Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation v. County of El Dorado
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Hoch, J.
*1161 Opinion
This appeal arises from the County of El Dorado’s (County) adoption of an oak woodland management plan and mitigation fee program without an environmental impact report (EIR). The County issued a negative declaration for the plan and fee program, thereby dispensing with the requirement of an EIR under the California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Resources Code, §§ 21000 et seq., 21050; CEQA). 1 The negative declaration was premised on a program EIR that the County completed in 2004 at the same time as it formulated its general plan (2004 General Plan). The 2004 General Plan allowed developers of more than 10 acres to conserve oak woodlands onsite at a one-to-one ratio as option A (Option A). The 2004 General Plan and program EIR also anticipated the development of an option B (Option B), which would allow developers to pay a mitigation fee under an oak woodland management plan instead of engaging in mitigation on the development site itself. However, neither the general plan nor the program EIR specified the fee rate for Option B, or how the collected fees should be used to mitigate the impact on the County’s oak woodlands.