Correspondence - #18 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Cabrillo Town Center Project City of Santa Ana October 2, 2023 Page 6 of 6 The City has a duty to investigate issues relating to a project's potential environmental impacts. (See County Sanitation Dist. No. 2 v. County of Kern (2005) 127 Cal.App.4th 1544, 1597-98. ["[U]nder CEQA, the lead agency bears a burden to investigate potential environmental impacts."].) The proposed Project will have significant impacts on air quality and health risks by emitting cancer -causing levels of formaldehyde into the air that will expose future employees to cancer risks potentially in excess of SCAQMD's threshold of significance for cancer health risks of 10 in a million. As discussed above, the Project will result in a significant impact to human health from indoor emissions of formaldehyde. This potential indoor air quality impact could not have been known until 2019 when the first study was published showing that homes using composite wood products that comply with CARB standards vastly exceed CEQA significance thresholds for cancer risk. Therefore, this impact was not known and could not have been known when the 2007 EIR was certified or in 2018 when the SEIR was certified. When scientific information was not available at the time of prior CEQA review, more recent studies showing that a project may have more serious human health or environmental impacts constitute significant new information requiring a subsequent EIR. (Security Envt'l Sys. v South Coast Air Quality Mgmt. Dist. (1991) 229 Cal.App.3d 110, 124; Meridian Ocean Sys. v. State Lands Com. (1990) 222 Cal.App.3d 153, 169) As such, under CEQA Guidelines sections 15162, 15168, and 15164 and an EIR is required. (See 14 CCR §§ 15162(a)(3), 15164(a), 15168.) Additionally, Mr. Offermann suggests mitigating the Project's indoor air quality impacts by requiring all composite wood products used in construction of the Project to be manufactured with CARE -approved no -added formaldehyde (NAF) resins. (Ex. A, pp. 13-14.) Because indoor air quality impacts were not analyzed in the 2007 EIR or 2018 SEIR, the City has not considered NAF composite wood products. Furthermore, such NAF products have only become readily available recently and, thus, could not have been considered in 2007 and 2018. Because the 2007 EIR and 2018 SEIR do not adopt any measures to reduce indoor formaldehyde emissions, an EIR is required. CONCLUSION Accordingly, SAFER respectfully requests that the City Council grant the appeal and direct staff to prepare an EIR for the Project in accordance with CEQA. Thank you for considering these comments. Sincerely, Marj an Abubo Lozeau I Drury LLP