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<br /> 78 <br /> Page 1 <br /> REPORT <br /> To the Honorable Mayor and City Council <br /> And the Redevelopment Agency Board <br /> From the City Manager and the Executive Director <br /> February 27,2006 <br /> Subject <br /> Downtown Precise Plan and Environmental Impact Report <br /> Recommendations <br /> 1) Authorize staff to approve the agreement with Wagstaff and Associates to begin <br /> preparation of the Downtown Precise Plan EJR but not to exceed cost of work in an <br /> amount of $60,000 until the contract comes back to Council for full authorization. <br /> 2) Approve Amendment No.3 to contract with Freedman Tung & Bottomley to complete <br /> work on the Downtown Precise Plan. <br /> 3) Direct staff to investigate a Cost Reimbursement Program that would allow new <br /> development in the downtown precise plan area to reimburse the City for their <br /> proportionate share of the cost of the Precise Plan and EIR. <br /> Background <br /> On October 3, 2005, after a series of study sessions the City Council together with the <br /> Planning Commission and Architectural Review Committee provided staff with general <br /> design concepts to include in the Downtown Precise Plan. It then directed staff to prepare <br /> the Downtown Precise plan and move forward with the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). <br /> Since that time staff has been working closely with the urban design consultant to review <br /> and comment on a draft of the document. <br /> As required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the City must first prepare <br /> a written evaluation of the Precise Plan's environmental impacts before the City can <br /> formally review and adopt the planning document. Staff has determined that a "Program" <br /> Environmental Impact Report (EIR) will be required due to the project's potential significant <br /> impacts 1. This document will analyze both the environmental impacts and necessary <br /> mitigation measures that will result from implementation of the Plan, including traffic, <br /> utilities, noise, and aesthetic issues. The EIR is important so that in the future, as <br /> 1 CEQA allows the preparation of a "Program EIR" (as opposed to a "project specific" EIR) where a series of <br /> actions are related geographically and are part of a larger project. In Downtown Redwood City, future <br /> development projects implementing the Precise Plans are "related geographically. by being part of the <br /> Downtown Precise Plan area and are part of the "larger project" of the overall redevelopment of the Downtown. <br /> 1:2006 STAFF REPORTS_02-2006_Precise Plan EIR 1 <br /> _.__.___..____n_ <br />