SR 05:224 - Laserfiche WebLink

Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council: BACKGROUND At its June 21, 2005 meeting, Council approved the Preferred Plan for the Bernal Property Phase II Specific Plan and the Bernal Community Park PUD Master Plan (Attachment 1). Since that time, staff and consultants have been updating these plans accordingly. The primary elements of the Preferred Plan include: Cultural Arts Center (CAC) to be located in the northeast corner of the Bernal Property; Community Park to partially wrap around the CAC site; Grand meadow to be located in the center of the Bernal Property; - Wetlands and agriculture to be located between 1-680 and Valley Avenue; and Mostly open space to be located west of 1-680. On July 19, 2005, the Council approved a consultant contract with Mundie & Associates to prepare the EIR for the Project. One of the first State-mandated steps in the preparation of an EIR is to identify a series of alternatives to be evaluated in conjunction with the "project" (Preferred Plan). The purpose of the following report is to present background information regarding State environmental documentation requirements and to propose a series of four alternatives to be evaluated in the EIR. CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT REQUIREMENTS The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires that EIR's address alternatives to the proposed project. As stated in the CEQA guidelines: "An EIR shall describe a range of reasonable alternatives to the proposed project, or to the location of the project that could feasibly attain most of the basic objectives of the project but would avoid or substantially lesson, any of the significant effects of the project, and evaluate the comparative merits of the alternatives." The identification of alternatives and the comparison of their environmental impacts help to ensure that the public agency has fully considered its choices and their implications. The purpose of the alternatives analysis is to "foster informed decision-making and public participation." While an EIR need not address every conceivable alternative, it must consider a reasonable range of potentially feasible alternatives that contribute to the ability of the decision makers to make a reasoned choice. Included within this range of alternatives (to the "Preferred Plan"), CEQA requires an evaluation of the "no project" alternative and consideration of the potential need to study off-site alternatives. In the case of the Bernal Phase II Specific Plan, a "reasonable range" SR 05:224 Page 2