Legal Resources | | T14 15083.5
Chapter 3. Guidelines for Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act Article 7. EIR Process City or County Consultation with Water Agencies.
This guideline addresses consultation between a city or county and affected water agencies at the notice of preparation stage of environmental review.
(a) This guideline shall apply only to projects which meet all of the following criteria:
(1) The project consists of any of the following activities for which an application has been submitted to a city or county:
(A) A residential development of more than 500 dwelling units.
(B) A shopping center or business establishment that will employ more than 1,000 persons or have more than 500,000 square feet of floor space.
(C) A commercial office building that will employ more than 1,000 persons or have more than 250,000 square feet of floor space.
(D) A hotel, motel or both with more than 500 rooms.
(E) An industrial, manufacturing, or processing plant, or industrial park intended to house more than 1,000 persons, occupying more than 40 acres of land, or having more than 650,000 square feet of floor area.
(F) Any mixed-use project that would demand an amount of water equal to, or greater than, the amount of water needed to serve a 500-dwelling unit project.
(2) As part of approval of the project, any of the following are required:
(A) An amendment to, or revision of, the land use element of a general plan or a specific plan, which would result in a net increase in the stated population density or building intensity to provide for additional development.
(B) The adoption of a specific plan, unless the city or county has previously complied with this section for the project.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subdivision (a)(2), when a project is identified in connection with the revision of any part of a general plan, that project is subject to the requirements of this section only if the project results in a net increase in the stated population density or building intensity, and if the city or county has not previously complied with the requirements of this section for the project in question.
(3) A city or county has determined that an environmental impact report is required in connection with the project.
(b) For projects subject to this guideline, a city or county shall identify any water system that is, or may become, a public water system, as defined in Section 10912 of the Water Code, that may supply water for the project. When a city or county releases a notice of preparation for review, it shall send a copy of the notice to each public water system which serves or would serve the proposed project and request that the system both indicate whether the projected water demand associated with the proposed project was included in its last urban water management plan and assess whether its total projected water supplies available during normal, single-dry, and multiple-dry water years as included in the 20-year projection contained in its urban water management plan will meet the projected water demand associated with the proposed project, in addition to the system's existing and planned future uses.
(c) The governing body of a public water system shall approve and submit its water supply assessment to the city or county not later than 30 days after the date on which the request and notice of preparation were received. If the public water system fails to submit its assessment within the allotted time, the lead agency may assume, unless there has been a request for a specific extension of time from the public water system, that the public water system has no information to submit. If a public water system concludes there would be insufficient water to serve the proposed project, it shall provide the city or county with its plans for acquiring additional water supplies.
(d) The lead agency shall include within the EIR the public water system's assessment and any other information provided by the water agency, up to a maximum of ten typewritten pages. The assessment and information may only exceed that length with the approval of the lead agency. The lead agency may independently evaluate the water system's information and shall determine, based on the entire record, whether projected water supplies will be sufficient to satisfy the demands of the proposed project, in addition to existing and planned future uses. If the lead agency determines that water supplies will not be sufficient, the lead agency must include that determination in its findings for the project pursuant to Sections 15091 and 15093.
(e) For purposes of this section, "public water system" means a system as defined in Section 10912 of the Water Code with 3,000 or more service connections.
(f) This section does not apply to the County of San Diego and the cities in the county as provided in Section 10915 of the Water Code.
Authority cited:
Public Resources Code 21083
Reference:
Public Resources Code 21151.9
(Amended by Register 2005, No. 40.)