On the bright side, we have learned that there is one more local agency action exempt from CEQA. In Citizens to Enforce CEQA v. City of Rohnert Park (2005) 131 Cal.App.4th 1594, an MOU entered into between the City of Rohnert Park and a local tribe, the subject of which was a funding agreement to mitigate impacts on a gaming facility to be located in the County, was not subject to CEQA. The MOU did not commit the City to any course of action, and recognized that later City actions taken in response to the gaming facility impacts would be subject to environmental review. The court relied upon the exclusion from the definition of a project “the creation of government funding mechanisms or other government fiscal activities, which do not involve a commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment.” Guidelines section 15378. See also Kaufman & Broad-South Bay Inc. v. Morgan Hill Unified School District (1992) 9 Cal.App.4th 464.
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