A developer applied to the city to rezone a tract of land near a sewage treatment facility for mixed residential and commercial use. The city approved the new zoning and issued a mitigated negative declaration (MND) for the developer’s project, determining any environmental impact caused by the project would be insignificant. The owner of the sewage treatment facility demanded the city obtain an environmental impact report (EIR), claiming an EIR was required to assess the impact of the sewage treatment facility on the proposed project, since the odor created by the facility would create an unpleasant residential environment. The city claimed the EIR was unnecessary, since EIRs are not intended to protect people from the environment. A California court of appeals held an EIR was unnecessary for the city’s approval of the project, since an EIR is intended to analyze whether a proposed project has a significant impact on the environment, not whether the environment will affect the project. [South Orange County Wastewater Authority v. City of Dana Point (2011) 196 CA4th 1604]
