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Garry Avenue Business Park at 1700, 1720, and 1740 E. Garry Avenue October 10, 2022 Page 7 2 8 7 1 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the CEQA Guidelines, the project is exempt from further review pursuant to 15183 of the CEQA Guidelines. This type of exemption analysis evaluates whether the potential environmental impacts of the proposed demolition of three office buildings, which total 105,558 square feet, and construction of a new 91,500 square foot light industrial warehousing building that would accommodate two tenants are addressed in the City of Santa Ana General Plan Update Final Recirculated Program Environmental Impact Report (GPU EIR). As set forth in California Public Resources Code (PRC) Section 21083.3 and State CEQA Guidelines Section 15183, projects that are “consistent with the development density established by the existing zoning, community plan or general plan policies for which an EIR was certified shall not require additional environmental review, except as might be necessary to examine whether there are project-specific significant effects which are peculiar to the project or its site” (State CEQA Guidelines Section 15183(a) and PRC Section 21083.3(b)). The State CEQA Guidelines further state that “[i]f an impact is not peculiar to the parcel or to the project, has been addressed as a significant effect in the prior EIR, or can be substantially mitigated by the imposition of uniformly applied development policies or standards […] then an additional EIR need not be prepared for the project solely on the basis of that impact” (State CEQA Guidelines Section 15183(c)).” The GPU was adopted, and the GPU EIR certified, in April 2022 (State Clearinghouse Number 2020029087); the GPU went into effect on May 26, 2022. Any decision by the City affecting land use and development must be consistent with the GPU. The GPU EIR evaluates the potential environmental effects associated with implementation of the GPU and addresses appropriate and feasible mitigation measures that would minimize or eliminate these impacts. A project is consistent with the GPU if the development density does not exceed what was contemplated and analyzed for the parcel(s) in the certified GPU EIR and complies with the associated standards applicable to that development density (State CEQA Guidelines Section 15183(i)(2)). Development density standards can include the number of dwelling units per acre, the number of people in a given area, floor area ratio (FAR), and other measures of building intensity, building height, size limitations, and use restrictions. The GPU identifies that the Interim Development Standard for the FLEX-3 area is M1. The M1 zone provides for a variety of light industrial uses, including warehousing, manufacture, assembly, machine shops, wholesale businesses. The Project would result in a FAR of 0.42, which is within the projections of the GPU EIR, which evaluated a density of 3.0 FAR on the site. The GPU EIR adequately anticipated and analyzed the impacts of this Project, identified applicable mitigation measures necessary to reduce impacts of the Project, and the Project implements the applicable mitigation measures. The Project, therefore, qualifies for an exemption from additional environmental review as set forth in State CEQA Guidelines Section 15183. The full exemption analysis is provided as Exhibit 10/10/2022 Planning Commission 2 – 7