4. Details
"
"
"
"
Site Area = 250 acres
Existing Transit= Caltrain, VTA Light Rail and bus, Amtrak, ACE
* Avg. weekday ridership for Caltrain= 5,800 passengers
Proposed Transit= BART, Bus Rapid Transit, High Speed Rail
Preferred Land Uses:
* Commercial/R&D/Light Industrial= 4,963,400 sq. ft.
* Retail/Restaurant= 424,100 sq. ft
* Residential= 2,588 units
* Hotel= 900 rooms
* Ballpark= 32,000 seats* (now what?)
5. Constraints/ Assumptions
Proposed new baseball park (what might go there
now that MLB made a decision?)
" CA High Speed Rail alignment
" Realignment of Autumn Parkway
" Completion of the Los Gatos Creek Master Plan (the
section between Santa Clara St and Park Ave)
" Protection of employment lands
" Building height restrictions due to airport
"
11. Our Goals
Homes, including affordable homes
" Complete Pedestrian/ Bicycle connectivity
" A focus on parks and creeks
" Parking and Transportation Demand Management
" Transit connectivity
" Placemaking: An economic generator
" Quality local jobs
"
12. GREENBELT ALLIANCE
Adam Garcia
Policy Researcher
Diridon Station Area Plan
Commenting on the Program
Environmental Impact Report
Jan. 30, 2014!
Draft EIR Commenting 201
13. CEQA’s Role in Development
◽ Passed by Governor Reagan in 1970 after the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
◽ Ensures environmental impacts are
considered during the decision-making
process for public or private projects
◽ No CEQA police, public/private
influence or Agency lawsuits
14. CEQA’s Role in Development
Purpose
◽ Disclose environmental impacts
◽ Identify ways to avoid damage
◽ Prevent significant unavoidable damage
with reasonable mitigations
◽ Provide reasons for a project’s approval despite
significant environmental impacts
◽ Encourage interagency cooperation
◽ Enhance public participation in the planning process
15. Hire a consultant to draft an EIR.
Notify the public there will be a
draft EIR released on a certain
date for a given amount of time.
Incorporate public comments
on project into a final EIR
including our agency response
to each question asked.
PUBLIC
REVIEW
PERIOD
Consider mitigations to significant
impacts produced from the project.
Make a final decision
on the project.
16. CEQA’s Project Review & Timeline
◽ Awareness of planning activity or projects in your area
◽ Write a form letter to the lead agency to receive future
notices on a project
◽ Review the environmental determination of a project
◽ Familiarize yourself with the key findings of the
document
◽ Strategize how you can use your resources to send your
informed analysis on the project
◽ Write a comment letter to the lead agency regarding
your concerns on the impacts of the project and potential
mitigations
17. EXAMPLE'DATES'
Reviewing and Commenting on an
Environmental Impact Report
Comment Letter Due Date
5/10/13
Comment Letter Timeline
30-day
45-day
60-day
3/16/13
3/1/13
2/14/13
Familiarize yourself with the proposed Project or Plan and develop your own goals in the context of the
project's goals
3/18/13
3/3/13
2/21/13
Consider additional secondary goals
3/21/13
3/6/13
2/27/13
Review and familiarize yourself with mitigation measures that are appropriate to addressing your goals
3/26/13
3/16/13
3/1/13
Conduct a thorough review the relevant Elements/Sections of the proposed Project
4/5/13
3/21/13
3/6/13
Determine what allies should be contacted to support particular sections, or specialties
4/10/13
3/26/13
3/11/13
Begin to review the Plan's EIR
4/15/13
4/5/13
4/15/13
Following your review, compile resources to begin drafting EIR comments based on your analysis
4/20/13
4/15/13
4/20/13
Make bullet points of the main findings from your review
4/25/13
4/25/13
4/25/13
Draft a letter with your main findings from the Plan's EIR analysis
4/28/13
4/28/13
4/28/13
Send draft letter to colleagues for review
5/2/13
5/2/13
5/2/13
Edit and update EIR comment letter
5/6/13
5/6/13
5/6/13
Submit EIR comment letter
5/10/13
5/10/13
5/10/13
Comment Letters Due
18. Measuring Environmental Impacts
◽ Aesthetics
◽ In what way are you an
every day expert?
◽ Air Quality
◽ Hydrology/Water Quality ◽ Whose expertise could
you rely upon for
◽ Land Use/Planning
support?
◽ Noise
◽ Population/Housing
◽ Public Services
◽ Recreation
◽ Transportation/Traffic
◽ Utilities/Service Systems
19. Measuring Environmental
Impacts & Mitigations
◽ Global Warming Impacts
◽ Cumulative Impacts
◽ Environmental Setting, or
◽ Mandatory Findings
Baseline Conditions
of Significance
◽ Compare Anticipated Impacts ◽ Mitigation Measures
to Baseline Conditions
◽ Alternatives Analysis
◽ Significant Effect on the
Environment
◽ Direct vs. Reasonable
Foreseeable Indirect Effects
◽ Significant Irreversible Changes
◽ Growth-Inducing Impact
20. How to Comment Effectively
◽ Awareness of current planning activity for the project
◽ Write a form letter to the lead agency to receive
future notices on the project
◽ Review the online resources describing the project
◽ Anticipate the key findings of the project’s
documentation and potential shortcoming in the
project's environmental review
◽ Strategize how you can use your resources to send
an informed analysis on the project
◽ Draft an outline of an comment letter to the lead
agency regarding your concerns on the impacts of
the project and recommended mitigations
21. How to Comment Effectively
◽ Decide on your concerns/goals and read relevant
sections first; think through your questions as you
read the project’s documents
◽ Emphasize your local expertise but base your
comments on data, not emotion
◽ Be specific, succinct and professional
◽ Use standard intro, body and conclusion format
◽ Cite sections of the project’s documents directly,
focus on facts and quote relevant professionals and
reports
◽ Make sure your take home message is clear
22. How to Comment Effectively
Does the Draft EIR provide a clear line
of reasoning in its conclusions related
to impacts, their level of significance
or non-significance, and the level of
mitigation that would be achieved by
proposed mitigations measures?
23. Diridon Station Area Plan
Issue Areas for this Workshop
◽ Transportation
◽ Parking
◽ Bicycle and Pedestrian Realms
◽ Riparian Corridors
◽ Affordable Housing
What are your biggest concerns?
