A Commissioner and Planner's Primer to the Califor

Description

 The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is one of this state’s most important environmental laws for protecting historic resources. CEQA establishes a series of procedures to ensure that agencies accomplish the law’s purposes. The state has adopted CEQA guidelines to assist agencies in implementing the law. This workshop addresses practical issues encountered by planning staff and planning and preservation commissioners in the CEQA process, including steps in commenting and establishing the record, when to comment, what to include, and the use of expert testimony; scoping sessions; negative Declarations & Mitigated Negative Declarations; and the structure and key things to know about the Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

Learning Objectives

1. Become adept at the "Who's Who" of CEQA, historic resources that qualify for review, statutory and categorical exemptions, and more
2. Fully understand the collaborative decision-making process in CEQA
3. Identify how the CEQA process differs at the state and local levels, and how CEQA interacts with NEPA and Section 106
4. Develop adequate and defensible mitigation measures that meet the public's needs and address impacts to historic resources

Speakers

Andrew Wolfram, President, City of San Francisco - Historic Preservation Commission; Susan Brandt-Hawley, Esq., Brandt-Hawley Law Group; Brian Turner, Esq., Senior Field Officer and Public Lands Attorney, National Trust for Historic Preservation; Katrina Hardt-Holoch, AICP, Senior Project Manager, Michael Baker International; Katherine Petrin, Principal, Katherine Petrin Consulting; Bill Tuikka, Planner, City of Vallejo; Other speakers to be announced.