Item 18 - Appeal Application Nos. 2023-02 and 2023-03 for Cabrillo Town Center project

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City of Santa Ana — Cabrillo Town Center Project August 17, 2023 Page 6 of 7 impact on noise if the Project would cause a substantial temporary or periodic increase in ambient noise levels in the project vicinity above levels existing without the Project. Exhibit B at 3; Metro EIR at 4.9-14. Additionally, the Metro EIR's imposed mitigation measure for constriction noise impacts are improperly deferred since they are vague in nature and would likely be difficult or impossible to enforce in practice. For example, MM-OZ 4.9-2 includes requirements to: "Place noise -generating construction equipment and locate construction staging areas away from sensitive uses, where feasible" "Schedule high noise -producing activities between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to minimize disruption on sensitive uses"; and "Implement noise attenuation measures, which may include, but are not limited to, temporary noise barriers or noise blankets around stationary construction noise sources". Metro EIR at 4.9-17. Use of the phrase "where feasible" provides a workaround, allowing the construction crew to locate equipment and stage materials as close as they see fit to sensitive neighbors. Similarly, there is no definition of the "high noise -producing activities," which should cease at 5PM, or the amount of reduction required to be achieved by noise barriers/blankets around equipment. Absent such specification, the measures are improperly deferred. See CEQA Guidelines � 15126.4 ("Formulation of mitigation measures shall not be deferred until some future time"). As recommended by noise expert Steve Rogers, a subsequent EIR must be prepared to adequately analyze and mitigate the Project's construction impacts by: (1) providing a Project -specific list of the types of equipment to be used during the various phases of demolition and construction, which identifies source noise levels (FHWA reference values) as well as the number of pieces to be employed for each phase and equipment type; (2) including a clear statement whether the Project will deliberately exclude any particularly noisy construction equipment/activities (such as pile -driving); (3) revising the construction noise analysis to reflect the total impact of all proposed equipment operating together, rather than a single piece of equipment operating in isolation; and (4) revising mitigation measure MM-OZ 4.9-2, so that bullet points 3 through 6 read as follows: • Place noise -generating construction equipment and locate construction staging areas away from sensitive uses. City Council 18 — 295 10/3/2023