City Hall Site General Plan Amendment
Summary
SCH Number
2008128016
Public Agency
City of Newport Beach
Document Title
City Hall Site General Plan Amendment
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
12/1/2008
Document Description
An amendment to the General Plan to change the land use category from Open Space (OS) to Public Facilities (PF) and limit land uses of the subject property to the administrative office of the City of Newport Beach.
Contact Information
Name
Patrick J. Alford
Agency Name
City of Newport Beach
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
Newport Beach
Counties
Orange
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Ministerial
Type, Section or Code
Sec 15268
Reasons for Exemption
This project qualifies for an exemption from environmental review pursuant to Section 15268 (Ministerial Projects) of the Implementing Guidelines of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). "Ministerial" describes a government decision involving little or no personal judgment by the public official as to the wisdom or manner of carrying out the project. The public official merely applies the law to the facts as presented but uses no special discretion or judgment in reaching a decision.
The CEQA Guidelines provide that the determination of what is "ministerial" can most appropriately be made by the particular public agency involved based upon its analysis of its own laws and can be made on a case-by-case basis. The proposed amendment is a ministerial act because Measure B "authorizes and directs the City to amend any elements or provisions of the City of Newport Beach General Plan … in order to implement this initiative and to ensure consistency and correlation between this initiative and other elements of the City of Newport Beach General Plan…." The proposed amendment to the General Plan Land Use Element is carrying out the will of the voters. Therefore, it does not require special discretion or judgment by the Planning Commission or the City Council.
Once the design and project description are chosen in late 2008, future consideration of any approval for the physical development of the City Hall facility and the park will be a discretionary project and will be subject to CEQA. An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) will be prepared prior to any subsequent discretionary actions on the development of the City Hall facility.
Disclaimer: The document was originally posted before CEQAnet had the capability to host attachments for the public. To obtain the original attachments for this document, please contact the lead agency at the contact information listed above. You may also contact the OPR via email at state.clearinghouse@opr.ca.gov or via phone at (916) 445-0613.