What is a Negative Declaration or Mitigated Negative Declaration?
An agency prepares an initial study to describe a project’s potential impacts and determine what type of environmental review document should be adopted. A negative declaration is adopted when there is no substantial evidence (facts, reasonable assumptions and expert opinion based on facts) supporting a “fair argument” that a project may have a significant environmental impact. An MND is adopted when a project may have significant environmental impacts, but certain mitigation measures clearly reduce impacts below a level of significance.
About the Author
Andrew Shaffer is the former Engagement Director at the California Preservation Foundation. Prior to joining CPF, he studied at the University of San Francisco and the University of Wisconsin, where he specialized in LGBTQ history, preservation, and activism. Andrew is a transplant to San Francisco and loves showing off his adopted hometown to people from all over the world.