2014-069 - Final Environmental Impact Report No. 2014-01

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HARBOR BLVD. MIXED USE TRANSIT CORRIDOR PLAN FINAL FIR CITY OF SANTA ANA 5. Environmental Analysis CULTURAL RESOURCES American Heritage Commission (NAHC). These sections also require notification of discoveries of Native American human remains to descendants and provide for treatment and disposition of human remains and associated grave goods. • California Public Resources Code 5097.98 states that in the event of discovery or recognition of any human remains in any location other than a dedicated cemetery, "there shall be no further excavation... until the coroner... has determined... that the remains are not subject to ... provisions of law concerning investigation of the circumstances, manner and cause of any death, and the recommendations concerning the treatment and disposition of the human remains have been made to the person responsible.... The coroner shall make his or her determination within two working days from the time the person responsible for the excavation, or his or her authorized representative, notifies the coroner of the discovery or recognition of the human remains. If the coroner determines that the remains are not subject to his or her authority and ... has reason to believe that they are those of a Native American, he or she shall contact, by telephone within 24 hours, NAHC." California Senate Bi1118 Senate Bill (SB) 18, the Traditional Tribal Cultural Places (TTCPs) law, requires local jurisdictions to provide opportunities for involvement of NAHC and any appropriate California Native Americans tribes in the land planning process for the purpose of preserving TTCPs. A city or county, when proposing to adopt, amend, revise, or update a general plan or specific plan, must send a written request to NAHC asking for a list of tribes to consult. NAHC is required to provide this list within 30 days of receiving the request. The city or county must send a Tribal Consultation Request letter to each tribal representative on the list; tribes then have 90 days in which to respond to the Consultation Request if they want to consult with the local government to determine whether the project would have an adverse impact on the TTCP. SB 18 provides a new definition of TTCP requiring a traditional association of the site with Native American traditional beliefs, cultural practices, or ceremonies or the site must be shown to actually have been used for activities related to traditional beliefs, cultural practices, or ceremonies. Previously, the site was defined to require only an association with traditional beliefs, practices, lifeways, and ceremonial activities. In addition, SB 18 also amended California Civil Code Section 815.3 and adds California Native American tribes to the list of entities that can acquire and hold conservation easements for the purpose of protecting their cultural places. Natural Setting The project area is underlain by young alluvial fm sediments consisting of unconsolidated to moderately consolidated silt, sand, pebbly cobbly sand, and bouldery alluvial fm deposits and are of Holocene and late Pleistocene age (USGS 2006). The Holocene Epoch extends from the present to approximately 11,500 years before present (ybp); the Pleistocene Epoch extends from about 11,500 ybp to approximately 1.8 million ybp. Elevations in the project area range from approximately 92 feet above mean sea level (amsl) along the northeastern portion of the area to approximately 62 feet amsl along the southwest portion of the area; the project area has a southwest slope of approximately 0.3 percent grade. Page 5.3 -2 PlaceWorkr