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Chapter 3 Findings Regarding Project Alternatives
<br />HE-2.3 Rental Housing. Encourage the construction of rental housing for Santa Ana's
<br />residents and workforce, including a commitment to very low, low, and moderate
<br />income residents and moderate income Santa Ana workers.
<br />HE-2.4 Diversity of Housing Types. Facilitate and encourage a diversity and range in types,
<br />prices, and sizes of housing, including single family homes, apartments, town
<br />homes, mixed/multiuse housing, transit-oriented developments, and live/work
<br />housing.
<br />Alternative 3 would not meet the project's transit oriented objectives to the same extent as the proposed
<br />project. Reducing the amount of housing and retail space would result in a failure to fully emphasize the
<br />use of the SARTC for City residents. A mixed-use urban and transit-oriented neighborhood requires a
<br />critical mass and balance between residential and non-residential uses. (Draft EIR, Section 5.5.)
<br />Alternative 3 would not provide that critical mass and balance.
<br />Reducing housing and retail opportunities would result in a failure to fully benefit from the investment in
<br />the expansion of the transit system and would not adequately target growth in housing, employment, and
<br />commercial development within walking distance of the existing and planned transit stations. In addition,
<br />Alternative 3 would not implement SCAG RTP and RCP policies or established General Plan Land Use
<br />Element policies 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.9, 2.4, 2.6, 2.8, 2.9, 2.10, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.5, 5.7, 5.9, 5. 10,
<br />and 5.11, or Urban Land Use Element Goals 1 through 7 to the extent that the proposed project would.
<br />(See Land Use Element; Urban Design Element; Draft EIR Table 4.7-3.) Specifically, Alternative 3
<br />would not meet the following SCAG RTP Land Use Goals to the same extent as the proposed project:
<br />¦ Create mixed-use districts or "complete communities" in strategic growth areas through a
<br />concentration of activities with housing, employment, and a mix of retail and services, located in
<br />close proximity to each other. Focusing a mix of land uses in strategic growth areas creates
<br />complete communities wherein most daily needs can be met within a short distance of home,
<br />providing residents with the opportunity to patronize their local area and run daily errands by
<br />walking or cycling rather traveling by automobile.
<br />¦ Intensify nodes along corridors with people-scaled, mixed-use developments. Many existing
<br />corridors lack the residential and commercial concentration to adequately support non-auto transit
<br />uses, without which the existing transit system cannot fully realize its potential for accommodating
<br />additional trips and relieving the transportation system. These nodes along the corridor also create
<br />vibrant, walkable communities with localized access to amenities, further reducing reliance on the
<br />automobile for a variety of trips.
<br />¦ Pedestrian-friendly environments and more compact development patterns in close proximity to
<br />transit serve to support and improve transit use and ridership. Focusing housing and employment
<br />growth in transit-accessible locations through this transit-oriented development approach will
<br />serve to reduce auto use and support more multimodal travel behavior.
<br />Additionally, the reduction in retail space under Alternative 3 would reduce potential new employment
<br />opportunities, and the economic benefits that accompany such opportunities, as compared to the
<br />proposed project. It would also reduce the amount of potential tax revenue that the City could use to
<br />reinvest and stimulate economic development.
<br />3-8 Revised Station District Project and FOL Settlement Agreement Findings of Fact/Statement of Overriding
<br />Considerations
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