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Mold removal complete and Evelyn a happy, healthy girl. That is the run of it after I went through a mold problem at my apartment. This, in addition to the required public participation process, ensures some level of integrity in the documents, whether prepared in-house by the lead agency or not.
However, undertaking these appeals requires resources that may not be available to project opponents. As noted, CEQA is a key mechanism by which those concerned about negative impacts seek to modify or stop projects. Because the studies and reports required by CEQA are somewhat subjective, the public is concerned about the possibility of bias by consulting firms that are selected and paid directly by the project sponsor, which could manifest itself in understating the environmental impact of a proposed project, thereby increasing its likelihood of receiving approval.
Applicants could attempt to exert influence over consultants in many steps of the process. For example, applicants could:. This does not mean that all applicants, given the chance, would seek to influence consultants in their favor.
Many applicants are greatly concerned about the environmental and other impacts of their projects. Yet the perception that the current arrangement may create bias is a concern for some stakeholders. To ensure objectivity in the documents and maintain public trust in the process, municipalities have instituted a variety of formal and informal safeguards, particularly regarding the work of private consultants. Generally, those mechanisms that guide consultants to correct errors earlier in the process are less costly than those that do so later.
To safeguard the process, the lead agency can:. Each of these mechanisms alone could provide sufficient protection. Their success depends largely on how well they are implemented. It should be noted that these measures are geared to address bias in the consultants.
Other measures would be needed to address bias in other areas of the process. In San Francisco, the project applicant submits an Environmental Evaluation Application and pays an accompanying fee. San Francisco, like most other jurisdictions, uses the industry standard State CEQA Guidelines, which provide criteria to lead agencies in determining whether a project may have significant effects. If not, MEA uses funds from the fee to prepare an initial study with an accompanying negative declaration for the project.
In some cases, special studies such as a shadow study, geo-technical analysis, or biological resources study are needed to complement the basic EIR.
Like most EIRs, these studies are conducted by consulting firms which may or may not be the same firm preparing the basic EIR for the applicant selected and paid directly by the project applicant.
Some municipalities produce all CEQA required documents in house. That reliance has grown over time. In CEQA was modified to require an additional section on historical resources, increasing the burden on staff preparing initial studies and reviewing EIRs. MEA staff has increasingly suggested to project applicants that they employ the use of consultants rather than wait for backlogged MEA staff to prepare initial studies. Applicants are not entitled to a fee refund even if MEA directs the applicant to use a private consultant rather than produce the initial study in house.
The only occasion on which the Planning Department hires an environmental consulting firm directly for CEQA compliance is when it needs to prepare, as a project applicant, CEQA compliance documents for its internal activities.
These activities primarily include the preparation of regional land use and development plans.
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