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AA No. 07-01, EIR No. 06-01, GPA No. 07-01, ZOA No. 07-01, DA No. 07-01, SPR No. 07-1 and TTM No. 07-01 March 19, 2007 Page 7 The City has evaluated the comments received from persons or agencies that reviewed the EIR. In accordance with CEQA, each public agency that commented on the draft EIR will be provided with a response to its comments at least 10 days prior to EIR certification. The Responses to Comments document, the Mitigation Monitoring Program and the Draft EIR constitute the Final EIR (Exhibit 7). In addition, the Findings of Fact and a Statement of Overriding Considerations have been included for the project. While the EIR determined that almost all potential impacts could be mitigated to a less than significant level, it did find that implementation of the Metro East Overlay Zone would result in short-term unavoidable adverse impacts to air quality and noise, and unavoidable adverse impacts to traffic and circulation. These short term impacts are a result of construction equipment and vehicle emissions, as well as related vibration. Full build out of the Overlay zone would result in an increase in traffic that is substantial in relation to the existing traffic. The First and Cabrillo Towers construction will result in unavoidable adverse impacts to short-term air quality similar to the Overlay Zone. The Environmental Impact Report identifies a series of mitigation measures intended to reduce traffic impacts associated with the amount of building area developed for this project. The mitigation measures include the requirement of a traffic study for each proposed project in the Metro East area and the implementation of improvements and/or the payment of fair share fees as identified in each study. In addition, the EIR requires coordination with transit providers to implement various transit related measures. Further, the First and Cabrillo project had two specific traffic improvements identified: Fair share contributions for the widening of the southbound Fourth Street on ramp to the SB-55 Freeway and the construction of a raised median or a fair share contribution at Sixth Street and Tustin Avenue. As a result of the impacts that cannot be mitigated to a less than significant level, adoption of a Statement of Overriding considerations is required prior to approving the project. A Statement of Overriding Considerations is the process through which decision makers balance the economic, legal, social, and technological or other benefits of the proposed project against its unavoidable environmental impacts. If it is found that the benefits of the project outweigh any potential impacts, the decision makers may then vote to override (Exhibit 8). 758-7