Environmental Review of the Petaluma General Plan Update
An integral component of the General Plan Update is the environmental review required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which analyzes potential environmental impacts from implementation of the updated General Plan. The General Plan is a long-range policy document (25+ years), and therefore the General Plan environmental review evaluates the overall potential for environmental impacts of the General Plan as an entire program, rather than the specific impacts of individual future projects at a parcel or project level.
The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the City’s draft General Plan identifies certain potential environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated with certainty or prospectively and are therefore considered “significant and unavoidable” or “SU” impacts. The SU impacts are not a result of policy choices. Rather, they result from the uncertainties that arise from programmatic, prospective environmental review, and standards prescribed in state law for transportation and carbon neutrality. As discussed in greater detail below, the identification of a SU impact does not mean that impact will necessarily occur. Such findings reflect CEQA’s requirement that the City disclose potential future impacts based on the information currently available at a programmatic level, even when future project level impacts are not yet known.
Consistent with CEQA, the City of Petaluma, as the lead agency, must certify the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prior to adopting the General Plan Update.
What is an EIR?
The EIR analyzes the potential environmental impacts of implementing the updated General Plan, including the impacts of future development patterns, infrastructure improvements, and policy changes. The document released on March 27, 2026, is a Draft EIR (DEIR), which means that it is a draft that is being circulated for public review and comment, consideration and recommendation by the Planning Commission, and consideration and direction by the City Council. Responses to comments received on the DEIR will be included in the Final EIR (FEIR) and City Council direction will be addressed.
What the DEIR IS: A program-level evaluation of the potential physical environmental impacts that could result from the projections and policies contained in the General Plan. Because a Program EIR analyzes broad environmental effects, it acknowledges that site-specific environmental review will be required for future actions. Ultimately, the DEIR identifies potential impacts and mitigation measures and evaluates alternatives, allowing the City to address cumulative impacts and implement program-wide solutions early in the planning process.
What the DEIR ISN’T: The DEIR is not a policy document, and it does not approve or deny the General Plan. It does not advocate for or against a project. Rather, it is an informational tool to ensure environmental consequences are fully considered before any final decisions on the draft General Plan are made, and to allow the public to participate in and contribute to the consideration of potential environmental impacts associated with the draft General Plan.