2.0 Response to Comments
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F I N A L E NVIRONMENTAL I M P A C T R EPORT T H E C OMMONS SCH N O . 2019110341 C I T Y O F C LAREMONT , C ALIFORNIA A U G U S T 2020 2.0 RESPONSE TO COMMENTS The City received twenty-two (22) letters or email comments on the Draft EIR. Of these comments, seven were received from State, regional, or local agencies; two were from community/business organizations; one was from a tribal government; and twelve received from private parties. All comments have been responded to within this document. Comments that address environmental concerns have been specifically addressed. Section 15088 of the State CEQA Guidelines, Evaluation of and Response to Comments, states: a) The lead agency shall evaluate comments on environmental issues received from persons who reviewed the draft EIR and shall prepare a written response. The lead agency shall respond to comments received during the noticed comment period and any extensions and may respond to late comments. b) The written response shall describe the disposition of significant environmental issues raised (e.g., revisions to the proposed project to mitigate anticipated impacts or objections). In particular, major environmental issues raised when the lead agency’s position is at variance with recommendations and objections raised in the comments must be addressed in detail, giving the reasons that specific comments and suggestions were not accepted. There must be good faith, reasoned analysis in response. Conclusory statements unsupported by factual information will not suffice. c) The response to comments may take the form of a revision to the draft EIR or may be a separate section in the final EIR. Where the response to comments makes important changes in the information contained in the text of the draft EIR, the lead agency should either: 1. Revise the text in the body of the EIR; or 2. Include marginal notes showing that the information is revised in the responses to comments. Information provided in this volume of the Final EIR clarifies, amplifies, or makes minor modifications to the Draft EIR. No significant changes have been made to the information contained in the Draft EIR as a result of the responses to comments, and no significant new information has been added that would require recirculation of the document. An errata section to the EIR (Section 3.0) has been prepared to indicate if or what minor corrections and clarifications to the Draft EIR were needed as a result of City review and comments received during the public review period. This Response to Comments document, along with the Errata and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Plan (MMRP) is included as part of the Final EIR for consideration by the City decision- makers prior to a vote to certify the Final EIR. 7 F INAL E NVIRONMENTAL I M P A C T R EPORT T H E C OMMONS SCH N O . 2019110341 C I T Y O F C LAREMONT , C ALIFORNIA A U G U S T 2020 2.1 LIST OF PERSONS, ORGANIZATIONS, AND PUBLIC AGENCIES COMMENTING ON THE DRAFT EIR All comments have been responded to within this document. Comments that address environmental concerns have been specifically addressed. Comments were received from the following parties: Table 2.A: Draft EIR Public Comments Received Letter Date Received Agency/Individual Transmitted by: Commenter Number 1 4/29/20 Maureen Aldridge Email Maureen Aldridge 2 4/30/20 Jeremy Fulton Email Jeremy Fulton 3 4/30/20 Natasha O’Brien Email Natasha O’Brien 4 4/29/20 Department of Water Email Nadell Gayou Resources 5 5/4/20 Marilynne Jensen Email Marilynne Jensen 6 5/13/20 Gabrieleño Band of Email Gabrieleño Administrator Mission Indians-Kizh Nation 7 5/13/20 Carol Curtis Burson Email Carol Curtis Burson 8 5/29/20 Los Angeles Fire D Letter Ronald M. Durbin 9 6/12/20 Jeralyn Klasik Email Jeralyn Klasik 10 6/10/20 Caltrans Division of Letter Philip Crimmins Aeronautics 11 6/15/20 Bob Gerecke Letter Bob Gerecke 12 6/15/20 Los Angeles County Letter Bruce Durbin Airport Land Use Commission 13 6/15/20 City of Upland Letter Mike Poland Development Service Department Planning Division 14 6/15/20 Christine Blair Letter Christine Blair 8 F I N A L E NVIRONMENTAL I M P A C T R EPORT T H E C OMMONS SCH N O . 2019110341 C I T Y O F C LAREMONT , C ALIFORNIA A U G U S T 2020 Table 2.A: Draft EIR Public Comments Received Letter Date Received Agency/Individual Transmitted by: Commenter Number 15 6/15/20 California Department of Letter Felicia Silva Fish and Wildlife 16 6/15/20 Los Angeles County Letter Adriana Raza Sanitation District 17 6/15/20 Jennifer Jaffe Email Jennifer Jaffe 18 6/15/20 Drew Ready Email Drew Ready 19 6/15/20 Helaine Goldwater Email Helaine Goldwarer 20 6/15/20 Claremont/Upland Area Email Geoff Hamill Realtors and Dozens of Community Members 21 6/15/20 Sustainable Claremont Email Richard C. Haskell 22 6/20/20 Lissa Petersen Email Lissa Petersen The comment letters are identified as Letters 1 through 22. Aside from the courtesy statements, introductions, and closings, individual comments within the body of each letter have been identified and numbered. A copy of each comment is included in this Final EIR. Brackets delineating the individual comments and a numeric identifier have been added to the right margin of the letter. Responses to each comment identified are included on the page(s) following each comment letter. Responses to comments were sent to the agencies that provided comments. Information provided in this volume of the Final EIR clarifies, amplifies, or makes minor modifications to the Draft EIR. No significant changes have been made to the information contained in the Draft EIR as a result of the responses to comments, and no significant new information has been added that would require recirculation of the document. An Errata section to the EIR (Section 3.0) has been prepared to identify minor corrections and clarifications to the Draft EIR necessary to address City review and comments received during the public review period. 9 F INAL E NVIRONMENTAL I M P A C T R EPORT T H E C OMMONS SCH N O . 2019110341 C I T Y O F C LAREMONT , C ALIFORNIA A U G U S T 2020 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 10 Letter 1 Chris Graham From: J Davis <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 1:48 PM To: Maureen Aldridge Subject: Re: The Commons-DEIR Comments Maureen, thank you for your comments on this project and I will make sure they are forwarded to the environmental consultant. Thank you, Jennifer Davis From: Maureen Aldridge <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 12:36 PM To: J Davis <[email protected]> Subject: The Commons My concern with this project is the increased traffic on both Foothill and Monte Vista. With 62 units and an average of 2 cars per unit that is approximately 124 cars. With the potential of Amazon Distribution Center opening up just East of the project and, 1-1 there vehicles using Foothill and Monte vista along with the vehicle from the Commons this will have a huge impact on the air quality. Also, this project is in the flight path of Cable Airport. Planes are supposed to turn at Monte Vista and head South before turning. But ,as we know they do not, instead the fly straight out over the houses, and colleges. With the spate of small 1-2 plane crashes recently this is a concern. Maureen Aldridge 1328 N Mills Ave, Claremont Sent from my iPhone 1 F INAL E NVIRONMENTAL I M P A C T R EPORT T H E C OMMONS SCH N O . 2019110341 C I T Y O F C LAREMONT , C ALIFORNIA A U G U S T 2020 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 12 F I N A L E NVIRONMENTAL I M P A C T R EPORT T H E C OMMONS SCH N O . 2019110341 C I T Y O F C LAREMONT , C ALIFORNIA A U G U S T 2020 Responses to Letter 1: Maureen Aldridge Response to Comment 1-1. The commenter is concerned the analysis of the proposed Project did not take into account the cumulative impacts on air quality of the proposed Project traffic impacts with those of the proposed Amazon Distribution Center located east of the proposed Project. The Draft EIR evaluates the proposed Project’s cumulative air quality impacts on Section 4.1 Air Quality is based on the Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Analysis, The Commons Project, City of Claremont and City of Upland, Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County, California LSA, January 2020 in Appendix B of the Draft EIR. As stated on page 4.1-19 of the Draft EIR, the evaluation of air quality impacts associated with the proposed Project includes the following: Determine the short-term construction air quality impacts based on SCAQMD emissions thresholds; Determine the long-term air quality impacts, including vehicular traffic, on both onsite and offsite air quality sensitive uses based on South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) emissions thresholds; and Determine the required mitigation measures to reduce short-term and long-term on-site air quality impacts from all sources. The latest version of CalEEMod (v2016.3.2) was developed for the California Air Pollution Officers Association (CAPCOA) in collaboration with air districts in California.