Court Questions Use of "Modified" Baseline Approach in Transportation Improvement EIR

The City of Sunnyvale failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it analyzed the potential impacts of a major street extension by comparing them to traffic, noise, and air conditions that were projected to exist without the street extension in 2020 (the expected completion date for the project), ruled the California Court of Appeal, Sixth District in a recent decision. The court's decision, Sunnyvale West Neighborhood Association v. City of Sunnyvale City Council, concluded that under the facts of the case, the use of such a future or "modified" baseline approach to assess the project's impacts did not fulfill CEQA's requirement that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) determine whether a project would significantly impact the existing environment.