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The Bowery Mixed-Use Project <br />CEQA Comment <br />May 11, 2020 <br />Page 19 <br /> <br />been approved. Without valid mitigation, the Project’s significant hazardous materials impact <br />remains significant. <br /> <br />5. The EIR’s conclusions related to hazardous impacts from contaminated <br />groundwater are not supported by substantial evidence. <br /> <br /> The EIR must be revised to correct its inconsistent statements about the likelihood of <br />encountering contaminated groundwater during Project construction. The FEIR states: <br /> <br />[I]t is described on page 5.5-5 in Section 5.5, Geology and Soils, of the Draft EIR that <br />based on onsite borings the depth of groundwater is in the range of 24 to 33 feet below <br />ground surface (bgs). This depth of groundwater would not impact persons onsite during <br />operation of the proposed mixed-uses. Also, the Draft EIR page 3-19, Section 3.0, Project <br />Description, describes that excavation and grading during project construction would be a <br />minimum of 5 feet below the bottom of the building foundations. As the depth of <br />groundwater currently ranges between 24 to 33 feet, project excavation of approximately <br />5 feet below building foundations would not result in encountering groundwater. Thus, <br />construction workers would also not be in contact with, and therefore impacted by, <br />contaminated groundwater. Therefore, the potential risk to future receptors associated <br />with groundwater contamination would be less than significant. <br /> <br />FEIR, 2-8. <br /> <br /> But SWAPE points out that the assertion that groundwater is in the range of 24 to 33 feet <br />deep contradicts the case closure summary attached to the SARWQCB No Further Action letter <br />for the Project site, which states that groundwater is at depths of 5.67 to 13 feet deep (as <br />excerpted in the below table). SWAPE, p. 3 (citing No Further Action Letter, attached hereto as <br />Exhibit D). <br /> <br /> <br /> Based on this data, SWAPE concludes that “if Project excavation is ‘a minimum of 5 feet <br />below the bottom of building foundations’ (FEIR, p. 2-8), groundwater is likely to be <br />encountered if found at depths as shallow as 5.67 feet as stated by the SARWQCB in the table