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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 96-35 RESOLUTION NO, 96-35 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH CERTIFYING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 94-1 FOR GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT NO. 94-2 WHEREAS, in January 1992, an application was submitted, requesting a General Plan Amendment for the comprehensive update of the General Plan for the City of Huntington Beach; and Environmental Impact Report (EIR)No, 94-2 has been prepared to address the environmental effects, mitigation measures, and project alternatives associated with the proposed Update of the General Plan for the City of Huntington Beach; and The Draft EIR was prepared in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the State CEQA Guidelines (hereafter Guidelines), and City environmental procedures; and Written and oral comments on the EIR were received from the public and responsible public agencies during and after the review period being July 23, 1995 through September 5, 1995; and The City of Huntington Beach Planning Commission conducted a public hearing on August 22, 1995 to receive public testimony with respect to the Draft EIR; and Such comments and testimony were responded to through a Response to Comments document and said document was made available in a manner prescribed by CEQA and the Guidelines; and Public Resources Code 21092.5(a) requires that the City of Huntington Beach provide a written proposed response to any public agency that commented on the EIR, and the Response to Comments included in the Final EIR satisfies this requirement; and On December 12, 1995, the Planning Commission recommended that the City Council certify Final EIR No. 94-1, and The City Council has reviewed all environmental documentation comprising the EIR, including all elements of the Final EIR, and has found that the EIR considers all environmental effects of the proposed Update of the General Plan, is complete and adequate, and fully complies with all requirements of CEQA and the Guidelines; and 1 4:G:4-96Rcso1:GFA94-215/6l96 RLS 96-218 Section 15092 of CEQA Guidelines provides that the City shall not decide to approve or carry out a project for which an EIR was prepared unless it has: (A) Eliminated or substantially lessened all significant effects on the environment where feasible as shown in the findings under Section 15091 of the CEQA guidelines; and (B) Determined that any remaining significant effects on the environment found to be unavoidable under Section 15091 are acceptable due to overriding concerns as described in Section 15093 of the CEQA Guidelines and as set forth in the attached Statement of Overriding Considerations (Exhibit A); and Section 15093(a) of the Guidelines to the California Environmental Qualtity Act requires the City to balance the benefits of a proposed project against its unavoidable environmental risks in determining whether to approve the project, and the City Council has carefully said benefits and risks, NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach does hereby resolve as follows: 1. That the City Council hereby certifies the Final EIR as complete and adequate in that it addresses all environmental effects of General Plan Amendment No. 94-2, the comprehensive update of the General Plan, and fully complies with the requirements of CEQA and the Guidelines. The Final EIR is composed of the following elements: a. Draft EIR and Technical Appendices; and b. Planning Commission and City Council staff reports; and C. Planning Commission and City Council Minutes; and d. Comments received on Draft EIR and responses to those comments. All of the above information has been and will be on file with the City of Huntington Beach Planning Department, 2000 Main Street, Huntington Beach, California, 92648 and with the City Clerk_ 2. That the City Council finds that the Final EIR has identified all significant environmental effects of the project and that there are no known potential environmental impacts not addressed in the Final EIR. 3. That the City Council finds that the Final EIR has described all reasonable alternatives to the project that could feasibly obtain the basic objectives of the project (including the"no-project" alternative), even when these alternatives might impede the attainment of project objectives and might be more costly. Further, the City Council finds that a good faith effort was 2 4:G:4-96Reso1:GPA94-215/6/96 RLS 96-218 made to incorporate alternatives in the preparation of the Draft EIR and all reasonable alternatives were considered in the review process of the Final EIR and ultimate decisions on the project. 4. That the City Council further finds that the benefits gained by the City and its current and future residents by virtue of implementing the goals and policies of the proposed General Plan, override the unmitigable effects detailed in Environmental Impact Report 94-1, and the Statement of Overriding Considerations attached hereto as Exhibit "A," and incorporated by this reference as though fully set forth herein. S. That the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach does hereby Certify Environmental Impact Report No. 94-1. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach at an adjourned regular meeting thereof held on the 13thday of May , 1996. r Mayor ATTEST: APPROVED AS TO FORM: 49 City Clerk �y m �_.e 5 /f6 REVIEWED AND APPROVED: INITIATED AND APPROVED: ity Administrate Director of Community Development Attachment: Exhibit "A" Statement of Overriding Considerations 3 4:G:4-96Reso1:GPA94-215/6/96 RLS 96-218 Exhibit A Environmental Impact Report No. 94-1 FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT EIR NO. 94-1 DATED 5/13/95 ( NOT ATTACHED COPIES AVAILABLE IN THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT AND THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK (gAgenp1nlgpatch2) E)UMIT "A" ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT NO. 94-1 SUMMARY OF/AND STATEMENT OF OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS In order to make a decision whether to approve a project that will have an adverse environmental impact, the benefits of the proposed project must be balanced against its unavoidable, significant adverse impacts. If the benefits of a proposed project outweigh the unavoidable adverse environmental effects, the adverse effects may be considered acceptable (State CEQA Guidelines, Section 15093 (a)). Benefits from a project are defined as those improvements or gains to the community that would not occur without the proposed project. The benefits from adopting the General Plan are preliminary based on the higher quality community environment that will exist as the City develops under the new Plan. This EIR has identified that the General Plan would result in significant unavoidable adverse impacts for three environmental issue areas, regardless of implementation of the proposed policies and/or mitigation measures. These environmental issue areas are: Transportation/Circulation, Air Quality, and Noise' Therefore, the City of BB must make a Statement of Overriding Considerations in order to adopt the General Plan. Transportation/Circulation Policy LU 2.1.2 requires that the type, amount, and location of development be correlated with the provision of adequate supporting infrastructure and public services. This policy should ensure that implementation of the Circulation Plan, the TDM/TSM strategies and the proposed mitigation measures described in the EIR would occur and thus the potential impacts of the General Plan buildout can be avoided in most cases. However, there are no feasible roadway improvements that can reduce significant impacts along Pacific Coast Highway from north of Beach Boulevard to south of Brookhurst Street. Furthermore, because Pacific Coast Highway is a regional transportation route as well as attractive to tourist travel, the proposed TDM/TSM strategies and transit policies may not be effective enough in this location so as to completely mitigate the significant impact along the identified roadway segment. Furthermore, the indirect land use impacts associated with re-classification of certain roadway segments would be unavoidable. Therefore, the traffic impacts of the General Plan are considered to be significant and unavoidable (Class I), requiring a Statement of Overriding Considerations to adopt the General Plan_ 1 4j1s1G:4-96Reso1:EIR94-11516/96 RLS 96-219 Air Quality The level of development permitted under the General Plan would inevitably result in an increase in emissions concentrations which already exceed State and Federal standards. Although implementation of the General Plan's air quality element would serve to minimize this increase, the presence of CO (carbon monoxide) hotspots at busy traffic intersections may never be fully mitigated. Consequently, air quality impacts are considered to be significant and unavoidable (Class I), requiring a Statement of Overriding Considerations to adopt the General Plan. Noise With implementation of the General Plan, an inevitable increase in ambient noise levels would occur. The General Plan includes policies and programs which, if implemented, would minimize the increase to the greatest extent possible. However, the effectiveness of certain policies may be limited, particularly those relating to retrofitting of existing uses to protect against future noise increases. Because existing uses may not be fully protected from future ambient noise levels, the noise impacts of the General Plan are considered to be potentially significant and unavoidable (CIass I), requiring a Statement of Overriding Considerations to adopt the General Plan. As previously noted, in order to make a decision whether to approve a project that will have an adverse environmental impact, the benefits of the proposed project must be balanced against its unavoidable, significant adverse impacts. If the benefits of a proposed project outweigh the unavoidable adverse environmental effects, the adverse effects may be considered acceptable (State CEQA Guidelines, Section 15093 (a)). The sections below briefly describe the most important benefits identified as a result of adopting the General Plan as proposed. 1. The proposed project will benefit the City and its residents and will outweigh the significant adverse environmental effects which remain after the project's mitigation measures are implemented. 2. The General Plan requires the preparation of a comprehensive historic resources survey and a preservation ordinance that will help to preserve historic and archaeological resources. Retention and protection of the City's early built environment will create a recognizable identity and a source of community pride. 3. The General Plan requires the preparation of a public art ordinance and a cultural master plan that will encourage public and private sector involvement and promote cultural projects and activities throughout the city. 2 4j1sI6:4-96Rcso1_EIR94-115/6/96 RLS 96-218 4. The General Plan provides for the development of a variety of housing types to meet the needs of all segments of society by establishing programs for the provision of affordable housing, the preservation and improvement of existing housing, and a provision for the development of housing for people with special needs. S. The General Plan provides for the linkage of new development with available and expanded infrastructure and services including streets, transit, sewers, water, storm drainage, energy, and communication. The timing of development will be phased with the provision of necessary infrastructure/service improvements. b. The Circulation Element of the General Plan provides policies and programs designed to provide a transportation network with adequate capacity to accommodate proposed buildout, including mechanisms to monitor and maintain acceptable traffic conditions. 7. The General Plan will ease the potential effects of traffic, equipment, construction and other noise sources through policies that require the installation of mitigation measures of many different means to ensure that noise levels are maintained within City noise standards. S. The General Plan requires the preparation of a Geological Hazards Ordinance which will ensure that critical or sensitive facilities or high occupancy facilities will not be allowed to locate within a certain predetermined distance from an active or potentially active fault. 9. The General Plan contributes to the health and safety of the residents of the City by providing city-wide programs for disaster preparedness and recovery planning in the event of a major earthquake, fire, flood or other disaster. M The General Plan provides for the completion of surveys that will identify and map the existing environmental resources within the city which will aide in the review and approval of future development projects and the preservation of significant resources pursuant to the standards set forth in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). 11. The General Plan provides programs emphasizing proper management of hazardous materials, siting of facilities, and effectiveness of emergency response in order to protect the residents of Huntington Beach and the environment from damages resulting from improper handling or storage of hazardous materials. 12. The General Plan will improve the quality of life for the residents of Huntington Beach through implementation of the policies pertaining to upgrading police and fire services, civic institutions and cultural facilities, library services, education and their interrelationship with the other elements of the Plan. This City will become a safer and more desirable place for families and individuals to reside and will provide families and individuals increased opportunities to further their participation in civic, cultural and educational events. 3 4j\s1Cj:4-96ResoL EIR94-115/6196 RLS 96-21 S 13. The General Plan requires the implementation of comprehensive streetscape improvement plans that will specify all potential improvements for projects within the public rights-of- way, including design concepts and design criteria for median and parkway landscape, sidewalk elements including street furniture, and public signage, including gateway entry identification signage which will help to establish and strengthen community identity. 14. The General Plan requires the approval of an Economic Development Strategy, Edinger Corridor Study and an Economic Opportunities and Constraints Study to set forth goals and policies for improving the fiscal stability of the City and to provide for economic opportunities for the City's residents, business retention and expansion, and marketing of the positive aspects of Huntington Beach. The City of Huntington Beach finds that the unavoidable risks of this project are acceptable when balanced against the benefits of this project for the reasons set forth above. 4 4j\s1G:4-96ResoLEiR94-11.5/6/96 RLS 96-2I 8 Res. No. 96-35 STATE OF CALIFORNIA } COUNTY OF ORANGE ) ss: CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH ) I, CONNIE BROCKWAY, the duly elected,qualified City Clerk of the City of Huntington Beach, and ex-officio Clerk of the City Council of said City, do hereby certify that the whole number of members of the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach is seven;that the foregoing resolution was passed and adopted by the affirmative vote of at least a majority of all the members of said City Council at a regular adJourned meeting thereof held on the 13th day of May , 19_96 , by the following vote: AYES: Councilmembers: Harman, Leipzig, Bauer, S34livan, Dettloff, Green, Garofalo_ NOES: Councilmembers: None ABSENT: Councilmembers: None City Clerk and ex-officio Clerk of the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach, California