Reso13 PC 13-09 2859 Initial Study Mitigated Negative Declaration Kensington

Browse Search

based on ABAG Projections. The proposed project is consistent with the City's General Plan which was prepared consistent with ABAG projections. Therefore,it is consistent with the 2010 CAP. 4.3.3.2 Operational Impacts to Regional and Local Air Quality Operational Emissions BAAQMD has developed screening criteria to provide a conservative indication of whether a project could result in potentially significant air quality impacts. If the screening criteria are not met by the project,then a detailed air quality assessment of air pollutant emissions is not required and the project is assumed to have a less than significant impact. Based on the Operational-Related Criteria Air Pollutant and Precursor Screening Level Sizes table in the BAAQMD CEQA Guidelines,the proposed proj ect is well below the operational criteria pollutant screening size of 657 assisted care dwelling units for reactive organic gases (ROG)4 emissions. Therefore,the proposed project would not significantly increase regional pollutant levels and would have a less than significant operational air quality impact. (Less Than Significant Impact) Carbon Monoxide Emissions Carbon monoxide emissions from traffic generated by the project would be the pollutant of greatest concern at the local level. Congested intersections with a large volume of traffic have the greatest potential to cause high,localized concentrations of CO. BAAQMD screening thresholds indicate that a project would have a less than significant impact to CO levels if project traffic would not increase traffic levels at any affected intersection to more than 44,000 vehicles per hour. Current traffic volumes on El Camino Real are approximately 30,000 vehicles per day. The project would result in a net increase of 55 daily traffic trips and would not cause any intersections to exceed 44,000 vehicles per hour. Therefore,the project would not result in CO impacts. (Less Than Significant Impact) Community Risk Impacts In the vicinity of the project site, El Camino Real currently has 30,000 average daily vehicle trips (ADT).5 Based on traffic projections for the General Plan,traffic on El Camino Real will increase approximately one percent per year. For State highways, BAAQMD has developed a Google Earth Highway Screening Analysis Tool that provides screening level estimates of PM2.5, excess cancer risk, and non-cancer risk from roadway traffic. The estimated risk and hazard impacts were modeled by BAAQMD at two different heights, six feet and 20 feet,to represent lst and 2nd floors of buildings. The BAAQMD cancer risk screening tool uses an age-sensitivity factor that assumes the presence of an infant on-site from the third trimester of pregnancy to age 70. Because the project is an assisted senior living facility,the BAAQMD risk predictions were adjusted to eliminate the age sensitivity factor. The closest residential setback from El Camino Real on the project site would be approximately 25 4 Reactive organic gases are ozone precursors which,when under the photochemical influence of sunlight,undergo a chemical reaction that results in photochemical ozone or smog. s California Depariment of Transportation. 2010 Annual Avera�e Daily Truck Traffic on the California State Hi_ wa,�, s�. httt�://www.dot.ca. o� v/hq/traffol�s/saferesr/trafdata/index.htm Accessed September 14,2012. Kensington Assisted Living Facility Project 21 Initial Study Redwood City Apri12013