The lack of early integration with the planning and decision-making process has been a major problem in environmental assessment. Traditional project-based environmental impact assessment has inadequate incentives and capacities to incorporate critical environmental impacts at a broader temporal or spatial scale. While many applications have been geared towards implementing project-level environmental assessments, comparatively little research has been done to determine how to incorporate strategically critical environmental impacts into local comprehensive land use planning. Although the principles of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are not yet required in local comprehensive land use planning in the United States, these principles create a theoretical framework for local environmental assessment. This study builds a theoretical framework for more effectively integrating the principles of strategic environmental assessment into local comprehensive land use plans. The empirical case study results indicate that California local jurisdictions did not fully integrated the SEA principles into their local plans.
