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Analysis Background The City of Stockton's Austin Road Landfill has been operated by the City Public Works Department(PWD) since 1960 to dispose of a major portion of the City's Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). The Austin Road Landfill is located outside of the city limits of the City of Stockton and is surrounded by unincorporated County of San Joaquin territory. The non-contiguous parcel containing the landfill was annexed by the City from San Joaquin County effective November 15, 1984. State law allows cities to annex non-contiguous parcels up to 300 acres in size if they are used for public purposes. In the early 1990's, the City of Stockton initiated a project to expand the landfill's capacity because the landfill was reaching capacity. The City developed an expansion plan and completed and certified an f Environmental Impact Report on the proposed expansion on September 6, 1994 (City of Stockton EIR 2-90, State Clearinghouse No. 90020718). Necessary permits were obtained from the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Integrated Waste Management Board, and U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the expansion is included in the Siting Element of the San Joaquin Countywide Integrated Waste Management I Plan (CIWMP), dated April 1996. However, while the landfill expansion was initiated, it was not completely implemented. F { The City of Stockton now proposes to sell the permitted landfill (including the expansion option and the ,k permits already obtained) to a private solid waste management firm. Currently, the landfill site is a non- contiguous City island since it is owned and operated by the City. Except for the approved realignment of the North Branch of the South Fork of Little Johns Creek, the proposed expansion project has not changed from that analyzed in the certified 1994 EIR. Also, certain background conditions may have changed since that date. When transferred to private ownership, the landfill will revert to the jurisdiction of San Joaquin County because it will no longer fulfill the legal requirement of City ownership or of use for public purposes. Thus, the proposed private ownership and operation of the expanded landfill site will require a County Use Permit, General Plan Amendment, and Zone Reclassification. With the exception of these County approvals, the other required permits for the landfill expansion have been obtained and would remain in jl effect. Therefore, pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act(CEQA), the projects addressed by i the initial Study and Supplemental EIR are the County's issuance of the Use Permit, General Plan Amendment, and Zone Reclassification for the project, as well as the necessary revision to the City of a Stockton's General Plan to reflect transfer of the facility from City to County jurisdiction. The County of San Joaquin is acting as Lead Agency for the environmental review of the project. On June 1, 1998, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, at the request of the City of Stockton, directed staff to initiate the General Plan Amendment and Zone Reclassification process by Board Order No. B-99-675. On August 17, 1998, the Board of Supervisors approved Agreement No. A-99-715 with j Grassetti Environmental Consulting to conduct a review of the City of Stockton's 1994 EIR and existing permits and reports,as well as prepare an Initial Study for the Austin Road Landfill Expansion project. I ; ENVIRONMENTAL IMP ACT REPORT Certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report li The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires that the Lead Agency evaluate changes in background conditions to determine their significance with respect to potential environmental effects. The County of San Joaquin Community Development Department is acting as Lead Agency for the environmental review of the project and initiated a two-stage review of the charges in the project setting to determine if new or changed environmental impacts have resulted. 4�I San Joaquin County GP-99-7, ZR-99-6, UP-99-17, ER-99-21City of Stockton Community Development Page 4 .I i