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After a month-long summer recess, San Benito County planning commissioners returned to the dais on Aug. 6 to receive training on the rules that govern their work, addressing everything from changes to state environmental law to digital communications between commissioners.
Attorneys Rebekah Mojica and Sean Cameron of Prentice Long PC, which provides legal counsel to the county, led the session focused on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the Brown Act and other regulations.
A key part of the training was an update on recent changes to CEQA, a state law which applies to nearly all government actions that could affect the environment, from housing and commercial development to roads, parks and sewer systems.
On June 30, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills, AB 130 and SB 131, aimed at reducing delays caused by environmental reviews for housing and critical infrastructure projects.
AB 130 creates exemptions for housing projects in urban or suburban areas. To be eligible, projects must not be bigger than 20 acres, or five acres if the development is proposed under the “builder’s remedy,” a provision in state law that allows developers to bypass local zoning restrictions if they include affordable housing when the jurisdiction is out of compliance with state housing mandates.
The project must also be consistent with local land use plans and not affect historic structures, or be located on hazardous or environmentally sensitive sites, such as prime farmland or wetlands.
“It’s a strategic—more of a surgical approach to CEQA—reform aimed at clearing some of the red tape for responsible housing development,” Mojica said.
SB 131 introduces more CEQA exemptions potentially affecting health centers, farmworker housing, public parks, high-speed rail facilities, day care centers and food pantries.
One of the “most innovative” exemptions, Mojica said, is what she called the “near-miss provision.” The idea is that if a project doesn’t qualify for a full CEQA exemption due to a single condition, it may get a narrowed review focusing on that issue.
“Instead of triggering the full CEQA review of the project,” she told the commissioners, “you only have to study the issue that disqualified it.”
The training also included a revision of the Brown Act, California’s 1953 law which regulates how local governments conduct their meetings to allow public participation. Cameron reminded the commissioners that a meeting, under the Brown Act, is a gathering of the majority of the body—three or more members in the case of the Planning Commission—to hear, discuss, deliberate or take action on matters within their jurisdiction.
“If three of you happen to show up at the same time at the same coffee shop,” Cameron said, “you cannot discuss things within the purview of the Planning Commission. You cannot hear them, discuss or deliberate. It’s not just limited to actions. It includes even just talking about stuff within the jurisdiction of the body.”
The rules also apply to digital communication. Mojica emphasized that group texts, emails or social media interactions between three or more commissioners about county business can be interpreted as a formal meeting.
“Officials subject to the Brown Act can communicate with members of the public on social media,” she said. “But they should not directly respond or react—that includes emojis or just liking something—to anything posted or shared on social media regarding agency business by another member of the same legislative body. That’s enough to say, ‘Okay, when two people liked it and one person commented, you have a quorum.”
The next Planning Commission meeting is scheduled for Aug. 20.
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