Item 28 - Public Hearing - Amendment Application for the Village Santa Ana Specific Plan

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10 STATEMENT OF OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS reasons discussed in the Findings (as described in Chapter 7, Findings Regarding Project Alternatives). The City of Santa Ana, as the Lead Agency for this Project, and having reviewed the information contained in The Village Santa Ana Specific Plan Draft Supplemental EIR and the Final Supplemental EIR, including responses to comments, and reviewed all written materials within the City's public record and heard all oral testimony presented at public hearings, adopts this Statement of Overriding Considerations, which has balanced the benefits of the Project against the significant unavoidable adverse environmental impacts in reaching its decision to approve the Project. 10.2 SIGNIFICANT UNAVOIDABLE IMPACTS Although all potential project impacts have been substantially avoided or mitigated as described in the preceding findings, there is no complete mitigation for the Project impacts related to recreation. Details of the significant unavoidable adverse impacts related to recreation were discussed in the Supplemental EIR and are summarized or were otherwise provided in the CEQA Findings of Fact (as described above). 10.3 PROJECT BENEFITS The City, after balancing the specific economic, legal, social, technological, and other benefits of the Project, has determined that the unavoidable adverse environmental impacts identified above are considered acceptable due to the following specific considerations which outweigh the unavoidable, adverse environmental impact of the Project, each of which standing alone is sufficient to support approval of the Project, in accordance with Public Resources Code Section 21081(b) and State CEQA Guidelines Section 15093. The specific economic, legal, social, technological, or other benefits of the Project are as follows: • The Project implements the vision of the General Plan for the South Bristol Street Focus Area by: o Capitalizing on the success of the South Coast Metro area; o Introducing mixed -use urban villages and encouraging experiential commercial uses that are more walkable, bike friendly, and transit -oriented; o Providing for mixed -use opportunities while protecting adjacent, established low density neighborhoods. • The Project fosters a neighborly environment where residents can live, work, and recreate in a vibrant village community. • The Project anchors Santa Ana's South Bristol Street Focus Area as envisioned by the City to transform conventional auto -oriented shopping plazas into dynamic nodes of activity that blend healthy living, working, shopping, and dining in a contemporary village environment with 7.5 acres of publicly accessible open space and common areas which captures Orange County's indoor -outdoor lifestyle. • The Project allows for the flexible redevelopment of the underutilized project site to provide a balanced mix of residential, retail, recreation, and office uses in the South Bristol Street Focus Area that integrate into the existing urban systems and provide a safe and attractive environment for living and working, as encouraged by and consistent with the GPLI. City of Santa Ana The Village Santa Ana Specific Plan Project August 2025 CEQA Findings of Fact and Statement of Overriding Considerations 10-2