Evaluating Environmental Impact Assessment of a local land use plan : a case study of the City of Elk Grove’s general plan EIRs

Many planners and researchers pay attention to the potentials of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a planning method. The EIA of a local land use plan or comprehensive plan becomes effective under the Mini-NEPA or State Environmental Policy Act. In this context, this study focuses on the NEPA based EIA of local land use plans in order to examine its effectiveness as part of the planning process. Based on the assumption that systematic environmental assessment will ensure the effectiveness and the quality of a local land use plan, this study evaluate a local land use plan EIA process of California with the quality and effectiveness criteria.