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MIS: CLAIREILA BERGE TO DENY APPEALS OF MARTIN KAMPF AND MELANIE THOMPSON OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION DECISION TO CERTIFY THE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (NEGATIVE DECLARATION) Councilman Claire said the reason he made the motion was, "I do not feel that what either of the appellants brought forward to us concerning this particular Negative Declaration, they do not hold up under scrutiny. There may be some problems out there... but I have read the Environmental Impact Report, the Negative Declaration, and the major topics and issues that were brought up by the appellants simply, in my opinion, are not valid." Councilman Ruskin said, "what... I will be contending if it gets that far, is that the current plan has too much of a traffic impact upon Euclid, and I will be suggesting mitigation measures to reduce the ingress and egress of traffic onto Euclid Avenue ITom the homes. I will be suggesting a different configuration to do that. Does that oblige me now to accept the appeal or not?" City Attorney Schricker said, "The real question is, what is there in the Negative Declaration document itself which you find deficient?" Mayor Hartnett said, "You may see that the traffic impact is adequately described in the Negative Declaration, so it is not deficient perhaps in its description, but you simply would like the impact to be different than what it is. That may not render the Environmental Assessment invalid, but you may have a different view of how the project ought to be designed." Councilman Claire said, "I presume the appeal of the Certification of the Environmental Assessment is addressing, first of all, the issue of density, as in our report, an issue of whether or not we have enough utility capacity out there, whether or not there is fiscal impact on schools, whether or not there are enough traffic measures within the report, and school impacts, and the loss of school land, and the loss of neighborhood shopping. And that is what I am basing my motion on." City Attorney Schricker said, "For purposes of analysis of the Negative Declaration I would point out that under that portion relating to transportation circulation, the focal point of the Negative Declaration is that the property is presently zoned "CN." You have to have a starting point. The conclusion of the Negative Declaration is that the proposed residential development will actually generate less traffic than would the allowable use under the present "CN" zoning. Your determination is, is that a correct conclusion. . .. The only conclusions that I can direct your attention to are those in the Negative Declaration." Vice Mayor Howard said, "I think the key word is adequately. There is always room for improvement. .. Having read this, I felt that the Environmental Impact Report more than adequately addressed the issues that were brought up by the appellants." Vice Mayor Howard said 26-units would generate less traffic, and the amount of off-street parking REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO, 55 MAY 12, 1997 MINUTES Page No. 316 PAGE 10