Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15065 Mandatory Findings of Significance

• Library: California Code of Regulations
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through Register 2023 Notice Reg. No. 52, December 29, 2023
• Citation: Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, § 15065
• Year: 2023

(a) A lead agency shall find that a project may have a significant effect on the environment and thereby require an EIR to be prepared for the project where there is substantial evidence, in light of the whole record, that any of the following conditions may occur:

(1) The project has the potential to substantially degrade the quality of the environment; substantially reduce the habitat of a fish or wildlife species; cause a fish or wildlife population to drop below self-sustaining levels; threaten to eliminate a plant or animal community; substantially reduce the number or restrict the range of an endangered, rare or threatened species; or eliminate important examples of the major periods of California history or prehistory.

(2) The project has the potential to achieve short-term environmental goals to the disadvantage of long-term environmental goals.

(3) The project has possible environmental effects that are individually limited but cumulatively considerable. "Cumulatively considerable" means that the incremental effects of an individual project are significant when viewed in connection with the effects of past projects, the effects of other current projects, and the effects of probable future projects.

(4) The environmental effects of a project will cause substantial adverse effects on human beings, either directly or indirectly.

(b)

(1) Where, prior to the commencement of public review of an environmental document, a project proponent agrees to mitigation measures or project modifications that would avoid any significant effect on the environment specified by subdivision (a) or would mitigate the significant effect to a point where clearly no significant effect on the environment would occur, a lead agency need not prepare an environmental impact report solely because, without mitigation, the environmental effects at issue would have been significant.

(2) Furthermore, where a proposed project has the potential to substantially reduce the number or restrict the range of an endangered, rare or threatened species the lead agency need not prepare an EIR solely because of such an effect, if (A) the project proponent is bound to implement mitigation requirements relating to such species and habitat pursuant to an approved habitat conservation plan...