PC 071206 - Laserfiche WebLink

Ms. Mundie replied that they worked closely with specialists with several of the technical azeas. She added that they used the services of a firm called Environmental Vision in Berkeley in the aesthetic area. The firm prepazed the visual simulations, and higher quality reproductions of these visual simulations aze available at a lazger size, which will be provided to the Commission. Ms. Mundie continued that in the biology azea, they worked with the firm WRA Incorporated in San Rafael. WRA's technique was, first of all, to use the information bases that aze available to let biologists know where on a site of any kind they would be likely to find resources if they existed, and this is a combination of databases that show where animals and plants have been observed before, a knowledge of the soils and the climate that are associated with the site, and area photographs of the site that give further insight into what is on the site. That is followed up by field surveys in which they actually walk the site and look for the resources that they anticipate might reasonably be found there. Ms. Mundie noted that the Diablo Sage Scrub, an area that is as faz away from development on the site as you can get, is a type of habitat in the Alameda Whipsnake can sometimes be found. Just as there is a close relationship between the Johnny Jump-Up and the butterfly, there is also a close relationship between this kind of habitat and the possibility of the Alameda Whipsnake being located there. So what the biologist knows is what to find in tandem with what, and therefore, what to look for. Chairperson Arkin inquired how many field surveys were done and when they were done. Ms. Mundie replied that the dates aze cited in the Draft EIR and that she could provide the Commission with table listing of all of the surveys and their dates. She indicated that surveys for special status plants or animals have to be done within the window of opportunity that has been determined by the regulatory agency, usually the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, because outside of those times, it is much more difficult to find the animal or plant if it is present. There aze protocols for how to do these surveys, and those protocols aze rigorously observed because the survey is a tremendous investment of time and money, and the survey results need to be accepted by the agencies. There are very cazeful rules, and they are very cazefully observed. In response to Chairperson Arkin's inquiry if there were one or 20 or 50 surveys done, Ms. Mundie replied that it is not the number of surveys that matters, but whether they have observed the protocols or not. For example, in some cases, the protocol requires that two surveys are done in successive years because one survey is not sufficient to rule out the possible presence of the animal or plant. Chairperson Arkin asked if the firm that actually did the survey was subcontracted to them or if the City picked the firm, and if they or the City paid them. Ms Mundie replied that they subcontracted to them and were paid by them. She added that in all cases but one, the firm has wildlife and plant specialists on its staff to cover all of the resources that aze on this property. In one case, the firm hired a specialist, an etymologist, a butterfly expert, who did the butterfly surveys. Commissioner Fox inquired how many hours it took to do a survey of a 562-acre site and if they went out and sampled or covered the whole 562-acre site. Ms. Mundie replied that different 13