Item 22 - Public Hearing Ordinance Second Reading - General Plan Amendment, Zoo Overflow Parking Rezone

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SANTA ANA REZONE PROJECT INITIAL STUDY/MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION survey were for the most part relatively flat and clear with approximately 5 percent of native soil visibility. The project site is heavily disturbed by modern materials and is utilized as a parking lot. The eastern boundary of the project site was unable to be thoroughly surveyed as it contained a utility building that was fenced off and locked which can be seen in Photographs 1 and 4 (Appendix C), respectively. Furthermore, a fence divides a portion of the southern boundary from the rest of the proposed project which can be seen in Photographs 3 and 10 (Appendix C). As the project site is heavily covered by manufactured materials such as trailers in the northwest and by construction equipment to the east and south and is made up of mainly compacted dirt and gravel. Conducting traditional 15-meter transects to survey was forgone in favor of photography and utilizing corner overview shots to display the conditions of the project site. During the survey, Mr. Ochoa examined all areas of the exposed ground surface for pre -contact artifacts (e.g., fire -affected rock, milling tools, flaked stone tools, toolmaking debris, ceramics), soil discoloration and depressions that might indicate the presence of a cultural midden, faunal and human osteological remains, and features indicative of the former presence of structures or buildings (e.g., postholes, standing exterior walls, foundations) or historic debris (e.g., glass, metal, ceramics). All areas of the project site were closely examined for culturally modified soils or other indicators of potential historic or pre -contact resources. No historic or pre -contact cultural resources or raw materials were observed. In addition to the pedestrian survey, the potential for unidentified cultural resources in the vicinity was reviewed against geologic and topographic geographic information system data for the general area and information from other nearby projects. The proposed project was evaluated against a set of criteria identified by a geoarchaeological overview of the Central Valley that was prepared for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Districts 6 and 9.27 This study mapped the "archaeological sensitivity," or potential to support the presence of buried pre -contact archaeological deposits, throughout the San Francisco Bay Area based on geology and environmental parameters including distance to water and landform slope. The methodology used in the study is applicable to other parts of California and concluded that sites consisting of flat, Holocene -era deposits in close proximity to water resources had a moderate to high probability of containing subsurface archaeological deposits when compared to earlier Pleistocene deposits situated on slopes or further away from drainages, lakes, and rivers. According to the geologic map of the Northern Santa Ana Mountains, California,28 the project site is situated on younger alluvium deposits (Qya). Applying the criteria set forth above, the terrain of the project site is flat and completely hardscaped, and there is no water source in proximity to the proposed project. Based on the negative SLF search results, pedestrian survey, and the absence of pre -contact resources within the project site or the 0.5-mile search radius, the potential for unanticipated buried cultural resources to be impacted by project construction is low. 27 Meyer, J., D. Craig Young, and Jeffrey S. Rosenthal. 2010. Volume I: A Geoarchaeological Overview and Assessment of Caltrans District 6 and 9, Cultural Resources Inventory of Caltrans District 6/9 Rural Conventional Highways. Submitted to Central California Department of Transportation, District 6. 8 United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey. 1929. Geologic Map of the Northern Santa Ana Mountains, California. FCS 43 Https://adecinnovations.sharepoint.com/sites/PubiicationsSite/Shared Documents/Publications/Client(PN-JN)/D327/03270D47/ISMND/0327D047 Santa Ana Rezone Project ISMND.docx