Environmental Review

Because the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) applies to discretionary projects to be carried out or approved by public agencies and because the Commission must act on the § 851 application and issue a discretionary decision without which the project cannot proceed, the Commission must act as either a Lead or Responsible Agency under CEQA. The Lead Agency is the public agency with the greatest responsibility for supervising or approving the project as a whole (CEQA guidelines Section 15051(b)).

In this case, the City is the Lead Agency. The Commission is a Responsible Agency for this proposed project. CEQA requires that the CPUC consider the environmental consequences of a project that is subject to its discretionary approval. In particular, the Commission must consider the Lead Agency's environmental documents and findings before acting upon or approving the project. (CEQA Guidelines Section 15050(b).) The specific activities that must be conducted by a Responsible Agency are contained in CEQA guidelines Section 15096.

The City Planning Commission approved a Conditional Use Permit (CUP 02-863) for the self-storage facility on August 19, 2002. On September 10, 2002, the City Council approved Ordinance No. 2002-283, adopting a Negative Declaration for the Park Edison projects at Sites 1 and 2, and approving zone change 02-215 for the project. The Negative Declaration found that the project could not have a significant effect on the environment. Following adoption of the Ordinance, the City filed its Notice of Determination with the County of Los Angeles in compliance with Section 21108 or 21152 of the Public Resources Code.

Because the City's environmental review was in compliance with CEQA requirements and found that there could be no significant environmental impact of the Edison Park project, we adopt the city's finding for purposes of our approval.