(a) An appeal board convened by the Governor or the Governor’s designee to hear an appeal pursuant to subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 25199.9 shall follow the procedures and requirements specified in this section.
(b) Within 30 days after the Governor or the Governor’s designee determines that an appeal board should be convened pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 25199.9, or paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 25199.9, the appeal board shall be convened. Within 15 days after the appeal board has been convened, a public hearing shall be held in the city or county where the specified hazardous waste facility project is located. At the hearing, the proponent, and the local agency whose land use decision is being appealed, shall present arguments and evidence to the appeal board concerning whether or not the appeal should be accepted.
(c) Within 15 days after the date of the public hearing specified in subdivision (b), the appeal board shall decide whether or not to accept the appeal. The appeal board may accept an appeal only by an affirmative vote of four members of the appeal board. The appeal board shall make its decision based upon the arguments and evidence presented at the hearing. The appeal board’s decision shall be in writing, shall be signed by the members who voted in favor of the decision, and shall state the reasons for accepting or rejecting the appeal. The appeal board may accept the appeal if the arguments and evidence presented at the hearing tend to show that, when the local agency’s reasons for disapproving the application for a land use decision are weighed against statewide, regional, or county hazardous waste management policies, goals, and objectives, there are compelling reasons to review the disapproval of the application.
(d) If the appeal board accepts the appeal, within 30 days after this acceptance, the appeal board shall conduct an informal workshop on the subject of the appeal in the city or county where the specified hazardous waste facility project is proposed to be located. Within 45 days following acceptance of the appeal, the appeal board shall also hold a public hearing in the community to hear the arguments and evidence for the purpose of making a tentative decision on the appeal. In issuing a decision pursuant to the hearing, the appeal board shall adopt a rebuttable presumption that the land use decision of the local agency disapproving the application is supported by substantial reasons and that, when these reasons are weighed against statewide, regional, or county hazardous waste management policies, goals, and objectives, the reasons for reversing the local agency’s action are not compelling. In all matters related to the appeal, including, but not limited to, matters related to the findings required by subdivision (f), the burden of proof shall be with the proponent to rebut this presumption and to establish that there are compelling reasons to reverse the local agency’s land use decision.
(e) Within 45 days after the public hearing, the appeal board shall, by an affirmative vote of at least four members, issue a written decision on the appeal. If the appeal board agrees with the land use decision of the local agency, the appeal board shall state its reasons for this position. If the appeal board agrees with the proponent’s appeal, the appeal board shall issue a tentative decision stating that the local agency’s land use decision should be reversed.
(f) The appeal board shall not reverse the local agency’s land use decision unless the appeal board makes all of the following findings:
(1) That the significant environmental impacts of the specified hazardous waste facility project will be adequately mitigated.
(2) That the specified hazardous waste facility project was consistent with the applicable city or county general plan when the local agency accepted, as complete, the proponent’s application for a land use decision. For the purpose of this finding, a project is consistent with the applicable city or county general plan if the appeal board makes one of the following determinations:
(A) The appeal board may determine that a specified hazardous waste facility project that is not a land disposal facility project is consistent with the general plan if the appeal board makes all of the following findings:
(i) The project is proposed to be located in an area zoned and designated in the applicable general plan for industrial use and substantially developed with other industrial facilities which produce, treat, or dispose of hazardous waste onsite and which are served by the same transportation routes as the proposed facility. In addition, the land uses authorized in the applicable general plan and zoning ordinances in the vicinity of the project are compatible with the project.
(ii) There is no clear and express provision in the general plan which states that such a specified hazardous waste facility project is inconsistent with the general plan, or, if there is such a provision, the provision was adopted after January 1, 1983.
(iii) The specified hazardous waste project is consistent, as determined by the appeal board, with the general plan.
(B) The appeal board may determine that a specified hazardous waste facility project is consistent with the applicable city or county general plan if the project is a land disposal facility project, and if all of the following apply:
(i) There is no clear and express provision in the general plan that states that such a specified hazardous waste facility project is inconsistent with the general plan, or, if there is such a provision, the provision was adopted after January 1, 1983.
(ii) The project is consistent, as determined by the appeal board, with the general plan.
(3) That the specified hazardous waste facility is consistent with the county hazardous waste management plan, if such a plan has been adopted by the county, and approved by the department, pursuant to Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 25135).
(4) That alternative locations for the specified hazardous waste facility project, as identified in the environmental impact report for the project and in the county hazardous waste management plan, if one has been approved by the department, have been adequately considered by the appeal board in determining the appropriateness of the location chosen for the project.
(5) That reversing the local agency’s land use decision is consistent with statewide, regional, and county hazardous waste management policies, goals, and objectives. In making this finding, the appeal board shall consider all of the following factors:
(A) Whether or not a need for the specified hazardous waste facility project has been demonstrated.
(B) Whether or not the specified hazardous waste facility project is of a type, and in a location, that conforms to statewide, regional, or local hazardous waste management policies.
(C) Whether or not the specified hazardous waste facility will be operated using the best feasible hazardous waste management technologies.
(g) The local agency whose land use decision is being appealed may reconsider the action and approve the application for the land use decision, consistent with the appeal board’s tentative decision, within 60 days after the appeal board issues its tentative decision. If the local agency does not approve the application for the land use decision consistent with the tentative decision within 60 days after the decision is issued, the appeal board shall, by an affirmative vote of at least four members, issue a final decision. If the final decision reverses the local agency’s land use decision, the appeal board shall then require the local agency to approve the application for the land use decision and if the local agency does not approve the application for the land use decision, the Attorney General shall bring an action to require the local agency to approve the application for the land use decision for the specified hazardous waste facility project.
(Amended by Stats. 1990, Ch. 557, Sec. 2.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018