CORRESPONDENCE - 75E (GENERAL COMMENTS)

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Additionally, the water needed to adequately irrigate such a massive installation of landscaping is not addressed in the report. The final EIR should address this issue, considering the prolonged state of drought in Southern California. It is a certainty that the project will result in a precipitous drop in values of the homes on Edgewood Road, Spurgeon Street, Virginia Avenue, and Bush Street and would cause substantial, irrevocable economic harm and financial loss to the homeowners. Although not strictly an "environmental" concern, the final EIR should nonetheless include an assessment of the impact to property values, considering the existing homes and the density and scale of Magnolia, because this will potentially impact the specific environment of the current residents (they may be forced to sell at a loss and relocate or will have to contend with the intrusion into their privacy by Magnolia residents, as well as the disruption caused by Magnolia's inadequate parking), This section also concedes that the project would result in a "substantial visual contrast from existing conditions," yet comes to the puzzling conclusion that it would nonetheless "have a unifying modern architectural theme." The modern urban theme of Magnolia would, in fact, be disharmonious with the historic character of Park Santiago and its single -story vintage homes and would be a stark contrast. The final EIR should address this mismatch in architectural styles and scale. Shade and Shadow Figure 4.1-13 Winter Solstice Shadows shows that Magnolia would result in the rear yards of the single- family homes immediately to the east of the project being almost entirely shaded at 3:00pm—a significant change from the current conditions reflected on Figure 4.1-3: Shade and Shadow - Existing Conditions— yet stunningly concludes there is less than significant impact. The final EIR should further study and address this disparity. Section 4.2 — Air Qualit Magnolia would be situated approximately 100 feet from the Santa Ana (5) Freeway. In 2005, the California Environmental Protection Agency - California Air Resources Board (CARB) issued handbook Air Quality and Land Use: A Community Health Perspective warning cities and counties to avoid putting new homes in high -pollution zones within 500 feet of freeways because of the well-documented link between traffic pollution and asthma, heart attacks, and other health problems including autism and learning disabilities. While the CARB has issued an updated handbook in April 2017, it stands by its position on the unhealthful affects of locating housing in close proximity to freeways; and Scott Fruin, professor of preventive medicine at USC, responded to the new guidance by maintaining that "the best current strategy to reduce near -freeway exposure is not to put schools and residences there in the first place. Even with the best reduction measures available, air pollution in these locations will remain unhealthy'." The final EIR should further study and address the CARB's warnings about the health hazards of Magnolia's immediate proximity to the freeway. 4.3.3 Environmental Setting The report lists a number of potentially impacted bird species, but did not include the California towhee, Bullock's oriole, the recovering western bluebird', or the newly identified pin -tailed whydah. Numerous sightings of these specimens have occurred in Park Santiago as recently as the date of this letter. The impact to these rare and fragile species needs to be studied and included in the final EIR. Los Angeles Times article, Regulators warned against housing near,freeways due to health risks. Now they're warming to it, December 27, 2017 2 California Bluebird Recovery Program, www.ebrp.org