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Porterville to rescind CEQA procurement ordinance, allow vetted consultants chosen by developers
Summary
After hearing developers and builders, Porterville's city council directed staff to rescind a 2013 ordinance that limited environmental consultants to a city-maintained list and to replace it with a more flexible policy allowing vetted consultant selection by project proponents.
Porterville City Council directed staff on June 17 to move away from a 2013 ordinance that requires environmental review consultants to be selected from a city-maintained list and to adopt a more flexible policy that would allow developers to propose qualified CEQA consultants subject to city vetting.
City planner Jeff O'Neil summarized the city's current process, noting Ordinance 1081 established a task-order process in which developers choose consultants from a city roster and the consultant contracts with the city. He said the policy has created bottlenecks and that staff sought direction on whether to keep, modify or replace the ordinance.
Dolores Taylor, CEO of the Builders Industry Association of Tulare and Kings County, told the council that limiting work to a small group of firms can cause delays and higher costs. "When cities give more vetted professionals a chance to contribute, projects move faster and more efficiently," she said, urging Porterville to follow examples from neighboring cities.
Council members discussed options including rescinding the ordinance and reverting to an administrative policy, creating a qualified-vendor vetting process that allows developers to propose consultants, or keeping the current ordinance. City legal staff advised that rescinding the ordinance and making the process a policy would allow faster adjustments in the future while preserving the city's final authority to require revisions to any CEQA document.
Council directed staff to return with an item to rescind the ordinance and to prepare a policy framework that would permit vetted consultants proposed by project proponents. The council recorded the directive and approved the motion 5–0. The city emphasized that any consultant-chosen documents would remain the city's documents and would be subject to the same technical review and revision standards regardless of who prepared them.
The action does not change substantive environmental review standards or the city's authority to require revisions; it alters procurement mechanics for CEQA documents to reduce potential delays and create competition among qualified firms.
