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VII. STATEMENT OF OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS <br /> A. INTRODUCTION <br /> The City of Santa Ana is the Lead Agency under CEQA for preparation, review and certification <br /> of the PEIR for General Plan Update (project). As the Lead Agency, the City is also responsible <br /> for determining the potential environmental impacts of the proposed action and which of those <br /> impacts are significant, and which can be mitigated through imposition of mitigation measures <br /> to avoid or minimize those impacts to a level of less than significant. CEQA then requires the <br /> Lead Agency to balance the benefits of a proposed action against its significant unavoidable <br /> adverse environmental impacts in determining whether or not to approve the proposed project. <br /> In making this determination the City is guided by CEQA Guidelines Section 15093, Statement <br /> of Overriding Considerations, which states: <br /> a. CEQA requires the decision-making agency to balance, as applicable, the <br /> economic, legal, social, technological, or other benefits of a proposed project <br /> against its unavoidable environmental risks when determining whether to <br /> approve the project. If the specific economic, legal, social, technological, or <br /> other benefits of a proposed project outweigh the unavoidable adverse <br /> environmental effects, the adverse environmental effects may be considered <br /> "acceptable." <br /> b. When the lead agency approves a project which will result in the occurrence of <br /> significant effects which are identified in the final EIR but are not avoided or <br /> substantially lessened, the agency shall state in writing the specific reasons to <br /> support its action based on the final EIR and/or other information in the record. <br /> The statement of overriding considerations shall be supported by substantial <br /> evidence in the record. <br /> c. If an agency makes a statement of overriding considerations, the statement <br /> should be included in the record of the project approval and should be <br /> mentioned in the notice of determination. This statement does not substitute <br /> for, and shall be in addition to, findings required pursuant to Section 15091. <br /> In addition, Public Resources Code Section 21081(b) requires that where a public agency finds <br /> that specific economic, legal, social, technological, or other considerations, including <br /> considerations for the provision of employment opportunities for highly trained workers, make <br /> infeasible the mitigation measures or alternatives identified in an EIR and thereby leave <br /> significant unavoidable effects, the public agency must also find that overriding economic, legal, <br /> social, technological, or other benefits of the project outweigh the significant effects of the <br /> project. <br /> Pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21081(b) and the State CEQA Guidelines Section <br /> 15093, the City has balanced the benefits of the proposed project against the unavoidable <br /> adverse impacts associated with the project and has adopted all feasible mitigation measures <br /> Santa Ana General Plan Update <br /> CE 5T ac an Statement 32 — 86 2 <br /> Of ri ing onsiderations -63- 61 /Rer�0 2 1 <br />