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9 FINDINGS REGARDING PROJECT ALTERNATIVES <br />Attainment of Project Objectives: The Reduced Project with No Subterranean Parking <br />Alternative would not fully meet all of the project objectives. Though the Reduced Project with No <br />Subterranean Parking Alternative would transform the conventional auto -oriented shopping plaza <br />with large surface parking areas to a mixed -use development, this alternative would not maximize <br />the opportunities as described in the project objectives as there would be fewer retail services <br />and park space, no office uses, and no subsurface shared parking areas. The reduced <br />commercial and removal of office uses would result in a net decrease of jobs from existing <br />conditions that would not fully maximize the economic opportunities of the project site as <br />encouraged by the GPU or complement the South Coast Metro area with a diversity of new <br />housing in a jobs -rich environment. (Draft Supplemental EIR, p. 6-28.) <br />Findings: The City Council rejects Alternative 3: Reduced Project with No Subterranean <br />Parking Alternative, on the following grounds, each of which individually provides sufficient <br />justification for rejection of this alternative: (1) the alternative fails to meet the basic Project <br />objectives to the same extent as the proposed Project; and (2) the alternative fails to avoid or <br />reduce the Project's significant and unavoidable impacts relating to recreation. <br />9.3 ENVIRONMENTALLY SUPERIOR ALTERNATIVE <br />CEQA requires a lead agency to identify the "environmentally superior alternative" when <br />significant environmental impacts result from a proposed project and, in cases where the "No <br />Project" Alternative is environmentally superior to the project, the environmentally superior <br />development alternative must be identified. The Environmentally Superior Alternative for the <br />proposed project would be the No Project/No Build Alternative. When the No Project alternative <br />is identified as the environmentally superior alternative, the EIR shall also identify an <br />environmentally superior alternative among the other alternatives. (State CEQA Guidelines, <br />§15126.6(3)(1).) One alternative has been identified as "environmentally superior" to the Project: <br />the Reduced Project with No Subterranean Parking Alternative. The reduction or elimination of <br />project components under this alternative would result in reduced impacts to operational air <br />quality emissions, energy, GHG emissions, noise, population and housing, transportation, and <br />demand for public services and utility services. The Reduced Project with No Subterranean <br />Parking Alternative would still require mitigation measures during construction related to air <br />quality, cultural resources, geology and soils, noise, and tribal cultural resources, though the <br />residual impacts would be less than those of the Project. <br />Operation of the Reduced Project with No Subterranean Parking Alternative would still result in <br />less than significant impacts that are similar when compared to the Project for hazards and <br />hazardous materials, hydrology and water quality, and land use and planning. This alternative <br />would also result in reduced operational air quality emissions, eliminating the need for the Project - <br />Specific MM AQ-1. The Reduced Project with No Subterranean Parking Alternative would provide <br />6.8 acres of publicly accessible parks/recreation facilities and open space, resulting in a <br />recreation -to -resident ratio of 2.8 acres per 1,000 residents which is higher than the 1.2 ratio of <br />the GPU PEIR but lower than the GPU's parkland standard of 3 acres per 1,000 residents. Thus, <br />significant and unavoidable impacts to recreation would remain. Although the volume of impacts <br />would be reduced by the Reduced Project with No Subterranean Parking Alternative in <br />comparison to the Project, the Reduced Project with No Subterranean Parking Alternative would <br />not eliminate the significant and unavoidable recreation impacts or the less than significant <br />impacts of the Project. The Reduced Project with No Subterranean Parking Alternative would <br />provide fewer residential units, retail services, and no office uses, and thus would implement the <br />GPU South Bristol Street Focus Area objectives and many of the SCAG policies related to high - <br />City of Santa Ana The Village Santa Ana Specific Plan Project <br />August 2025 CEQA Findings of Fact and Statement of Overriding Considerations <br />9-7 <br />