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4th and Mortimer CEQA Addendum October 12, 2020 Page 2 of 15 A number of highly qualified experts have reviewed the proposed Project and its environmental effects. Certified Industrial Hygienist, Francis "Bud" Offermann, PE, CIH, and Dr. Paul Rosenfeld, Ph.D. and Matthew Hagemann, C. Hg. of environmental consulting firm Soil Water Air Protection Enterprise ("SWAPE") have identified a number of significant impacts from the proposed Project including air quality impacts, as well as omissions and flaws in the documents relied upon by staff. These comments are attached as Exhibits A and B. By opting to proceed with an Addendum instead of the required EIR or supplemental EIR ("SEIR"), the City of Santa Ana ("City") has deprived the members of the public of the public review and circulation requirement available for EIRs. SAFER urges the Commission not to adopt the Addendum or approve the Project, and instead to direct staff to prepare a Draft EIR for the Project, and to circulate the Draft EIR for public review and comment prior to Project approval. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Project involves a residential and commercial development that would consist of 169 residential units and 11,361 square feet of commercial retail space on two city blocks, 409 East 4th Street (Block A) and 509 East 4th Street (Block B). The City attempts to rely on a decade -old EIR certified in 2010 for the Transit Zoning Code ("TZC"). The TZC area covers over 100 blocks and 450 acres in the central core of Santa Ana. Under the TZC, Block A is currently zoned as "District Center - Downtown subzone," and Block B is zoned as "Urban Neighborhood 2 subzone" (UN-2). Block B is inconsistent with the zoning, massing and density studied in the 2010 EIR. The UN-2 zoning allows single-family duplexes, triplexes and quadraplexes, courtyard housing and rowhouses. UN-2 does not allow "lined block buildings" such as proposed by the Project. (Addendum 2-11). The Project exceeds the massing allowed in the UN-2 zone and therefore requires a variance from section 41-2023 of the zoning code. In particular, UN-2 requires that floors 3-5 of a building may cover no more than 85% of the ground floor, but the project proposes 100% coverage. (Addendum 2-11). The Project exceeds the density allowed in UN-2. UN-2 allows density of up to 50 dwelling units per acres, but the Project proposes 54 DU/acres. (Addendum 3.6-5). For these reasons, the Project proposes to rezone the property from UN-2 to Urban Center (UC). LEGAL STANDARD CEQA contains a strong presumption in favor of requiring a lead agency to prepare an EIR. This presumption is reflected in the fair argument standard. Under that standard, a lead agency must prepare an EIR whenever substantial evidence in the whole record before the agency supports a fair argument that a project may have a significant effect on the environment. Pub. Res. Code § 21082.2; Laurel Heights Improvement Ass'n v. Regents of the University of California (1993) ("Laurel Heights II") 6 Cal. 4th 1112, 1123; 75C-21