Reso23-02 0009 PC Reso Adopt CEQA

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Findings and Statements Required by the California Environmental Quality Act Focused General Plan Update 59 Final Environmental Impact Report January 2023 – support the safety and adaptive and resilient communities objectives; and – support the conformance with regulatory requirements objective. The Consolidated Housing Sites – Downtown Alternative would meet the following City objectives for the proposed Project but not meet it as fully as the Project, in that it would: – not meet housing needs through a variety of housing choices because it provides for fewer housing choices. Further, it responds to the broad range of housing needs in City by supporting a mix of housing types, densities, affordability levels, and designs but not as well as the Project because it provides fewer housing opportunities. The Consolidated Housing Sites – Downtown Alternative would not meet the following City objective for the proposed Project: – support residential development potential of 1,534 units, which is significantly less than required by the City’s 6th Cycle RHNA (4,588 units) and provides no buffer to ensure there is no net loss of lower-income units. Therefore, this alternative fails to meet the New Housing Project Objective. Environmentally Superior Alternative The CEQA Guidelines (section 15126[e][2]) stipulate, "If the environmentally superior alternative is the 'no project' alternative, the EIR shall also identify an environmentally superior alternative among the other alternatives." Alternative 1 (No Project) and Alternative 3 (Consolidated Housing Sites – Downtown) would result in reduced or similar less-than-significant impacts as the Project; however, they would not meet State laws regarding both the Public Safety and Housing elements. Alternative 2 (RHNA +15% Residential Buffer) is the only alternative that will comply with State law and the City’s objectives. Alternative 2 also reduces some of environmental impacts. As such the “environmentally superior alternative” is Alternative 2 (RHNA +15% Residential Buffer). VII. Statement of Overriding Considerations Approval of the Project by the City Council will result in certain significant and unavoidable impacts of the Project, as discussed above, notwithstanding all the feasible mitigation measures the City has adopted. The City Council has examined alternatives to the Project that could avoid (i.e., in the case of the No Project Alternative) or reduce the Project’s significant and unavoidable effects and determined that adoption and implementation of the Project is the most desirable, feasible, and appropriate action. Therefore, in accordance with Public Resources Code Section 21081(b) and CEQA Guidelines Section 15093, the City Council makes the following Statement of Overriding Considerations, which reflects its balancing of the Project’s benefits against its significant and unavoidable effects and states the specific reasons for its decision to approve the Project. Substantial evidence supports the various benefits and can be found in the preceding CEQA findings, which are incorporated by reference into this Statement, the FEIR, and the other documents which make up the record of proceedings. Each of the overriding considerations set forth below constitutes a separate and independent ground for finding that the benefits of the Project outweigh its significant adverse environmental effects and is an overriding