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 4. Environmental Setting areas in January to 72 °F in the inland areas of the coastal plain in August. In contrast to a very steady pattern of temperature, rainfall is seasonally and annually highly variable. Almost all annual rains fall between November and April. Summer rainfall is normally restricted to widely scattered thundershowers near the coast, with slightly heavier shower activity in the east and over the mountains. Annual average humidity is 70 percent along the coast and 57 percent in the eastern portions of the SoCAB. The SoCAB is designated nonattamment for Oa, PMz 5, PM10, and lead (Los Angeles County only) under the California and National AAQS and nonattamment NO2 under the California AAQS. An air quality analysis was performed for the proposed project, and the results are discussed in Section 5.2, Air Quality. Project related impacts from GHG emissions are discussed in Section 5.5, Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Geology, Landform, and Seismicity The project area is in the Los Angeles Basin, a coastal plain consisting of thick layers of sediment deposited by local rivers and with a slight south -to- southwest slope. The Los Angeles Basin, in turn, is in the northwestern end of the Peninsular Ranges geomorphic province, a region of northwest trending mountains and valleys in southwestern California and extending south into Mexico. The project area is underlain by young alluvial fan deposits. These materials are unconsolidated to moderately consolidated silt, sand, pebbly cobbly sand, and bouldery alluvial -fan deposits having slightly to moderately dissected surfaces, and are of Holocene and late Pleistocene age. Elevations in the project area range from approximately 90 feet above mean sea level (amsl) along the northeastern boundary to approximately 60 feet amsl along the southwestern boundary; the project area has a southwest slope of approximately 0.3 percent grade. The City is part of a large, seismically active region. Southern California is crossed by numerous active, potentially active, and inactive faults. The nearest mapped active fault to the project area is the Newport Inglewood Fault in Huntington Beach approximately 6.2 miles southwest; other active faults in the region include the Whittier Fault approximately 12.9 miles to the north; the Chino Fault approximately 19.5 miles to the northeast; and the Palos Verdes Fault Zone approximately 17 miles southwest offshore in the Pacific Ocean. An uncertain location of an unnamed fault, not classified as active, crosses Harbor Boulevard northwest southeast approximately 0.2 mile south of the southern project boundary. A second uncertain location of an unnamed fault, also not classified as active, extends north south approximately 0.9 mile west of the segment of Harbor Boulevard in the project area. Refer to Section 5.4, Geology and Soils, for additional information concerning geological and soil conditions and an analysis of project impacts on geology and soils. Page 44 PlaceWorks