4. Environmental Matters
The Commission is required by the CEQA to consider the environmental consequences of a project that is subject to the Commission's discretionary approval.7 In doing so, the Commission must act as either a Lead Agency or Responsible Agency. The Lead Agency is the agency with the most responsibility for supervising or approving the project as a whole.8
In this case, the City of Irvine is the Lead Agency for CEQA review of the Centra project and the Commission is a Responsible Agency. CEQA requires the Commission to consider the Lead Agency's environmental documents and findings before acting upon or approving the project.9
We have reviewed the City's environmental documents and find them adequate for our decision-making purposes. We also find that the City reasonably concluded that the project, with the conditions and mitigation measures adopted by the City, would not have a significant effect on the environment. Accordingly, we will adopt the City's environmental documents and the conclusions, conditions, and mitigation measures contained therein for purposes of our review and approval.
We are concerned that the agreement would permit Centra to assign, transfer, sublease or mortgage the lease, without prior Commission approval. However, the agreement does require Centra to notify SCE in advance before taking any of these actions. We will therefore address these concerns by requiring SCE to apply for Commission authorization pursuant to § 851 for any proposed assignment, transfer, sublease or mortgage of the lease by Centra that would alter the terms of the existing agreement.
We also note that in addition to use of the site for a retail and office complex, etc., the proposed lease would permit any other use permitted by law that would not interfere with SCE's facilities, without prior Commission approval of the change in use. However, the conditional use permit granted to Centra by the City only authorizes use for a retail and office use, and for horticulture and agriculture growing grounds. The environmental analysis conducted by the City and the Commission addressed only the proposed use of the site for these purposes.
Therefore, in order to comply with CEQA and § 851, if Centra wishes to utilize the property for any use other than the retail and office complex and for horticulture and agriculture growing grounds authorized by the City, SCE must first apply for authorization pursuant to § 851 and undergo any additional required environmental review.
The second environmental matter related to this application concerns a newspaper article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on November 19, 2007. The article reported that SCE would no longer lease land on its transmission ROW except for a narrow set of uses. The reason given by the article was mounting concern by fire department officials regarding safety hazards around high-voltage transmission lines. In response to an inquiry from the assigned Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), SCE stated that Centra had obtained all necessary approvals for the project, including from OCFA. OCFA's agreement dated December 29, 2007, providing conditional approval for the project was incorporated into the final EIR issued by the City of Irvine. Based on the preceding information, we conclude that the project satisfies all of the OCFA's conditions, regulations, and requirements.
The final environmental matter concerns SCE's request for the Commission to find that ratepayers are responsible for environmental claims arising out of utility operations at the Site. We addressed this same issue in D.01-05-004 and D.01-05-005. There, we authorized utilities to seek recovery of the costs they incur for environmental claims stemming from utility operations. We also shielded ratepayers from costs for environmental claims related to the tenancy or activity of the lessee. We will adopt the same provisions here. SCE will have the burden of demonstrating that any claims for environmental costs are reasonable and should be recovered from ratepayers.
7 Public Resources Code § 21000, et seq.
8 CEQA Guidelines (Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations), Section 15051(b).
9 CEQA Guidelines §§ 15050(b) and 15096.
