Reso PC22-08 0085 PC Reso Recommending CEQA

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Findings and Statements Required by the California Environmental Quality Act Harbor View Project PAGE 48 OF 48 ESA / 170951 Final Environmental Impact Report October 2022 ATTY/RESO.0085/PC RESO RECOMMENDING CEQA – EXHIBIT A REV: 11-02-2022 VR programs. These community benefits provide contributions to a variety of uses and programs, from parks to public infrastructure in the East 101 area. D. Provision of New Office Development The new development would create a campus of modern office buildings within a series of landscaped spaces. The Revised Harbor View Project would introduce approximately 3,061 new employees into a new lively working environment on the site that is otherwise inactive. The landscaped campus would now only introduce a variety of active and passive usable outdoor space for employees, it would elevate the aesthetics of the property that is highly visible from the freeway and distant areas. An onsite amenities building containing fitness and recreation facilities and a café for employee use. Including these facilities onsite would potentially reduce peak hour traffic by encouraging employees to arrive early or stay late given the onsite amenities. The proposed office use and the internal orientation of the Revised Project site layout and building placement would buffer the site from potential adverse effects of the adjacent industrial uses. Development of the Revised Project would also create an appropriate transition between heavier industrial uses across Blomquist Street and along Seaport Boulevard, and the lower intensity open space, residential and waterfront development envisioned by the General Plan. Under existing General Plan and Zoning on the site, the property could also be developed with R&D/Laboratory and R&D Office uses under specific limits specified in the General Plan (such as the “50/50 No Project/Existing Zoning” Alternative). As summarized in Section VI.D of these Findings, the environmental effects of a R&D development scenario of similar size would be less than or similar to those identified for the Revised Project, primarily because of the lower employment density for R&D/Laboratory uses. However, development of the proposed office development would provide the City and the community a range of public benefits specified in the Development Agreement (DA) between the City and the Project sponsor and that would not be required or likely otherwise with an outright-permitted land use.12 Also, as discussed in the DEIR (Chapter 6), the development of a new office campus on the property could capture some office development in Redwood City that could otherwise locate elsewhere in the Bay Area. Moreover, the new office use could reduce growth pressures that may exist in the region for the scale of office development that is predominant in Redwood City and nearby jurisdictions. 12 The proposed office use requires an amendment to the General Plan Map to adopt and apply a “Commercial Office Professional /Technology (CP)” land use designation to the site and requires an amendment to the existing Zoning Map to apply the “Commercial Park (CP)” zoning district to the site.