California Environmental Quality Act: transportation: major transit stop.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA exempts from its requirements residential projects on infill sites that meet certain requirements, including a requirement that the projects are located within 12 mile of a major transit stop. CEQA defines "major transit stop" to include, among other things, the intersection of 2 or more major bus routes with a frequency of service interval of 15 minutes or less during the morning and afternoon peak commute periods. CEQA requires the Office of Planning and Research to prepare and propose guidelines for the implementation of CEQA by public agencies and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt the guidelines. CEQA requires the office to propose revisions to the guidelines establishing criteria for determining the significance of transportation impacts of projects within transit priority areas to meet certain objectives. CEQA defines "transit priority area" as an area within 12 mile of a major transit stop. This bill would revise the definition of "major transit stop" to include a bus rapid transit station, as defined.