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EIR No. 2018-01, DA No. 2018-01, GPA No. 2018-06, AA No. 2018-10
<br />2525 North Main Street
<br />November 19, 2019
<br />Page 9
<br />(Alternative 2); and build out of the site under the existing Professional zoning district development
<br />standards, which could result in an approximately 390,000 square foot office building (Alternative
<br />3).
<br />The Draft EIR determined that the originally proposed project would require mitigation related to
<br />aesthetics, air quality, biological resources, hazardous materials, construction noise and vibration,
<br />interior noise, and tribal resources. Aesthetic impacts would remain significant and unavoidable after
<br />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 public
<br />comment review period. In addition, a Planning Commission public hearing was held on August
<br />27, 2018 where staff presented the EIR process and environmental information to the Planning
<br />Commission and pubic and received public comments on the DEIR. To allow for additional time
<br />for public review and comment, and at the request of the North Santa Ana Preservation Alliance,
<br />the City extended the DEIR public comment period by an additional two weeks. At the close of the
<br />review and comment period on October 4, 2018, a total of 44 comment letters were received on
<br />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, 2018
<br />for public review. The Draft EIR, responses to comments document, and revisions to the Draft EIR
<br />consist of the Final EIR for the project.
<br />Clarifications to the Final EIR
<br />Clarifications to the Final EIR (October 2019) have been prepared to determine if any new or
<br />additional environmental impacts would result from the October modified project. The analysis
<br />concludes that the October modified project, which reduces the number of units from 496 to 256
<br />(48.3 percent reduction), reduces the height of the structures, revises the vehicular entry to the
<br />project, incorporates surface level parking lots to increase building setbacks along the east and
<br />south property lines, and creates a separate parcel of land for parking purposes would not result
<br />in any new adverse environmental impacts from those that were previously disclosed and
<br />discussed in the Final EIR. As previously concluded, aesthetics remains a significant and
<br />unavoidable impact after mitigation. The modified projected population is estimated to be 502
<br />residents, which is a reduction of 453 residents from the original 496-unit project. In addition, the
<br />number of daily trips is projected to be reduced from 2,698 trips to 1,512 trips, or 1,186 trips less
<br />than the 496-unit project. Expected water demands will be reduced by over half, or approximately
<br />62.44 acre feet per year. Based on the fact that the October modified project did not have or create
<br />any impacts that were not previously studied and disclosed, recirculation of the EIR is not required
<br />for the modified project pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15088.5.
<br />The EIR identified one significant and unavoidable impact associated with the originally proposed
<br />project, which pertains to aesthetics. Based on the City's visual criteria related to scale, height
<br />
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