Laserfiche WebLink
Grand Avenue Widening Project Environmental Impact Report Section 2.0 <br />SECTION 2.0 <br />IMPACTS FOUND NOT TO BE SIGNIFICANT BASED <br />ON THE INITIAL STUDY <br />2.1 OVERVIEW <br />The environmental process requires the Lead Agency for a proposed project, in this case the City of <br />Santa Ana, to prepare an Initial Study (IS) which addresses the potential environmental impacts <br />which could result from the implementation of a proposed project. An environmental checklist <br />which defines areas of concern must be completed as part of this process. The results of the IS <br />determine whether further environmental documentation is required for a proposed project. The <br />results of the IS for the proposed Grand Avenue widening indicated that a Focused Environmental <br />Impact Report (EIR) was required to assess certain potential impacts associated with this project. <br />The IS, which was circulated with the Notice of Preparation (NOP), and the supporting <br />documentation for the proposed Grand Avenue widening are provided in Appendix A of this EIR. <br />This Section summarizes those potential impacts of the proposed Grand Avenue widening that were <br />determined in the IS to be below a level of significance or which could be mitigated to below a level <br />of significance based on mitigation measures incorporated in the IS. <br />2.2 LAND USE IMPACTS FOUND NOT TO BE SIGNIFICANT <br />Alternatives 1 and 2 are consistent with the Circulation Element of the City of Santa Ana General <br />Plan because they propose improvement of the project segment of Grand Avenue to the Major <br />Arterial Standard as designated in the Circulation Element and the County Master Plan of Arterial <br />Highways. <br />Alternative 1 does not includes a bike lane and, therefore, would not be consistent with the City's <br />Bikeway Master Plan, Policy 3.3 of the City's Circulation Element and the County Master Plan of <br />Bikeways (now the Orange County Commuter Bikeways Strategic Plan). Mitigation measure LU -1 <br />in the Initial Study was proposed to mitigate this adverse impact. The potential adverse impacts of <br />the deletion of this segment of bike lane from these Master Plans are assessed in Section 3.2 (Land <br />Use and Planning). Mitigation measure LU -1, described originally in the IS, for Alternative 1 has <br />been refined and updated with mitigation measure LP -1 that is described in Section 3.2.5. <br />Alternative 2 includes a five-foot wide, on street, Class lI bike lane consistent with the City's <br />Bikeway Master Plan and the Orange County Commuter Bikeway Strategic Plan. No mitigation is <br />required. <br />Because the IS and this EIR provide a detailed analysis of the potential environmental impacts of <br />the widening alternatives and the No Project Alternative, the proposed alternatives comply with the <br />requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the CEQA Guidelines and the <br />City of Santa Ana environmental guidelines. No mitigation is required. <br />F: IPROJ-ENMGrand eirWew Text - Gran&Section 2.0-new.doc Page 2-1. <br />