsibility of approving the project will be with LAFCO, thus making LAFCO the Lead Agency.

Following are the policies that LAFCO will adhere to for the purpose of environmental review:

Environmental Coordinator

  1. The LAFCO Executive Officer shall serve as the Environmental Coordinator and have the authority to prepare, or cause to be prepared, the appropriate environmental documentation.
  2. The LAFCO Executive Officer as the Environmental Coordinator shall be responsible for making decisions and environmental determinations pursuant to the requirements of CEQA and the Policies and Procedures of LAFCO.
  3. The Environmental Coordinator shall be responsible for the following functions in administering CEQA:
    • Determining whether a project is exempt
    • Hiring environmental consultants
    • Supervising the work of environmental consultants
    • Conducting Initial Studies
    • Preparing or supervising the preparation of Negative Declarations, or Mitigated Negative Declaration and EIR's
    • Determining that a Negative Declaration is complete
    • Preparing responses to public comments as to the adequacy and/or completeness of environmental documents prepared by LAFCO
    • Filing Notices
    • Providing information to hearing bodies
    • Acting as the hearing officer for the purpose of receiving public comments on Draft EIR's when requested by the Commission
    • Exercising the authority to enter into agreements with government entities that provide services within Mendocino County for the purpose of providing environmental review for projects initiated by those governmental agencies
    • Responding to environmental documents from other agencies for LAFCO as a Responsible Agency
    • Requesting shortened public review periods, when appropriate, from the State Clearinghouse
    • Performing other functions reasonably required to administer the State CEQA Guidelines

Appeals

  1. Any person dissatisfied with a decision of the Environmental Coordinator relating to provisions or requirements of the CEQA process may appeal the decision to the Commission and/or a subcommittee of the Commission. Such appeal shall be made in writing to the Executive Officer within ten days of the announcement of the decision by the Environmental Coordinator and shall include reasons that justify the appeal.
  2. The hearing on the appeal will be scheduled no later than the next regular LAFCO meeting, which can be properly noticed following receipt of the appeal by the Executive Officer. Upon mutual agreement with the appellant a hearing may be scheduled later than the next regular LAFCO meeting.
  3. The burden to show why the decision should not be affirmed shall be upon the appellant.
  4. All CEQA review processes will be suspended until a decision by the Commission is made. Any time line prescribed by law shall be extended by the amount of time needed to obtain a decision by the Commission.
  5. Failure to file an appeal within the required time frame shall affirm the decision of the Environmental Coordinator.

Applications

With any LAFCO application there are two major informational elements needed for the application: One is the information needed for requirements of LAFCO law known as Cortese–Knox-Hertzberg or C-K-H (Government Code 56000 et seq.) and; two is the information needed for the CEQA process (Public Resources Code 21000 et seq.). Each has different, sometimes competing, requirements for the processing of applications. As an example, C-K-H and CEQA both have 30-day rules for the acceptance of applications.

Under CEQA and per the Permit Streamlining Act, the Lead Agency is allowed 30 days to review an application for completeness for private development projects. The application will be deemed complete if the agency does not make a determination as to whether an application is complete within 30 days of receipt. [GC 64943(b) and 15060 CEQA Guidelines] However, the 30-day requirement does not apply to legislative acts such as general plan amendments, zoning changes, or changes of organization or reorganizations by LAFCO.

C-K-H also requires the executive officer to determine within 30 days of receiving an application whether it is complete and acceptable for filing, or incomplete. If the appropriate fees have been paid, an application is deemed accepted for filing if no determination has been made by the executive officer within the 30-day period. [GC 56658(f)] Commission proceedings are deemed initiated on the date a petition or resolution of application is accepted for filing and a certificate of filing is issued by the executive officer (GC 56651). Once a certificate of filing is issued the hearing on the project must occur within 90 days.

These two requirements of CEQA and C-K-H seem to require similar responses of the executive officer, however, an exception is provided in Section 56658(d) as follows: Except when a commission is the Lead Agency pursuant to Section 21067 of the Public Resources Code, the executive officer shall determine within 30 days of receiving an application whether the application is complete and acceptable for filing or whether the application is incomplete. Depending on the project, it can take months to years for the CEQA process to be conducted.

Under CEQA each agency is required to publish, and make available to a project applicant, the information required for submitting an application. LAFCO’s environmental questionnaire can be found in the appendix of our CEQA procedures document. The Environmental Coordinator will use this information to judge what level of CEQA review is needed and for an Initial Study. The application for C-K-H requirements will be found in the appendix of the policies and procedures for LAFCO. The information provided in this application will be used to make a determination on the request for change of organization. There will necessarily be some overlap. The applicant is not required to provide duplicate material but both applications will need to be completed.

Section 56652 of C-K-H dictates the requirements of the application. It provides that every application:

  1. Shall be in the form that the commission may prescribe
  2. Shall contain a petition or resolution of application initiating the proposal
  3. Shall contain a statement of the nature of each proposal
  4. Shall contain a map and description acceptable to the executive officer, of the boundaries of the proposed territory
  5. Shall contain any data and information that may be required by the commission
  6. Shall contain any additional data and information required by the executive officer pertaining to any of the matters or factors that may be considered by the commission
  7. Shall contain the names of the persons, not to exceed three, who are to be furnished with copies of the report by the Executive Officer

The following will be the policy of LAFCO of Mendocino County regarding applications:

  1. The applicant must complete both applications when LAFCO is the Lead Agency. If LAFCO is the Responsible Agency the Executive Officer will determine if additional information is needed by reviewing the CEQA document prepared by the Lead Agency for the project.
  2. Regardless of whether LAFCO is the Lead Agency or the Responsible Agency for the project, the applicant is required to meet with the Executive Officer prior to preparing a CEQA environmental review document for purposes of ascertaining the requirements of LAFCO for the CEQA process.
  3. Any CEQA process that is conducted without review by LAFCO, as a Responsible Agency, will not be used by LAFCO for its determination on changes of organization or reorganization.
  4. The Executive Officer will not issue a certificate of filing until he judges that the application is complete.
  5. When LAFCO is the Lead Agency, no application shall receive a certificate of filing until CEQA documentation has been completed which adequately addresses the requirements of CEQA, NEPA (if applicable), C-K-H and LAFCO’s policies and procedures.
  6. When LAFCO is the Responsible Agency, no application shall receive a certificate of filing until CEQA documentation has been received which adequately addresses the requirements of CEQA, NEPA (if applicable) C-K-H and LAFCO’s policies and procedures.
  7. Whether acting as the Lead Agency or the Responsible Agency, LAFCO will not act upon or approve any change of organization or reorganization until environmental documentation has been approved by the Commission which adequately addresses all areas of environmental concern of the project and the areas of concern that LAFCO is mandated to consider in its review process.
  8. For purposes of C-K-H applications for annexation to a city shall not be deemed to be filed until the following is provided:
    • Verification of an approved prezone from the annexing City
    • Verification of a completed CEQA and NEPA (if applicable) in which LAFCO assumed the Responsible Agency role
    • Completion of a tax exchange agreement with the county

Lead Agency

Lead Agency means the public agency which has the principal responsibility for carrying out or approving a project which may have significant effect on the environment [CEQA Section 21067].

  1. Where two or more agencies will be involved with a project, the determination of which agency will be the lead agency shall be governed by the following criteria:
    • The lead agency will normally be the agency with general governmental powers, such as a city or county, rather than an agency with a single or limited purpose such as a district which will provide a public service or public utility to the project.
    • Government Code Section 56375 requires a city to prezone the territory to be annexed. Where a city prezone's an area, the city will be the appropriate Lead Agency for any subsequent annexation of the area and should prepare the appropriate environmental document at the time of the prezoning. LAFCO will be the Responsible Agency in this instance. No application will be accepted without prezoning and environmental review by the city.
    • When more than one public agency equally meet the requirements for Lead Agency, the agency which will act first on the project in question shall be the Lead Agency.
    • Two or more agencies with substantial claim to be the Lead Agency may by agreement designate an agency as the Lead Agency.
    • In cases where LAFCO and another public agency qualify for Lead Agency status, the agency with the greatest responsibility for carrying out the project should assume the Lead Agency role.
    • In cases of special districts, where the project is a change in organization or reorganization only and there is no infrastructure development associated with the project, LAFCO will have the greatest responsibility for carrying out the project, therefore LAFCO will be the Lead Agency. If the project includes infrastructure development that will be carried out by the district, then the district will be the Lead Agency provided that the district has appropriately consulted with LAFCO as the Responsible Agency.
    • If the project will be carried out by a public agency, that agency shall be the Lead Agency even if the project would be located within the jurisdiction of another public agency.
    • If the project is to be carried out by a non-governmental person or entity, the Lead Agency shall be the public agency with the greatest responsibility for supervising the project as a whole.
  2. LAFCO will typically act as the Lead Agency in reviewing:
    • Changes of organization or reorganization initiated by LAFCO under Government Code Section 56375
    • Sphere of Influence Plans and Amendments and Service Reviews
    • Incorporations
    • Consolidations, Detachments, Dissolutions and District formations
    • Annexations which are not part of a larger project for which a city or county acted as the lead agency, or for which LAFCO is the first to act (e.g. petition for annexation by landowner)
    • When the Lead Agency has failed to undertake required CEQA responsibilities pursuant to Section 15052 of the State CEQA Guidelines
    • When the project is a change of organization or reorganization for a district not involving infrastructure development to be carried out by the district
  3. LAFCO shall assume the Lead Agency role for a project for which it was a Responsible Agency when:
    • The Lead Agency has failed to conduct an environmental review for the project
    • The Lead Agency failed to consult with LAFCO as the Responsible Agency when it prepared its review
    • A previously prepared environmental review is outdated and not current to present circumstances and conditions or substantive new technical data or new information is available
    • A subsequent EIR or Negative Declaration is required pursuant to Section 15162 of the State CEQA Guidelines
    • The environmental document did not disclose or failed to describe the impacts of LAFCO’s actions
  4. Upon request by a public agency that provides services within Mendocino County but is unable to fulfill the CEQA function, LAFCO may assume the Lead Agency role at the discretion of the Executive Officer for the purpose of providing environmental review for projects initiated by those governmental agencies. A written agreement will be required.

Responsible Agency

A Responsible Agency is a public agency other than the Lead Agency that has responsibility for carrying out or approving a project and for complying with CEQA.

  1. In the case of projects initiated by a land use authority, such as a city or county, where annexations are required as a condition of approval, LAFCO will assume the Responsible Agency role unless the Lead Agency did not consult with LAFCO as the Responsible Agency.
  2. LAFCO will assume the Responsible Agency role for annexations that include a prezone by a city unless the Lead Agency did not consult with LAFCO as the Responsible Agency.
  3. LAFCO will assume the Responsible Agency role for changes in organizations for a district which include infrastructure development by a district unless that agency did not consult with LAFCO as the Responsible Agency.
  4. When acting as the Responsible Agency, LAFCO’s Environmental Coordinator shall encourage the Lead Agency to consult with LAFCO early in the environmental review process in order to facilitate and coordinate the evaluation of impacts related to future LAFCO actions.
  5. When acting as the Responsible Agency, LAFCO will respond to Notices of Preparation, requests for consultations and other reasonable information requests as soon as feasible.
  6. As a Responsible Agency, LAFCO will comment, consistent with its legislative mandate and adopted policies upon Initial Studies, Notices of Preparation for Environmental Impact Reports and other requests for review by Lead Agencies for projects that are to become before LAFCO.
    • Opportunity for comment will be circulated to each Commissioner with a 15 day time line for response.
    • The Environmental Coordinator will then forward the individual Commissioner responses along with his/her response to the Lead Agency.
    • Note: Due to their size and cost of printing, Responsible Agencies typically receive only one copy of an EIR which will be maintained in the Executive Officer’s office for review by the Commissioners. Smaller documents with nominal cost of copying will be circulated to the Commissioners.

Implementation of CEQA

  1. LAFCO shall implement CEQA in an effective and efficient manner while maximizing opportunities for public participation and disclosures by:
    • Developing and adopting policy and procedures for processing and administering the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA 21001)
    • Meeting with applicants early in the process to facilitate processing and encourage modifications to the proposed project, before it is submitted that may eliminate or avoid potential environmental impacts
    • Integrating environmental review with other processes to the maximum extent feasible so that such processes may run concurrently
    • Preparing documents that are organized, readable and concise
    • Omitting unnecessary information and only considering feasible mitigation measures and project alternatives
    • Providing new technical data gathered in the CEQA process to local, state and federal agencies to support data base development
    • Coordinating document preparation with other agencies possessing discretionary authority over any portion of a proposed project to minimize related costs

CEQA Compliance

  1. Within the scope of LAFCO’s specific policies and purposes, and as stated in Section 21001 of the Public Resources Code, LAFCO shall be guided by state policy when considering projects. Those State policies that will be furthered are:
    • Develop and maintain a high quality environment now and in the future, and take all action necessary to protect, rehabilitate, and enhance the environmental quality of the state.
    • Take all action necessary to provide the people of this state with clean air and water, enjoyment of aesthetic, natural, scenic and historic environmental qualities and freedom from excessive noise.
    • Prevent the elimination of fish or wildlife species due to man’s activities. Ensure that fish and wildlife populations do not drop below self-perpetuating levels, and preserve for future generations representations of all plant and animal communities and examples of the major periods of California history.
    • Ensure the long-term protection of the environment consistent with the provision of a decent home and suitable living environment for every Californian, shall be the guiding criterion in public decisions.
    • Create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony to fulfill the social and economic requirements of present and future generations.
    • Require governmental agencies at all levels to develop standards and procedures necessary to protect environmental quality.
    • Require governmental agencies at all levels to consider qualitative factors as well as economic and technical factors and long term benefits and costs, in addition to short term benefits and costs, and to consider alternatives to proposed actions affecting the environment.

Policy Regarding Significant and Adverse Environmental Impacts

When evaluating environmental impacts during the Initial Study process, LAFCO may identify such impacts as significant and adverse if:

  1. Build out of the proposed project may cause service levels to decline below established standards, costs of service provision to rise substantially to the detriment of service levels, or cause those currently receiving service to receive reduced or inadequate services, especially when such change may cause adverse health and safety or other physical impacts.
  2. Build out of the proposed project may cause the infrastructure capacity of a service provider to exceed planned and safe limits especially when such change may cause adverse health and safety or other physical impacts.
  3. Inclusion of the proposed territory into the boundaries of the service agency exceeds the ability of the service provider to provide service to the proposed or existing development within that territory with either existing or proposed service capacity.
  4. The proposed project includes or plans for infrastructure capacity, especially water and sewer lines, that exceed the needs of the proposed project and may be used to serve areas not presently planned for development, especially those containing prime agricultural and resource land, mineral, sensitive plant and wildlife or other important resources.
  5. The proposed project could cause health and safety or physical impacts because a service provider is incapable of providing service, the proposal has an illogical boundary, or elements needed to provide service (water supply, treatment facilities, equipment, energy) are not available, or stressed beyond capacity.
  6. The proposed project may result in substantial loss of prime agricultural land or important open space, timberland, mining or other resource lands. Land use zones adopted by a city or the county shall be used to judge appropriate land use.
  7. The proposed project may cause premature, ill-planned, illogical, or inefficient conversion of prime agricultural, timberland, open space, mineral resource or other important resource areas not presently planned for development.
  8. The proposed project is substantially inconsistent with applicable Sphere of Influence Plans, General Plan or Specific Plan, area service plans, phased land use plans of any city or county, or resource conservation plans of the state or federal government.
  9. The proposed project may induce substantial growth on important agricultural, resource and open space lands because it would:
    • Permit the extension of, or require, infrastructure such as flood control levees or water diversions, electrical, water or sewer lines, especially trunk lines, roadways or public facilities that would permit new development in a substantial area currently constrained from development.
    • Encourage or foster development by permitting uses that adversely impact adjacent agricultural, timberland, mining or other resource operations, significantly increase property values of adjacent or proximate agricultural or resource land, or remove man made or natural buffers between urban and agricultural, timber, mining or conservation uses.
    • Be adversely and substantially inconsistent with the agricultural, open space, resource conservation or preservation, growth management, or other plans or policies of General Plan or Specific Plan of the land use jurisdiction responsible for the project site or vicinity.
  10. The proposed project, when considered in conjunction with other recent, present and reasonably foreseeable projects, may cause significant adverse cumulative impacts.
  11. There is no immediate need for service and the proposed project adversely affects important public resources or the public health and safety
  12. The project would adversely impact animal or plant species listed as, or determined to be, endangered, rare, or threatened as provide in Section 15380 of the State CEQA Guidelines.
  13. Consistent with Section 21002 of CEQA, it shall be the policy of LAFCO of Mendocino County that no project should be approved as proposed, if there are feasible alternatives or feasible mitigation measures available which would substantially lessen the significant environmental effects of such projects.
  14. In the event that specific economic, social or other considerations make infeasible project alternative or mitigations which will avoid or substantially lessen significant effects on the environment, individual projects may be approved in spite of one or more significant effects. (Statement of Overriding Considerations with findings)

Hearings and Notices

  1. LAFCO will not conduct hearings on Negative Declarations and Mitigated Negative Declarations separate from the project hearing.
  2. When LAFCO is the Lead Agency, LAFCO will conduct a separate hearing for purposes of receiving comments from the public and agencies on Draft EIR's. The hearing may be conducted by the Commission or the Executive Officer if so directed by the Commission.
  3. The hearing on the Final EIR will be conducted on the same day as the hearing for the project, previous to the hearing on the project.
  4. A Notice of Intent to adopt or consider a Negative Declaration or Mitigated Negative Declaration or Draft EIR shall be provided to the public not less than twenty days in advance of the hearing.
  5. Posting and publication of notice for any documents for environmental review shall be according to the requirements of C-K-H.

Consultants

  1. When LAFCO is the Lead Agency, the Environmental Coordinator may select a consultant for a project as he considers appropriate.
  2. All costs of consultants will be paid by the applicant. Initial bid costs of consultants or estimates of costs will be communicated to the applicant for their knowledge and awareness for purposes of noticing their budget process.
  3. Consultants may prepare Initial Studies only if hired and supervised directly by the Environmental Coordinator.
  4. If consultants are used to prepare an EIR, the Environmental Coordinator shall ensure that the environmental documentation:
    • Is completed pursuant to a phased plan developed by the Environmental Coordinator and within the time lines established by CEQA
    • Contains required environmental analysis and disclosures of issues identified in the Initial Study and required to be considered by LAFCO
    • Reflects the independent judgment of LAFCO as the Lead Agency
    • Is adequate and complete pursuant to the requirements of CEQA
  5. In the event that a consultant is unable to produce an adequate environmental document, the Environmental Coordinator shall assume control of document preparation to ensure that CEQA and LAFCO issues are adequately addressed and processing time lines are met.

Fees

  1. Fees will be collected to cover 100% of the cost of services provided (CEQA 21089).
  2. All costs for the development for an environmental review shall be borne by the applicant or the affected agency.
  3. Fees would include costs for such things as consultants, mailings, public notices, document recordings, public hearing records, hourly rates of the Environmental Coordinator and any other costs associated with the development of the CEQA process.
  4. The Environmental Coordinator hourly rates are set by resolution of the Commission. Rates may be changed from time to time by the action of the Commission.
  5. The Environmental Coordinator shall provide an estimate of the costs of preparation of an environmental document to the applicant. Such estimate to be paid in advance of the contracting for a consultant or at the beginning of the environmental review process. No work will begin until the estimate fees are paid.
  6. If after the review process begins, it is determined that additional funds are needed to complete the review process the applicant shall provide funds as requested.
    • The review process will be suspended up to 90 days until the additional funds are received.
    • Failure to provide the funds within the 90 day period will cause termination of the review process unless the Commission extends the time.
    • Refusal to provide the additional funds will cause the review process to terminate.
    • The review process will be suspended up to 90 days until the additional funds are received.
    • Failure to provide the funds within the 90 day period will cause termination of the review process unless the Commission extends the time.
    • Refusal to provide the additional funds will cause the review process to terminate.
  7. Any excess funds at the completion of the environmental review process shall be returned to the applicant.
  8. A fee equal to the actual cost of reproduction of an environmental document shall be charged to persons who desire such a copy (CEQA 21089, State CEQA Guidelines 15045 (b)). This fee shall not be charged to public agencies having jurisdiction by law with respect to the project or to individuals or organizations possessing special expertise and from whom the Environmental Coordinator desires input into an environmental analysis.

Adoption and Changes in Policy and Procedures

All public agencies shall adopt by ordinance, resolution, rule or regulation, objectives, criteria, and procedures for the evaluation of projects and the preparation of environmental impact reports and negative declarations pursuant to this division. [CEQA 21082]

  1. Adoption of the CEQA Policy and Procedures shall occur at a noticed public hearing.
    • Notice shall occur 21 days in advance of the hearing by posting and publishing to the general public
    • Mailed notice shall be given to each agency
  2. Minor changes in the Policy or Procedures may occur at a regular scheduled meeting of the Commission unless the Commission decides a public hearing is needed.
  3. The Executive Officer is authorized to make changes to the forms used for the CEQA process as he/she considers appropriate.

LAFCO of Mendocino County CEQA Policies were adopted on __________2002 pursuant to Resolution No: _________. These CEQA Policies shall be used to comply with, and implement, Sections 21000 et sequitur of the California Public Resources Code.