The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is the State-level environmental review guideline. CEQA requirements are outlined in Public Resources Code Section 21000, et seq. All projects occurring within the State of California must be evaluated for their environmental impacts and publicly disclosed, if necessary, in accordance with CEQA requirements. The level of the review also varies according to the project’s scope of work and the project site’s existing environmental conditions.
Currently, the CEQA Lead Agency is the City of Los Angeles, Department of City Planning. However, any City agency, including CIFD, may take responsibility for conducting the CEQA review. If the review is carried out by another agency, CIFD must verify that it has been completed prior to environmental clearance. If CIFD becomes the Responsible Agency, then the CEQA review can be completed concurrently with the NEPA review.
Public Notice Dissemination
CEQA guidelines require that the Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), stating the potential problems and proposed mitigations, must be disseminated for public review for 21 calendar days. After the required review period, the MND is forwarded to the City Council and Mayor for approval.
Within five days of approval, a Notice of Determination (NOD) and a Department of Fish and Wildlife Exemption form must be prepared and filed with the County. A 30 day review period is required for the NOD.