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2525 North Main Street <br />January 14, 2019 <br />Page 7 <br />driveway at the Main Street and Walkie Way/Santiago Park intersection (Option B), and <br />access/egress from both Main Street and Edgewood Road (Option C). <br />Three project alternatives were also analyzed within the document. These included a no build <br />alternative, where the existing approximately 80,000 square foot building would remain as is and <br />be reoccupied by an office use (Alternative 1); a reduced multi -family project consisting of a 30 <br />percent reduction in density (Alternative 2); and build out of the site under the existing <br />Professional zoning district development standards, which could result in an approximately <br />390,000 square foot two and three-story office building (Alternative 3). <br />The Draft EIR determined that the proposed project would require mitigation related to aesthetics, <br />air quality, biological resources, hazardous materials, construction noise and vibration, interior <br />noise, and tribal resources. Impacts related to aesthetics would remain significant and unavoidable <br />after mitigation. <br />On August 7, 2018, the Draft EIR was circulated for review and comment to public, City Council, <br />Planning Commission, local, regional and state agencies, and interested parties for a 45 -day <br />public comment review period. In addition, a Planning Commission public hearing was held on <br />August 27, 2018 where staff presented the EIR process and environmental information to the <br />Planning Commission and pubic and received public comments on the DEIR. To allow for <br />additional time for public review and comment, and at the request of the North Santa Ana <br />Preservation Alliance, the City extended the DEIR public comment period by an additional two <br />weeks. At the close of the review and comment period on October 4, 2018, a total of 44 <br />comment letters were received on the Draft EIR. <br />The City has evaluated the comments received from persons and agencies on the Draft EIR and <br />completed detailed Response to Comments, revisions to the Draft EIR including clarifications <br />and/or corrections to typographical errors, and a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program <br />(MMRP). The response to comments, MMRP and Final EIR were published on November 15, <br />2018 for public review. The Draft EIR, responses to comments document, revisions to the Draft <br />EIR, and the MMRP constitute the Final EIR for the project (Exhibit 1). <br />The EIR identified one significant and unavoidable impact associated with this project, which <br />pertains to aesthetics. Based on the City's visual criteria related to scale, height and setbacks, it <br />was determined that the project would result in a substantial change in views from existing <br />conditions and would result in a significant and unavoidable impact to the aesthetics. As a result <br />of this impact that cannot be mitigated to a less than significant level, adoption of a Statement of <br />Overriding Considerations is required prior to approving the project. A Statement of Overriding <br />Considerations is the process through which decision makers balance the economic, legal, <br />social, and technological or other benefits of the proposed project against its unavoidable <br />environmental impacts. <br />75E-275 <br />