Item 27 - Appeal Application Nos. 2020-03 and 2020-04 - Central Pointe Mixed-Use Development

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Appeal Application Nos. 2020-03 and 2020-04 — Central Pointe Mixed -Use Development January 19, 2021 Page 10 f. Further review is required because the Central Pointe Project will have effects not examined in the MEMU EIR. Staff Response — As explained above, where a project is within the scope of a previously certified program EIR, "no new environmental document is required" unless the project will have "new significant environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects" than were disclosed in the program EIR. CEQA Guidelines Sections 15162 and 15168(c)(2). SAFER nonetheless argues that a subsequent EIR must be prepared because the MEMU EIR disclosed certain unavoidable impacts. SAFER is incorrect. As explained by the Court of Appeal: To hold that a project -specific EIR must be prepared for all activities proposed after the certification of the program EIR, even where the subsequent activity is 'within the scope of the project described in the program EIR' ... would be directly contrary to one of the essential purposes of program EIR's, i.e., to streamline environmental review of projects within the scope of a previously completed program EIR. And as also demonstrated in Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Fish & Wildlife (2015) 234 Cal.AppAth 214, 239 explaining, a case involving a program EIR that disclosed significant and unavoidable impacts, "CEQA does not require the Department to engage in a public process when it determines whether the impacts from a site -specific project were addressed and adequately mitigated in the program EIR. And if the Department finds the impacts were addressed, it need not prepare a new environmental document at all." Since, the Central Pointe Project is within the scope of the MEMU EIR and will not have any new or more severe impacts than those disclosed, the City is not required to prepare a new CEQA document. Appeal No. 2020-04 - Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters (SWRCC) The SWRCC appellant is requesting that the City Council overturn the Planning Commission's decision based on (1) failure to address affordable housing, (2) failure to include qualified Santa Ana residents, veterans and graduates or certificate holders of the Santa Ana Unified School District and Rancho Santiago Community College District in the Project's construction workforce, and (3) failure to ensure the maximum amount of viable commercial development square footage is provided. The SWRCC represents 55,000 carpenters in six states and hundreds of Santa Ana residents. a. The SWRCC appellant states that, "the Planning Commission failed to adequately address affordable housing. The City's municipal code requires that the proposed