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Correspondence - Item 25
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04/16/2024
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Correspondence - Item 25
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under the specific circumstances in which the proposed activity will be carried out,these <br />potential effects will actually occur.”(Union of Medical Marijuana Patients,Inc.,7 Cal.5th at <br />1197.) <br />Here,the Ordinance will result in direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical changes to <br />the environment.If the City bans STRs,guests will be forced to find transient accommodations <br />outside of City limits.By the City’s own count,there are approximately 1,000 STRs in Santa <br />Ana.(Staff Report,p.2.)Removing all of these existing STR accommodations from the centrally <br />located City will almost certainly change traffic patterns,as visitors to Santa Ana and the <br />surrounding areas will have to seek overnight accommodations elsewhere.This shifting of traffic <br />from within the City to other locations could have significant environmental impacts,including <br />increased vehicle emissions from people traveling further distances across Orange County to their <br />vacation destinations or temporary/transitory places of employment and residence.This could <br />result in air quality impacts to residents of Santa Ana and potential traffic impacts at new <br />locations.Other reasonably foreseeable environmental impacts include,but are not limited to, <br />increased greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the additional vehicle miles traveled,impacts <br />from increased construction of alternative overnight accommodations (hotels and motels)to <br />make up for the loss in overnight accommodations that STRs currently provide,and urban decay <br />if the ban ultimately results in homeowners being unable afford their homes and causes <br />businesses to shutter from the decline in tourism and transitory resident revenue. <br />A Recent California Supreme Court Case Confirms that the Ordinance’s Potential Impacts <br />Require Environmental Review <br />In Union of Medical Marijuana Patients,Inc.v.City of San Diego,7 Cal.5th 1171 (2019),the <br />California Supreme Court held that San Diego’s medical marijuana ordinance was a project under <br />CEQA because it was capable of causing indirect physical changes in the environment,including <br />changed traffic patterns.(Id.,at 1199.)The court noted that “restrictions on the siting of <br />dispensaries would require thousands of patients to drive across the City to obtain medical <br />marijuana.”(Id.,at 1182.)Potential changes to traffic and circulation were enough to require <br />CEQA review.(Id.,at 1200-01.)1 The court concluded that “[a]t this initial tier in the CEQA <br />process,the potential of the Ordinance to cause an environmental change requires the City to treat <br />it as a project and proceed to the next steps of the CEQA analysis.”(Id.,at 1200.) <br />As set forth above,the STR ban has the potential to result in several environmental impacts <br />(including changes in traffic circulation),but the City has to even consider those potential <br />impacts,rushing to conclude that the Ordinance simply is not a “project.”At the very least,the <br />City must proceed to step two of the CEQA decision making tree to determine whether an <br />exemption applies to the Ordinance,though we do not believe that an exemption applies gives <br />1 Fullerton Joint Union High School District v.State Bd.of Education,32 Cal.3d 779 (1982)provides another <br />example.There,the court found a school district secession plan “will change bus routes and schedules,and affect <br />traffic patterns.Although it is uncertain whether the total impact will be significant enough to require an <br />environmental impact report,it is clear that it is sufficient to require at least an initial study to inquire into the need <br />for such a report.”(Id.,at 794.);see also Rosenthal v.Bd.of Supervisors,44 Cal.App.3d 815,824 (1975)[“[T]he <br />adoption of each rezoning ordinance in the present case was a project within the meaning of [CEQA]...the trial <br />court herein erred in ruling to the effect that the adoption of each rezoning ordinance was proper and lawful,without
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