Environmental Reports Complicate Development Process
Developing real estate in the San Fernando Valley started out as a pretty simple process. There were a few municipal approvals needed, but nothing all that complicated. Today, however, concerns about population density and environmental quality have changed the way developers have to do business.
It’s taken more than three years for Los Angeles to produce an environmental impact report (EIR) that’s needed before May Centers can expand its Robinsons-May store at the Topanga Plaza mall in Canoga Park. The recently completed report--which was written with help from the developer and numerous consultants--totals about 400 pages, plus another 400 to 500 pages in appendixes.
Developer JMB and Blue Cross of California have been going through an almost identical process to win approval for several million square feet of office space in Warner Center in Woodland Hills. The irony of all this planning is that nobody these days is rushing to build more office space.
Welcome to the wonderful world of EIRs and of CEQA--the California Environmental Quality Act.
Environmental reports are mandated by CEQA for nearly every building project that is expected to have significant effects on the environment. These documents are required for public and private developments, major infrastructure improvements and even changes in a city or county’s community plans.
The purpose of these often voluminous EIRs is to inform the public and government decision-makers of all the potential harms that may result from proposed development. Only after the harms are identified do agencies decide whether to reject the development or attach conditions designed to mitigate the harms.
The reports include information about traffic, air pollution, toxic waste, natural habitats, water and energy needs, and the extent to which a building blocks the sun at any given hour of the day.
The details can get mind-numbing.
In October, Gov. Pete Wilson signed two bills aimed at reforming CEQA a bit. The first, AB 1888, is aimed at encouraging more master environmental reports so that there won’t be a need for so many EIRs for building projects. The second, SB 919, gives a stricter definition of “substantial evidence,” that is, the criteria by which an agency determines if an EIR is necessary. This, too, is intended to reduce the number of EIRs and the weight of litigation produced by EIRs that are challenged in court.
“The changes are a means to encourage lead agencies to do some upfront planning,” said Dwight Steinert, senior planner at Engineering Technology Inc., an EIR consulting company in Sherman Oaks. Until now, he said, it’s been “up to the agencies how they implement the legislation.”
Steinert has been working on two local EIRs, one for Mulholland Hills Estates--a proposed 108-home subdivision in the West Valley--and for Van Nuys Airport. Both of these are taking several years to win approval from the various agencies that are involved.
“You need to include every conceivable wart in a project EIR. If you don’t, it jeopardizes the whole project approval process,” said Wendy Lockwood, director of the Los Angeles office of Environmental Science Associates Inc.
If any “wart” is missing, she said, just about anybody who’s opposed to the project has a basis to sue and stymie the approval. Lockwood’s company has worked on the environmental reports for both the May Centers and JMB projects. A lot of the documentation is the same, she said, since the report studies the whole community.
Lockwood said she’d like to see more master EIRs to cut down on the paperwork for project EIRs, and more reader-friendly documents. Even the summaries are about 100 pages on many projects.
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Developers throughout California complain about the complexity and time it takes to finalize an environmental report. First, there’s a draft EIR, and copies are circulated to interested parties, which then have a chance to comment in writing or at a public hearing. These comments and concerns are then included in the final report, which is submitted to the lead agency for certification.
It’s only after the report is certified that a decision-making body--such as a city planning commission or community redevelopment agency--can go ahead and approve a project. These approvals usually turn on what measures a developer plans to take to make up for any harm to the environment.
The California Environmental Quality Act of 1970 set the stage for today’s comprehensive EIRs. These are informational documents produced by a city, county or state agency vested with the authority to either build public projects or review privately proposed developments.
CEQA continues to be interpreted and expanded by California courts, resulting in longer and more complex environmental reports. Slow-growth advocates have also taken to challenging incomplete EIRs in court. If all the harms potentially created by a project aren’t identified in the report, the resulting litigation can stymie a project for years.
Some EIRs are financed by developers. Others may be paid for by a government agency that desires independent review of a private project or where the agency is developing its own project--such as a state office building, prison, city hall, water treatment plant, etc.
Each jurisdiction or lead agency has some latitude to set its rules. Some allow developers lots of participation. Others don’t want the document to be “tainted” by a developer who has a stake in the project being studied. Also, because CEQA doesn’t clearly define what an EIR is and isn’t, the actual process by which the reports are prepared varies from agency to agency.
Certain cities do all the EIR research and writing through their planning departments--without the help of a private consultant. Some jurisdictions contract with consultants to do the research and writing, then send the developer the bill.
A few jurisdictions allow the developer to write at least the first draft. And finally, several jurisdictions allow the developer only to contribute to what’s known as the database--where the developer and his/her consultants provide information that is then rewritten and reorganized by professional EIR writers.
