55A - SAN LORENZO SEWER LIFT STATION

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EXHIBIT "A" Section IV. The Draft Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) clearly acknowledges that odor impacts associated with the proposed project are potentially significant, and imposes mitigation to reduce this impact to a level below significance (refer to discussion on Pages 3.1 -36 and -37 of the Draft FEIR, and Measure MM 3.1 -1 on Pages 3.1 -45 and -46 of the Draft FEIR).1 Section V.A The commenter's complaint that the Draft FEIR's discussion and analysis of the 19 alternative site locations comprise "straw men alternatives" is difficult to comprehend. All of the alternative sites discussed and evaluated in Draft FEIR Section 5.0 are those suggested by The Silverstein Law Firm in their February 7, 2011 comment letter and associated attachments. With respect to the comments on Alternative Site Nos. 2 and 3, in both instances the Draft FEIR assumes that the replacement lift station would be placed in a manner that minimizes impacts to parking and disruptions to existing businesses. As a result, these alternatives were assumed to occur in locations that would be in closer proximity to nearby sensitive receptors than the proposed San Lorenzo Lift Station facility. Had the alternative locations been proposed in locations with lesser impacts to air quality and odor at the expense of greater impacts to parking and disruptions to existing businesses, one wonders if the commenter would have taken similar issue with those locations. In any event, all odor impacts associated with these alternatives would be less than significant with incorporation of mitigation, similar to the mitigation required for the San Lorenzo Lift Station facility. With respect to footnote number 3 in the commenter's letter, the FIR does not utilize differing criteria. The distances disclosed in the EIR are measured from the lift station exhaust vent to usable outdoor space. In the case of the apartments near the proposed Project site and all single- family residences located near the various alternative site locations, this distance is measured from the nearest back yard or patio. For the high school located near Alternative Site No. 2, distance to the property line is appropriate since there are several tennis courts located immediately south of the Segerstrom Triangle, which would represent usable outdoor space. The "discussion of alternatives [in an EIR] need not be exhaustive," and the requirement to discuss alternatives is "subject to a construction of reasonableness." (Residents Ad Hoc Stadium Committee v. Board of Trustees (1979) 89 Cal.App.3d 274, 286.) In considering i It is also difficult to understand the commenter's critique of the 75 foot zone of potential odor identified in the EIR, particularly in light of the fact that the commenter's own expert, Hans Giroux, has assumed 75 feet as the "zone of clearly offensive odor" for worst -case odor conditions in analysis of other projects, e.g., the Air Quality Impact Analysis prepared by Giroux & Associates in 2001 for the Audie Murphy Ranch Development in Riverside County, which states that "During upset conditions with stagnant sewage in the system, the zone of clearly offensive odor would be around 75 feet from the source." The San Lorenzo EIR makes the exact same, reasonable assumption. (See EIR, p. 3.1 -37.) 55A -123