CEQA & environmental
Mitigated negative declaration (MND)
A negative declaration whose mitigation reduces each potentially significant impact below significance — avoids an EIR but is fair-argument-vulnerable.
Definition
A mitigated negative declaration is a negative declaration for a project whose initial study identified potentially significant effects, where the applicant agrees — before the document circulates — to revisions or mitigation measures that reduce every such effect below significance, as provided in the CEQA statute. The measures become enforceable conditions tracked through a mitigation monitoring program, and the document gets the same 20–30 day public review as an ND under the CEQA Guidelines.
Why it matters in an underwrite
The MND is the workhorse document for mid-size discretionary housing — months instead of an EIR's years. Its weakness is the review standard: courts apply the fair-argument test, so one credible expert comment asserting a significant unmitigated impact can compel a full EIR after you've spent the MND budget. That asymmetry is exactly why the 2025 statutory exemptions matter, and why the 30-day challenge window after the NOD belongs on the closing calendar.
Sources & related guides
See also
See the term in the law itself
Read the controlling text in the Code Library, or ask the AI how it applies to your project.
Last reviewed 2026-07-29. General information, not legal advice.