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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02160029_Sec08-00 Other CEQAWest Ming Specific Plan - Draft EIR Other CEQA Considerations Michael Brandman Associates 8-1 H:\Client (PN-JN)\0216\02160029\DEIR 9-1\02160029_Sec08-00 Other CEQA.doc SECTION 8: OTHER CEQA CONSIDERATIONS 8.1 - Significant Unavoidable Impacts According to CEQA Guidelines Section 15126.2(b), an EIR must disclose the significant unavoidable impacts that will result from a project. Moreover, these guidelines state that an EIR should explain the implications of such impacts and the reasons why the project is being proposed, notwithstanding such impacts. Implementation of the West Ming Specific Plan development will result in the alteration of the physical environment. Section 5, Project Impacts and Section 6, Cumulative Impacts, of this Draft EIR provide a discussion of the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project, as well as measures to reduce the environmental impacts to the maximum extent feasible. After implementation of the West Ming Specific Plan development and the project related mitigation measures, it has been determined that with the exception of traffic impacts, noise impacts and agricultural resources impacts, as summarized below, all project-related impacts can be feasibly mitigated to a level that is considered less than significant. • With the addition of project-related traffic, intersections and roadway segments will exceed the established thresholds for the Years 2015 and 2030 even with the improvements that are required for the Years 2015 and 2030 without project. After implementation of the recommended mitigation measures, the proposed project would result in the degradation of a level of service that began at or below LOS C for the following (roadway segments): - Ming Avenue - Ashe Road to New Stine (LOS D) - White Lane - Wible Road to SB 99 Ramps (LOS D) - Calloway Drive - Westside Parkway EB Ramps to Stockdale Highway (LOS E) Therefore, the proposed project would result in significant and unavoidable impacts to these roadway segments. Notably, impacts to intersections would be less than significant after implementation of the mitigation measures. • The proposed project’s contribution to the cumulative noise increase along the following roadway segments would be considered cumulatively considerable; therefore, the project’s increase in noise is considered significant. - Buena Vista Road - Stockdale Highway to Ming Avenue (Year 2030) - Buena Vista Road - Ming Avenue to Chamber Boulevard (Years 2015 and 2030) - Buena Vista Road - Chamber Boulevard to White Lane (Years 2015 and 2030) - Buena Vista Road - White Lane to Campus Park (Years 2015 and 2030) - Buena Vista Road -Campus Park to South Project Entrance (Years 2015 and 2030) - Buena Vista Road - South Project Entrance to Panama Lane (Years 2015 and 2030) - Allen Road - Westside Parkway EB Ramps to Stockdale Highway (Year 2015) - Allen Road - Stockdale Highway to Ming Avenue (Year 2015) Other CEQA Considerations West Ming Specific Plan - Draft EIR 8-2 Michael Brandman Associates H:\Client (PN-JN)\0216\02160029\DEIR 9-1\02160029_Sec08-00 Other CEQA.doc No feasible mitigation measures are available for the project applicant to reduce noise level increases from the proposed project’s contribution. The project’s contribution to cumulative noise level increases would remain significant and unavoidable; however, the noise levels along each segment would be 65 dB CNEL or less which is the City’s exterior noise level standard. • No feasible mitigation measures are available for the project applicant that would reduce the impacts on agricultural resources to less than significant. Approval and implementation of the Specific Plan and corresponding land use change will result in a commitment of approximately 2,182 acres of Prime Farmland to non-agricultural uses. Furthermore, the City of Bakersfield includes in this commitment, the loss of approximately 1,204 acres of soil capability Class I and II prime agricultural farmland that is irrigated by 8 active agricultural water wells. The current Metropolitan Bakersfield General Plan land use designation of the majority of the project site as R-IA (Resource - Intensive Agriculture), R-MP (Resource - Mineral Petroleum) and OS (Open Space) do not allow for urban development of the site. In addition, the current City zoning of A-20A (Agriculture Zone, 20 acre minimum), the current Kern County zoning of A (Exclusive Agriculture), A-GH (Exclusive Agriculture-Geologic Hazard Combining), A- FPS (Exclusive Agriculture-Floodplain-Secondary Combining), and A-FPS-GH (Exclusive Agriculture-Floodplain-Secondary Combining-Geologic Hazard Combining) that would be re- zoned to allow for urban development of the site would conflict with the existing on-site zoning that allows agricultural activities. There is little that can be accomplished on the project site that will reduce impacts on agricultural resources and thus these impacts are considered to be significant and unavoidable impacts of the proposed Specific Plan project. 8.2 - Growth Inducing Impacts This section evaluates the potential for the West Ming development to affect “economic or population growth, or the construction of additional housing, either directly or indirectly, in the surrounding environment” (CEQA Guidelines, 15126.2[d]). There are two types of growth inducing impacts a project may have, direct and indirect. To assess the potential for growth-inducing impacts, the project characteristics that may encourage and facilitate activities that individually or cumulatively may affect the environment must be evaluated. Direct growth-inducing impacts occur when the development of a project imposes new burdens on a community that directly induces population growth or the construction of additional developments in the same area of the proposed project, thereby triggering related growth-associated impacts. Included in this analysis are projects that would remove physical obstacles to population growth (such as a new road into an undeveloped area or a wastewater treatment plant that could allow more construction in the service area). Construction of these types of infrastructure projects cannot be considered isolated from the development they trigger. In contrast, projects that physically remove obstacles to growth and projects that indirectly induce growth are those which may provide a catalyst for future unrelated West Ming Specific Plan - Draft EIR Other CEQA Considerations Michael Brandman Associates 8-3 H:\Client (PN-JN)\0216\02160029\DEIR 9-1\02160029_Sec08-00 Other CEQA.doc development in an area (such as a new residential community that requires additional commercial uses to support residents). Implementation of the proposed project will result in growth inducement indirectly through the construction of project area circulation and directly with the construction of the residential units and commercial and industrial structures. However, the Bakersfield Metropolitan General Plan encourages the orderly outward expansion of new urban development that maintains the continuity of existing development and allows incremental expansion of infrastructure and public services. The project does not introduce any new offsite arterials, collectors, or interchanges not already outlined in the General Plan. The project does not introduce new public service facilities not already outlined in the General Plan and potable water will be supplied by the groundwater basin below the site via existing water wells. Thus, the project is not introducing any new facilitation to growth inducement not already envisioned to be needed to accommodate planned future growth. Hence, while it is recognized that the project will induce growth in the project area, such growth is in concurrence with the City’s planned growth policies. 8.3 - Irreversible and Irretrievable Commitment of Resource The environmental effects associated with the development of the West Ming project are summarized in Table 2-1 and in Section 5 and Section 6 of this document. Implementation of the proposed project will require a long-term commitment of land as discussed below. More specifically the primary effect of development under the proposed project would be the commitment of approximately 2,182 acres of Prime Farmland to non-agricultural uses. The financial and material investments that would be required of the applicant and the City would result in further commitments of land resources making it unlikely that the same or similar uses would continue in the future. Implementation of the proposed project represents a long-term commitment to urbanization. Environmental changes associated with the implementation of the proposed project result in alterations of the physical environment. In order to develop the proposed project, existing Prime Farmland would be irrevocably committed to non-agricultural uses. If the proposed project is approved, and subsequently implemented, new structures would be built, additional utilities would be constructed, and circulation improvements would be made. Nonrenewable resources would be committed, primarily in the form of fossil fuels, and would include fuel oil, natural gas, and gasoline used by vehicles and equipment associated with the construction of the West Ming project. The consumption of other nonrenewable or slowly renewable resources would result from development of the proposed project. These resources would include, but not be limited to, lumber and other forest products, sand and gravel, asphalt, petrochemical construction materials, steel, copper, lead, and water. Because alternative energy sources such as solar or wind energy are not currently in widespread local use, it is unlikely that a real savings in nonrenewable energy supplies (i.e., oil and gas) could be realized in the immediate future.