California Code of Regulations › Title 14 - Natural Resources › Division 6 - Resources Agency › Chapter 3 - Guidelines for Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act › Article 1 - General › Section 15004 - Time of Preparation

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Before granting any approval of a project
				  subject to CEQA, every lead agency or responsible agency shall consider a final
				  EIR or negative declaration or another document authorized by these guidelines
				  to be used in the place of an EIR or negative declaration. See the definition
				  of "approval" in Section
				  15352.
(b) Choosing the precise time for CEQA
				  compliance involves a balancing of competing factors. EIRs and negative
				  declarations should be prepared as early as feasible in the planning process to
				  enable environmental considerations to influence project program and design and
				  yet late enough to provide meaningful information for environmental assessment.
(1) With public projects, at the earliest
				  feasible time, project sponsors shall incorporate environmental considerations
				  into project conceptualization, design, and planning. CEQA compliance should be
				  completed prior to acquisition of a site for a public project.
(2) To implement the above principles, public
				  agencies shall not undertake actions concerning the proposed public project
				  that would have a significant adverse effect or limit the choice of
				  alternatives or mitigation measures, before completion of CEQA compliance. For
				  example, agencies shall not:
(A) Formally make
				  a decision to proceed with the use of a site for facilities which would require
				  CEQA review, regardless of whether the agency has made any final purchase of
				  the site for these facilities, except that agencies may designate a preferred
				  site for CEQA review and may enter into land acquisition agreements when the
				  agency has conditioned the agency's future use of the site on CEQA
				  compliance.
(B) Otherwise take any
				  action which gives impetus to a planned or foreseeable project in a manner that
				  forecloses alternatives or mitigation measures that would ordinarily be part of
				  CEQA review of that public project.
(3) With private projects, the Lead Agency
				  shall encourage the project proponent to incorporate environmental
				  considerations into project conceptualization, design, and planning at the
				  earliest feasible time.
(4) While
				  mere interest in, or inclination to support, a project does not constitute
				  approval, a public agency entering into preliminary agreements regarding a
				  project prior to approval shall not, as a practical matter, commit the agency
				  to the project. For example, an agency shall not grant any vested development
				  entitlements prior to compliance with CEQA. Further, any such pre-approval
				  agreement should, for example:
(A) Condition
				  the agreement on compliance with CEQA;
(B) Not bind any party, or commit to any
				  definite course of action, prior to CEQA compliance;
(C) Not restrict the lead agency from
				  considering any feasible mitigation measures and alternatives, including the
				  "no project" alternative; and
(D)
				  Not restrict the lead agency from denying the
				  project.