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Santa Ana General Plan Update <br />CEQA Findings of Fact and Statement <br />Of Overriding Considerations -64- October 2021 <br />with respect to these impacts. The City also has examined alternatives to the proposed project, <br />none of which both meets the project objectives and is environmentally preferable to the <br />proposed project, for the reasons discussed in the Findings and Facts in Support of Findings. <br />The City of Santa Ana, as the Lead Agency for this project, and having reviewed the PEIR for <br />the GPU, and reviewed all written materials within the City’s public record and heard all oral <br />testimony presented at public hearings, adopts this Statement of Overriding Considerations, <br />which has balanced the benefits of the project against its significant unavoidable adverse <br />environmental impacts in reaching its decision to approve the project. <br />B. OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS <br />The City, after balancing the specific economic, legal, social, technological, and other benefits <br />of the project, has determined that the unavoidable adverse environmental impacts identified <br />above may be considered acceptable due to the following specific considerations, which <br />outweigh the unavoidable, adverse environmental impacts of the project, and each of which, <br />standing alone, is sufficient to support approval of the project, in accordance with CEQA Section <br />21081(b) and CEQA Guidelines Section 15093. The specific economic, legal, social, <br />technological, or other benefits of the project are as follows: <br />1. The community, land use, and public services elements of the project encourage healthy <br />lifestyles, a planning process that ensures that health impacts are considered, and policies <br />and practices that improve the health of residents. The policies also affirm and support a <br />socially and economically diverse community with equitable distribution of resources. <br />2. Implementation of the GPU fulfills one of the key strategies identified in the Santa Ana <br />Strategic Plan in the completion of a comprehensive update of the existing General Plan. <br />3. The project improves the jobs-housing balance; the ratio of 1.5 would give the city a more <br />equal distribution of employment and housing. The population growth resulting directly from <br />the proposed GPU would be offset by the level of employment opportunity provided to the <br />city’s residents and workers commuting into Santa Ana. <br />4. The project results in a reduction of vehicle miles traveled per service population (VMT/SP) <br />and a reduction in related traffic congestion, air quality, and greenhouse gas emissions <br />compared with existing conditions because the GPU includes policies that promote the <br />reduction of VMT. Policy 2.5 of the land use element encourages infill mixed-use <br />development at all ranges of affordability to reduce VMT, and policy 4.5 aims to concentrate <br />development along high-quality transit corridors. Policy 4.6 of the circulation element <br />promotes reductions in automobile trips and VMT by encouraging transit use and <br />nonmotorized transportation as alternatives to augmenting roadway capacity. <br />5. The project provides additional housing to support the regionally forecasted increase in <br />economic activities and employment increases.