Section 21081.6 of the
Public Resources Code as modified by
Assembly Bill AB 3180 (Cortese Bill), Chapter 1232, requires all public
agencies to establish monitoring or reporting procedures for mitigation
measures included in environmental impact reports or negative declarations
which are necessary to mitigate potential environmental impacts below
a level of significance. The mitigation monitoring law is the requirement
to monitor the implementation of adopted mitigation measures for approved
projects, and report the results of that monitoring. While AB 3180
describes this requirement as monitoring or reporting, this chapter
assumes that it would be of limited usefulness to monitor projects
without reporting or to report without verification. This chapter
establishes the procedures necessary to carry out this state mandate.
(Ord. 479 § 1, 1990)
The purpose of this chapter is to establish a mitigation monitoring and reporting program for the city and to achieve the following provisions set out in Sections
15.72.030 through
15.72.090 of this chapter.
(Ord. 479 § 2, 1990)
Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA),
a program shall be established for every discretionary project approved
by the city council which is subject to the adoption of either a negative
declaration or an environmental impact report which includes mitigation
measures necessary to reduce potentially significant environmental
impacts below a level of significance. For all projects subject to
this chapter, the program requirement specifics must be developed
and approved after project approval by the city council and prior
to issuance of a grading and/or building permit. The requirement does
not apply to exempt projects or to negative declarations based upon
an initial study finding of no significant impacts.
(Ord. 479 § 4, 1990)
Pursuant to
Government Code Section 54990, the city may impose
fees to fund any monitoring and/or reporting efforts, but shall not
exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing the services for
which the fee is charged. The project applicant shall be responsible
for the cost of the preparation, administration and implementation
of a program. Fees for the cost shall be paid to the city prior to
issuance of a grading or building permit. Due to the different timing
of mitigation measures implementation for a project program, fees
will be imposed in accordance with either of the following:
A. For
project approvals which include mitigation measures to be incorporated
into the final plans and which necessitate design monitoring during
plan checking and grading/construction work. Prior to issuance of
grading or building permits the applicant shall submit a fee of one
thousand five hundred dollars.
B. For project approvals which apply to subsection
A of this section and also require periodic post-occupancy operational monitoring and/or reporting over a period of time or during the life of the project. Prior to issuance of grading or building permits the applicant shall submit a fee of four thousand dollars.
(Ord. 479 § 7, 1990)
A. Failure to comply with this chapter is declared to be unlawful and a violation of city regulations and shall be subject to the penalties and remedies set forth in Title
14 of this municipal code and/or other penalties and remedies listed in this chapter.
B. In the case that enforcement procedures, as outlined in Section
15.72.080 of this chapter, fail in correcting violations of a project approval program or this chapter, and if noncompliance continues or becomes frequent, one or more of the following actions shall occur:
1. A
misdemeanor citation may be issued to the applicant or property owner
by the code enforcement division of the community development department
and may be carried through by criminal prosecution by the city attorney.
2. A
lien may be placed against the property in the amount necessary to
correct the violation, including a twenty-five percent administrative
cost, as outlined in the city nuisance abatement procedures of this
code.
3. Forfeiture
of any improvement completion or performance guarantee securities,
necessary to assure recovery of cost of implementation of a mitigation
measure or removal of a violation.
4. The
city may require a special contract agreement, signed between the
city, applicant and property owner setting forth provisions for substantial
penalties.
(Ord. 479 § 9, 1990; Ord. 928 § 2, 2006)