2020-065 - Adopting Environmental Findings of Fact

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The Warner Redhill Mixed -Use Project CEQA Findings of Fact detailed in Section 5.11, Population and Housing, the Project region has an existing and projected future imbalance between the number of jobs and housing units. Thus, per CAPCOA guidance, the addition of residential units within the area would reduce VMT and the VMT-related GHG emissions. • Location Efficiency: Location efficiency describes the location of a project relative to the type of urban landscape such as an urban area, compact infill, or suburban center. CAPCOA guidance measure LUT-2.22 describes that a reduction in VMT and the related GHG emissions occurs from development within urban areas that include residential, retail, office, industrial, mixed -uses, and transportation access. As described previously, the Project is located in an urban infill location and would provide residential units near employment, retail, and services. Additionally, the Project is located adjacent to the Orange County Transit Authority (OCTA) bus lines that runs along Red Hill Avenue and Warner Avenue that makes use of transit efficient. Thus, the location efficiently of the Project would provide for reduced VMT and the related GHG emissions. Also, according to the CAPCOA guidance, factors that contribute to VMT reductions include pedestrian connectivity between the project site and off -site destinations. The Project would include onsite sidewalks that would connect to the existing offsite sidewalks and bicycle lanes exist in the Project vicinity. Both walking and bicycling to onsite or nearby destinations would reduce transportation energy use and the related GHG emissions. Therefore, although the Project Applicant and City cannot reduce GHG vehicular emissions, the Project is consistent with the CAPCOA guidance for mitigating or reducing transportation related VMT from land use development projects. In addition, the Project incorporates various sustainable design features that would reduce GHG emissions, which include: • A minimum of 94 electric vehicle charging stations. • Installation of drought -tolerant plants for landscaping. • Installation of water -efficient irrigation systems, such as weather -based and soil -moisture - based irrigation controllers and sensors, for landscaping according to the California Department of Water Resources Model Efficient Landscape Ordinance. • Designing buildings to provide CALGreen Standards with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design features for potential certification and would employ energy and water conservation measures in accordance with such standards. This includes design considerations related to the building envelope; heating, ventilating, and air conditioning; lighting; and power systems. • Installation of landscaping in surface parking lots to reduce heat island effect. Trees would be selected and placed to provide canopy and shade for the parking lots. • Implementation of a recycling program in order to meet a 75 percent minimum waste diversion goal. • Utilization of construction materials and interior finish products with zero or low emissions to improve indoor air quality. City of Santa Ana May 2020