75A - PH - EIR 1584 E SANTA CLARA AVE

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Final EIR No. 2011 -01, VA No. 2012 -04 & VTTM No. 2012 -02 February 10, 2014 Page 6 traffic, and utilities and service systems. In accordance with CEQA, a draft EIR was first circulated for review and comment to public, local, regional and state agencies, and interested parties on July 27, 2011 for a 45 -day review period. On August 22, 2011 a public hearing was held on the document in order to obtain input from interested members of the public. By the close of the 45 -day review period, a total 28 written comment letters and eight verbal comments on the document were received. A significant issue identified in several of the responses pertained to the potential eligibility of the property for listing on the City's historical register. After analyzing the comment letters, staff directed the EIR consultant to revise the Cultural Resources section of the document to reflect the eligibility of the site as a historic resource. On December 1, 2011, the revised Cultural Resources section was circulated for review and comment to public, local, regional and state agencies, and interested parties for a 45 -day review period. At the end of this comment period, an additional 11 comment letters were received. On June 4, 2012, the City Council listed the site as a "Key" property on the City's Register of Historical Properties. In response, the draft EIR was revised to reflect this designation as well as to add a "Hybrid" alternative to the Alternatives section of the document. The draft EIR was recirculated for review and comment to public, local, regional and state agencies, and interested parties on November 1, 2012 for a 45 -day review period. On November 13, 2012 a public hearing was held on the document in order to obtain input from interested members of the public. At the close of the 45 -day review period, a total of 15 written and verbal comments on the document were received. 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 the certification of the EIR. The Responses to Comments document, the Mitigation Monitoring Program and the Draft EIR constitute the Final EIR, was originally distributed at the January 28, 2013 Planning Commission meeting. In addition, the Findings of Fact have been prepared for the project. The EIR identified one unavoidable adverse impact associated with this project, which pertains to cultural resources. The unavoidable cultural resource impact involves the demolition of the existing residential structure and adjacent outbuilding and the removal of the approximately 250 orange trees as this demolition would result in a significant adverse change due to the loss of a listed resource of the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties. As a result of the impact that cannot be mitigated to a less than significant level, adoption of a Statement of Overriding Considerations would be required should the Planning Commission choose to recommend approval of the original 24 -unit 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. However, the Historic Preservation Alternative, which was prepared in December 2013 in response to the Responses to Comments, would result in a project that is environmentally superior to the proposed 24 -unit development and would not require adoption of a Statement of Overriding Considerations since the loss of a historically designated resource would not occur (Exhibit 10). 75A -8