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Environmental planner urges board to pause lateral-resolution work until CEQA analysis covers backyard relocations
Summary
An environmental planner told the board the categorical CEQA exemption covered only mainline work in road rights-of-way, not the extensive backyard trenching the project now contemplates for private lateral relocations, and urged the board to reject the resolution until a new CEQA analysis is conducted.
Ali, an environmental planner appearing remotely, told the board the environmental review that supported the district’s categorical exemption analyzed only the public-infrastructure component in the roadway and did not account for potential impacts from hundreds of private-yard lateral relocations.
"The project that was proposed during environmental review, to my understanding, only included the new water mains to the roadway right of way," Ali said, adding that the categorical exemption language referenced minimal trenching within roadways and would not encompass impacts on acres of undisturbed backyard soil and vegetation. Ali urged the board to reject the draft resolution until a full CEQA analysis is prepared and circulated.
Staff responded that the action before the board — adoption of a policy-resolution clarifying private-lateral responsibility — is not a project approval that triggers CEQA itself, and indicated the district would make its own determinations about subsequent CEQA compliance as project actions move forward. The board did not delay adoption of the resolution at this meeting.
