Environmental Review/CEQA

Previous Public Review Period

Public Works: Routine Maintenance Project

Pursuant to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines and the local City of Santa Cruz CEQA guidelines and procedures, a Negative Declaration has been prepared to disclose and assess potential environmental impacts that may be generated by the proposed routine maintenance activities.

A Notice of Intent to Declare a Negative Declaration has been issued. The Initial Study/Negative Declaration for the City of Santa Cruz Maintenance Projects is available for public review. The public review period ended June 23, 2025.

The Notice of Intent to Declare a Negative Declaration and the Initial Study/Negative Declaration for the City of Santa Cruz Maintenance Projects can be found below.

Downtown Plan Expansion

Pursuant to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) has been prepared to disclose and assess environmental impacts potentially generated by the proposed project.

The Notice of Availability (NOA) announces that a Final EIR has been prepared and is available for public review. The City Council considered this report as part of a public hearing in May 2025. 

The NOA and both the Draft and Final EIR, including responses to public comments, can be found below.

For questions please contact Matthew VanHua at mvanhua@santacruzca.gov. 

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

The California Environmental Quality Act requires local and state governments to consider the potential environmental effects of a project before deciding whether to approve it. CEQA's purpose is to disclose the potential impacts of a project, suggest methods to minimize those impacts, and discuss alternatives to the project so that decision-makers will have full information upon which to base their decision. Types of CEQA documents and categories include:

  • Initial Study (IS): An analysis of a project's potential environmental effects and their relative significance. An initial study is preliminary to deciding whether to prepare a negative declaration or an EIR.
  • Exempt: Article 19 of CEQA outlines certain classes of projects that do not have a significant effect on the environment and are therefore declared categorically exempt from having to prepare environmental documents.
  • Negative Declaration/Mitigated Negative Declaration (ND/MND): When a project is not exempt from CEQA and will not have a significant adverse effect on the environment a negative declaration must be prepared. The negative declaration is an informational document that describes the reasons why the project will not have a significant effect and proposes measures to completely mitigate or avoid any possible effects.
  • Environmental Impact Report (EIR): A detailed review of a proposed project, its potential adverse impacts on the environment, measures that may avoid or reduce those impacts, and alternatives to the project.

Archived CEQA Documents

Projects

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This page contains environmental documents related to project applications or planning documents processed by the Planning & Community Development Department and does not contain documents administered by other City departments.

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