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Chapter 5 Statement of Overriding Considerations ¦ Enhance the streetscape and urban form of the area, particularly along Santa Ana Boulevard, with the construction of new buildings that meet the standards contained in the Transit Zoning Code and that support future transit planning ¦ Eliminate blight ¦ Provide additional public open space and facilitate joint use arrangement with SAUSD for a new community center ¦ Provide an economically viable redevelopment scenario for the Agency-owned properties Having (i) adopted all feasible mitigation measures, (ii) rejected as infeasible alternatives to the Project discussed above, (iii) recognized all significant, unavoidable impacts, and (iv) balanced the benefits of the Project against the Project's significant and unavoidable impacts, the Agency hereby finds that its benefits outweigh and override its significant unavoidable impacts for the reasons stated below. Each benefit set forth below constitutes an overriding consideration warranting approval of the project, independent of the other benefits, despite each and every unavoidable impact. ¦ Developer Project Benefits a. The Transit Zoning Code component of the Project provides a framework for the development of compact, transit-oriented development, such as the Developer Project, that contains a mix of residential, commercial and professional uses in order to address the City's and the region's goals of providing sites for housing in already urbanized locations that are adjacent to transit, thereby reducing vehicle trips and related greenhouse gas emissions, as well as stimulating investment in underutilized land, and improving the jobs/housing balance within the City. According to a study published by the Southern California Association of Governments entitled "The New Economy and the Jobs/Housing Balance in Southern California," the Los Angeles and Orange Counties regions have a higher proportion of jobs to housing than do those areas in the Inland Empire. Due to a lack of readily available land for new housing construction in these jobs-rich areas, workers are required to drive farther and farther distances in order to find affordable housing. A situation that exacerbates this lack of available land for new housing is the over-zoning of land for commercial uses, which cities have historically done in order to increase sales tax revenues following the adoption of Proposition 13 in 1978. The Transit Zoning Code would re-zone property, either through standard zoning tools or through overlay zones, that was not historically zoned for residential use, thereby increasing the land available for residential development and providing more housing in an already urbanized, jobs-rich environment (The New Economy and the Jobs/Housing Balance in Southern California, Southern California Association of Governments, April 2001. Los Angeles, CA.) b. The Transit Zoning Code area is ideally located for increased growth by its proximity to major transit systems and its adjacency to existing residential communities and an established gridded street network. The Transit Zoning Code supports the existing transportation network, and creates amenity-enriched connections between the Government Center and Rail Station, and improves area-wide walkability. c. The Transit Zoning Code allows land uses and land densities that will provide transit-supportive development, such as the Developer Project, necessary to generate adequate ridership on the proposed Santa Ana Fixed Guideway transit system which will serve Santa Ana Regional Transit Center ("SARTC"). Transit Zoning Code (SD 84) EIR Findings of Fact/Statement of Overriding Considerations 5-9