AgdaPkt 2007-02-26 - Laserfiche WebLink

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98 Page 1 February 26, 2007 Subject Appeal of Final Environmental Impact Report for the Downtown Precise Plan Recommendation Staff r~commends that the City Council uphold the Planning Commission's certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report, deny the appeal, and make findings to deny the appeal. Background On February 6,2007, the Planning Commission certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the Downtown Precise Plan 1. By certifying the FEIR, the Planning Commission made findings that the FEIR conformed to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); that the Planning Commission considered all the information in the FEIR; and that the document reflected the City's independent judgment and analysis. The EIR concluded that all the environmental impacts identified could be mitigated to less than significant levels except for transportation and circulation, and long-term air emissions. Following the Planning Commission action, the property owner of 601 Brewster Avenue appealed the certification of the FEIR. See attached letter dated February 12, 2007 (Attachment 1). The appellant's letter includes two exhibits. Exhibit A is the appellant's comment letter on the Draft EIR, dated December 18, 2006. This letter was included as Comment Letter #19 in the Final EI R. Exhibit B is the FEI R response to Comment Letter #19 (pages 3-34 through 3-37 of the FEIR). Issue of Appeal In general, the issue being appealed is whether the Final EIR is deficient in not having identified as a significant environmental effect the degree of shadowing anticipated to occur along Brewster Avenue, including the subject property, as a result of new height limits proposed by the Draft Downtown Precise Plan. If shadowing is identified as a significant effect, that effect would be subject to mitigation measures and evaluation of alternatives. Following is a discussion of the appellant's arguments and the City's response to those arguments. 1 The FEIR consists of the original Draft EIR, a record of all written and oral comments made at public hearings and received during the public comment period, a list of those commenting, responses to those comments, and text revisions to the Draft ErR.