Jesus Armas

By Jesús Armas, Government Affairs Liaison

In 1970, the State of California adopted landmark legislation known as the California Environmental Quality Act. The Act, often referred to by its four-letter acronym (CEQA), establishes a requirement that the potential environmental impacts associated with a proposed project be analyzed before a decision is made to approve or deny a project. If, as a result of this analysis, it is determined that a project will have significant environmental impacts, CEQA also requires that measures be identified to address the impacts. These are called mitigation measures. CEQA also acknowledges that not all impacts can be fully mitigated, and sets up a mechanism whereby a project can still be approved, provided the final decision makers make certain findings indicating why the benefits of the project outweigh the impacts which cannot be mitigated.

Central to CEQA is the principle that individuals, agencies and other interested parties have the right to review and comment on what is learned through the environmental evaluation process. An obvious question emerges: What is the best way to obtain, assemble and make available the information resulting from this process?

The answer lies in a document called an Environmental Impact Report—or EIR for short. Basically, this document contains relevant information documenting whether a project is expected to impact the environment and how the identified impacts will be lessened. Established procedures determine which issues must be addressed in an EIR, but among the most common are traffic, air quality and noise. Once completed, the document—known as a Draft EIR (DEIR)—is released for public review and comment. Under CEQA, interested parties have 45 days in which to submit written and oral comments.

After the comment period is concluded, responses to these comments must be prepared. The responses to the comments, together with the Draft EIR, constitute what is called the Final EIR. It is this latter document that is presented to and considered by the governmental body with authority to act on a project.

With the foregoing as background, how does this relate to Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley? A number of months ago, with the concurrence and approval of Alameda County, the environmental consulting firm of ESA was retained to conduct an environmental assessment of the project. This assessment has been completed, allowing the County to release the DEIR for public review and comment. Electronic copies will be available on our Resources page within the next few days, with paper copies available as noted at the location listed here. A summary of the document, including a list of project impacts and how they are to be addressed can be obtained by clicking here.

The comment period opened December 4, 2008 and concludes at 5:00 PM on January 20, 2009. Comments on the Draft EIR should not be submitted to Sutter Health or Eden Medical Center. They should be submitted to Alameda County.

In addition to receiving written comments, the County scheduled at least two public hearings to enable interested parties to comment orally, as I mentioned in my previous post on this topic, on October 30th. The first hearing is sponsored by the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council and will be held on December 15th. The Alameda County Planning Commission will be the site of the second public hearing, which will occur on January 5, 2009. Click here for times and locations.

While Sutter Health welcomes your comments on this post, please be aware this will not constitute an official comment on the Draft EIR. If you wish to comment on the Draft EIR, please avail yourself of the opportunities listed above, and keep checking back to download .pdf copies of the Draft EIR on the Resources page.