Item 26 - EIR No. 2020-03 and GPA No.2020-06 Santa Ana General Plan Update

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EIR No. 2020-03 and GPA No.2020-06 Santa Ana General Plan Update February 15, 2022 Page 12 environmental topics of Air Quality, Hazards, and Recreation. The Recirculated Draft PEIR also includes an updated/supplemented Project Alternatives chapter containing a new Reduced Park Demand Alternative to reduce the significant recreation impacts associated with the proposed GPU, as well as an additional mitigation measure and reference to General Plan policy and implementation action refinements. The Recirculated Draft PEIR incorporates the previous Draft PEIR by reference, as appropriate. In particular, the previous Draft PEIR document and its appendices are referenced for long and/or technical descriptions of the environmental setting that remain applicable to the updated GPU. Three project alternatives were analyzed within the Final PEIR (October 2020) document. These included a no project alternative, where the existing General Plan document would remain in effect (Alternative 1); a reduced intensity alternative with two focus areas (55 Freeway/Dyer Road and South Bristol Street) would be reduced to approximately 50 percent of the maximum densities allowed by their respective land use designation (Alternative 2); and build out of the site to be consistent with the Southern California's Association of Regional Government's (SCAG) RTP/SCS projections, which could result in an approximate 75 percent reduction in both the number of allowable units and commercial/industrial square footage (Alternative 3). The Recirculated Draft PEIR (August 2021) introduces a reduced park demand project (Alternative 4) that reduces residential growth by 11,225 units by eliminating or reducing residential land uses and intensity in the five focus areas. Overall, nonresidential square footage would be reduced by a total of approximately 2.8 million square feet within the focus areas compared to the proposed GPU. New residential growth under this alternative would largely be in currently planned areas that are generally near a number of existing park facilities, with some residential growth would be introduced into two focus areas at substantially lower intensities to reduce the potential impact on park facilities. As required, the Draft Recirculated PEIR (August 2021) was circulated for public review between August 6, 2021 and September 20, 2021, with the Notice of Availability (NOA) instructing reviewers to only submit comments on the three revised chapters included in the Recirculated Draft PEIR. The comments in the original Final PEIR adequately address comments received on portions of the Draft PEIR that have not been recirculated. During the review and comment period, staff held a public hearing to receive comments on the Draft Recirculated PEIR and a work-study session with the Planning Commission on September 13, 2021. The Draft PEIR (August 2020), Final PEIR (October 2020), and Final Recirculated PEIR including all report appendices, are posted on the City's website. https://www.santa- ana.org/general-plan The City has evaluated the comments received from persons and agencies for both the Draft PEIR (August 2020) and Recirculated Draft PEIR (August 2021), and completed