21168.6.7.
(a) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:(1) “Applicant” means a private or public entity or its affiliates that proposes to implement and operate all or any portion of the project and its successors, heirs, and assignees.
(2) “Arena” means, except as the context indicates otherwise, the arena built pursuant to the project for basketball and other spectator events.
(3) “Guideway project” means a new fixed guideway local transportation system, such as busway, light rail, street car, or monorail, intended to reduce auto traffic and facilitate access to a regional light rail
system for the forum, a National Football League stadium, and other development within the Inglewood Sports and Entertainment Project. This local transportation system may be located partially within the boundaries of the Inglewood Sports and Entertainment Project and partially outside those boundaries.
(4) “Project” means a project located within the City of Inglewood consisting of all of the following:
(A) An 18,000 to 20,000 seat National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball arena plus practice facility and related landscaping, not more than 75,000 square feet of associated office space, and not more than 50,000 square feet of ancillary retail, restaurant, and similar uses.
(B) Approvals related to any land uses that are consistent with the current general plan within the boundary of the Inglewood Sports and
Entertainment Project.
(C) Ancillary parking that the City of Inglewood finds will do both of the following:
(i) Help achieve a “park once” strategy where people can park once and then attend events throughout the Inglewood Sports and Entertainment Project.
(ii) Provide parking to help provide access to the local transportation system.
(D) Infrastructure construction or relocation, such as water, sewer, and electricity, necessary or convenient for the facilities described in subparagraphs (A) through (D), inclusive.
(5) “Project approval” means any actions, activities, ordinances, resolutions, agreements, approvals, determinations, findings, or decisions taken, adopted, or approved by the
lead agency required to allow the applicant to commence the construction of the project, as determined by the lead agency.
(6) “Inglewood Sports and Entertainment project area” means an approximately one square mile area located within the City of Inglewood consisting of both of the following areas:
(A) Real property consisting of approximately 298 acres that is located within the boundaries of the Hollywood Park Specific Plan, as of July 1, 2017.
(B) Real property consisting of approximately 59 acres, beginning at a point located 540 feet west of the intersection of the centerline of South Prairie Avenue and the northern boundary of West Century Boulevard, then southerly along a straight line to the southern boundary of West 102nd Street, then easterly along West 102nd Street to the western boundary of South Prairie
Avenue, then southerly along the western boundary of South Prairie Avenue to the southern boundary of West 103rd Street, then easterly along a straight line to the eastern boundary of South Doty Avenue, then northerly along Doty Avenue to the southern boundary of West 102nd Street, then easterly along West 102nd Street to the eastern boundary of Yukon Avenue, then northerly along Yukon Avenue to the northern boundary of West Century Boulevard, then westerly along West Century Boulevard to the point located 540 feet west of the intersection of the centerline of South Prairie Avenue and the northern boundary of West Century Boulevard.
(b) This division does not apply to the guideway project.
(c) (1) The City of Inglewood may prosecute an eminent domain action as to any property within the Inglewood Sports and Entertainment project area through order of
possession pursuant to the Eminent Domain Law (Title 7 (commencing with Section 1230.010) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure) prior to completing the environmental review under this section.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any other eminent domain actions prosecuted by the City of Inglewood or to eminent domain actions based on a finding of blight or involving lawfully occupied residential housing uses.
(d) Notwithstanding any other law, the procedures set forth in subdivision (e) shall apply to any action or proceeding brought to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the certification of the environmental impact report for the project or the granting of any project approvals.
(e) On or before July 1, 2018, the Judicial Council shall
adopt a rule of court to establish procedures applicable to actions or proceedings brought to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the certification of the environmental impact report for the project or granting of any project approvals that require the actions or proceeding, including any potential appeals therefrom, be resolved, to the extent feasible, within 270 days of the certification of the record of proceedings pursuant to subdivision (g).
(f) (1) The draft and final environmental impact report shall include a notice in not less than 12-point type stating the following:
THIS EIR IS SUBJECT TO SECTION 21168.6.7 OF THE PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE, WHICH PROVIDES, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THAT THE LEAD AGENCY NEED NOT CONSIDER CERTAIN COMMENTS FILED AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD FOR THE DRAFT EIR. ANY JUDICIAL ACTION
CHALLENGING THE CERTIFICATION OF THE EIR OR THE APPROVAL OF THE PROJECT DESCRIBED IN THE EIR IS SUBJECT TO THE PROCEDURES SET FORTH IN SECTION 21168.6.7 OF THE PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE. A COPY OF SECTION 21168.6.7 OF THE PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE IS INCLUDED IN THE APPENDIX TO THIS EIR.
(2) The draft environmental impact report and final environmental impact report shall contain, as an appendix, the full text of this section.
(3) Within 10 days after the release of the draft environmental impact report, the lead agency shall conduct an informational workshop to inform the public of the key analyses and conclusions of that report.
(4) Within 10 days before the close of the public comment period, the lead agency shall
hold a public hearing to receive testimony on the draft environmental impact report. A transcript of the hearing shall be included as an appendix to the final environmental impact report.
(5) The lead agency need not consider written comments submitted after the close of the public comment period, unless those comments address any of the following:
(A) New issues raised in the response to comments by the lead agency.
(B) New information released by the public agency subsequent to the release of the draft environmental impact report, such as new information set forth or embodied in a staff report, proposed permit, proposed
resolution, ordinance, or similar documents.
(C) Changes made to the project after the close of the public comment period.
(D) Proposed conditions for approval, mitigation measures, or proposed findings required by Section 21081 or a proposed reporting and monitoring program required by paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 21081.6, where the lead agency releases those documents subsequent to the release of the draft environmental impact report.
(E) New information that was not reasonably known and could not have been reasonably known during the public comment period.
(6) The lead agency shall file the notice required by subdivision (a) of Section 21152 within five days after the last project approval.
(g) (1) The lead agency shall prepare and certify the record of the proceedings in accordance with this subdivision and in accordance with Rule 3.1365 of the California Rules of Court. The applicant shall pay the lead agency for all costs of preparing and certifying the record of proceedings.
(2) No later than three business days following the date of the release of the draft environmental impact report, the lead agency shall make available to the public in a readily accessible electronic format the draft environmental impact report
and all other documents submitted to or relied on by the lead agency in the preparation of the draft environmental impact report. A document prepared by the lead agency or submitted by the applicant after the date of the release of the draft environmental impact report that is a part of the record of the proceedings shall be made available to the public in a readily accessible electronic format within five business days after the document is prepared or received by the lead agency.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2), documents submitted to or relied on by the lead agency that were not prepared specifically for the project and are copyright protected are not required to be made readily accessible in an electronic format. For those copyright protected documents, the lead agency shall make an index of these documents available in an electronic format no later than the date of the
release of the draft environmental impact report, or within five business days if the document is received or relied on by the lead agency after the release of the draft environmental impact report. The index must specify the libraries or lead agency offices in which hardcopies of the copyrighted materials are available for public review.
(4) The lead agency shall encourage written comments on the project to be submitted in a readily accessible electronic format, and shall make any such comment available to the public in a readily accessible electronic format within five days of its receipt.
(5) Within 14 business days after the receipt of any comment that is not in an electronic format, the lead agency shall convert that comment into a readily
accessible electronic format and make it available to the public in that format.
(6) The lead agency shall indicate in the record of the proceedings comments received that were not considered by the lead agency pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (f) and need not include the content of the comments as a part of the record.
(7) Within five days after the filing of the notice required by subdivision (a) of Section 21152, the lead agency shall certify the record of the proceedings for the approval or determination and shall provide an electronic copy of the record to a party that has submitted a written request for a copy. The lead agency may charge and collect a reasonable fee from a party requesting a copy of the record for the electronic copy,
which shall not exceed the reasonable cost of reproducing that copy.
(8) Within 10 days after being served with a complaint or a petition for a writ of mandate, the lead agency shall lodge a copy of the certified record of proceedings with the superior court.
(9) Any dispute over the content of the record of the proceedings shall be resolved by the superior court. Unless the superior court directs otherwise, a party disputing the content of the record shall file a motion to augment the record at the time it files its initial brief.
(10) The contents of the record of proceedings shall be as set forth in subdivision (e) of
Section 21167.6.
(h) (1) In preparing the environmental impact report prepared for the project, the lead agency is not required to consider either of the following:
(A) Alternative locations, densities, and building intensities for the project.
(B) Growth induced impacts of the project.
(2) For purposes of this section, the following shall not be considered as having a significant impact on the environment for the purposes of this division:
(A) Aesthetic impacts.
(B) Parking impacts of the project.
(3) The greenhouse gas emission impacts of the project shall not be considered a significant impact on the environment if all of the following are met:
(A) The greenhouse gas emissions impact analysis in the environmental impact report for the project is consistent with the Southern California Association of Governments’ 2016 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy and the State Air Resources Board’s scoping plan.
(B) The greenhouse gas emissions impact analysis includes a comparison of projected greenhouse gas emissions against a baseline for longer term emissions through 2050.
(C) The project complies with all applicable legal mandates related to the emissions of greenhouse gases.
(4) (A) Transportation and circulation impacts of the project shall not be considered as having a significant impact on the environment if the analysis of the transportation and circulation impact includes an analysis of vehicle miles traveled that is consistent with the Revised Proposal on Updates to the CEQA Guidelines on Evaluating Transportation Impacts in CEQA published by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research on January 20, 2016.
(B) The failure to include an analysis related to transportation congestion, including an analysis of level of service impacts, in the environmental impact report shall not be grounds for relief in an action or proceeding brought pursuant to this division.
(i) (1) As a condition of approval of the project subject to this section, the lead agency shall require the applicant, with
respect to any measures specific to the operation of the arena, to implement those measures that will meet the requirements of this division by the end of the first NBA regular season or June of the first NBA regular season, whichever is later, during which an NBA team has played at the arena.
(2) To maximize public health, environmental, and employment benefits, the lead agency shall place the highest priority on feasible measures that will reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases in the Inglewood Sports and Entertainment project area and in the neighboring communities of the arena. Mitigation measures that shall be considered and implemented, if feasible and necessary, including, but not limited to:
(A) Temporarily expanding the capacity of a public
transit line, as appropriate, to serve arena events.
(B) Providing private charter buses or other similar services, as needed, to serve arena events.
(C) Paying its fair share of the cost of measures that expand the capacity of public transit, if appropriate, that is used by spectators attending arena events.
(3) Offset credits shall be employed by the applicant only after feasible local emission reduction measures have been implemented. The applicant shall, to the extent feasible, place the highest priority on the purchase of offset credits that produce emission reductions within the City of Inglewood or the boundaries of
the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
(j) (1) In granting relief in an action or proceeding brought pursuant to this section, the court shall not stay or enjoin the construction or operation of the project unless the court finds either of the following:
(A) The continued construction or operation of the project presents an imminent threat to the public health and safety.
(B) The project site contains unforeseen important Native American artifacts or unforeseen important historical, archaeological, or ecological values that would be materially, permanently, and adversely affected by the
continued construction or operation of the project unless the court stays or enjoins the construction or operation of the project.
(2) If the court finds that subparagraph (A) or (B) is satisfied, the court shall only enjoin those specific activities associated with the project that present an imminent threat to public health and safety or that materially, permanently, and adversely affect unforeseen important Native American artifacts or unforeseen important historical, archaeological, or ecological values.
(k) (1) This section does not apply to the project and shall become inoperative on the date of the release of the draft environmental impact report and is repealed on January 1 of the following year, if the applicant fails to notify the lead
agency prior to the release of the draft environmental impact report for public comment that the applicant is electing to proceed pursuant to this section.
(2) The lead agency shall notify the Secretary of State if the applicant fails to notify the lead agency of its election to proceed pursuant to this section.