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1 San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors April 10,2017 Page 2 mitigation measures in violation of CEQA. Finally,the Planning Commission's addition of mitigation measures violates CEQA's requirements that mitigation measures be submitted for public review and comment. I. THE INITIAL STUDY CONTAINS AN INADEQUATE PROJECT DESCRIPTION I The CEQA document must accurately describe the proposed project.(Guidelines §15071(a).) "An accurate,stable and finite project description is the sine qua non of an informative and legally sufficient [CEQA document]." (County of Inyo v. City of Los Angeles(1977)71 Cal.App.3d 185, 193.) The Project description in this matter fails to include critical information such as hours of operation for the expanded operation, including increasing the hours of operation for the existing facility. The Project Description also fails to identify the roadway and driveway improvements that are part of the Project as approved by the Planning Commission. The Project Description also fails to discuss and describe the type of waste that will be accepted at the expanded facility. Different waste,such as food waste,creates additional issues that must be address. Without disclosing the type of waste,the Initial Study fails as an informational document. II. THE COUNTY FANS TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN RECOMMENDED CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL AND MITIGATION MEASURES The Initial Study is confusing in that it fails to distinguish what is a condition of approval and what is a mitigation measure. It is unclear whether the Initial Study treats both conditions of approval and mitigation measures as the same thing. Attachment A to the Initial Study provides an explanation and discussion regarding numerous items. Attachment A also includes determinations that based upon certain conditions the Project will have a less than significant impact. Attachment A,however,does not identify those conditions as Mitigation Measures. So it is unclear whether those conditions are in fact mitigation measures designed to reduce impacts to less than significant. Attachment B to the Initial Study is the Mitigation Monitoring Plan that identifies Mitigation Measures/Conditions. Attachment B also fails to identify which are mitigation measures and which are conditions of approval. This distinction is important because for a MND,a mitigation measure must reduce the impact to less than significant and the agency must make findings based on substantial evidence that the mitigation measures reduces the impact to less than significant. Conditions of approval have no such requirement.