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CHAPTER 5 Responses to Comments at the Public Hearing on the Draft SEIR The Planning Commission held a public hearing on the Draft SEIR on October 26, 2011. The following is a summary of comments received at the public hearing, followed by responses that address those topics. Some of the topics raised have been previously responded to in Chapter 4 (Written Comments on the Draft SEIR and Responses to Comment). A. Environmental Topics Raised and Responses to Comments from October 26, 2011 Hearing The following comments were made at the Planning Commission public hearing on the Draft SEIR on October 26, 2011: Planning Commissioner Jennifer Pearce Comment: Is the draft historic preservation mitigation adequate?And,would it allow the removal of historical structures without subsequent review? Response: As described in Mitigation Measure 4.D-la on page 4.D-15 of the Draft EIR, a project applicant would first be required to determine if structures are indeed historic by conducting a historic resource evaluation. If a structure is determined to be historic, Mitigation Measure 4.D-lb would be required. The Historic American Buildings Survey(HABS) mitigation requirement(Mitigation Measure 4.D-lb) would provide a permanent record of a historic building in the form of written descriptions and histories, large format black and white photographs, and detailed architectural drawings. NABS documentation is often used to mitigate the demolition or substantial alteration of historic structures. This mitigation would be required to follow the Secretary of the Interior's Professional Standards for creating HABS records. Although the recording of a historic structure would eliminate one adverse impact of demolition (the loss of historical information),it would not prevent the physical loss of a historic resource. The HABS/HAER documentation is standard mitigation for the loss of historic architectural resources. It does lessen an impact,which is required by CEQA when feasible,but is not considered to eliminate the impact;thus,the impact remains significant and unavoidable. The findings of the historic evaluation and the development application for a potential site for rezoning under the proposed Housing Element would be reviewed by the City's decision- General Plan Amendment and Rezonings 5-1 ESA/210016 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Report December2011