Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza and Transit Improvement Project
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FINAL INITIAL STUDY/MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION S TATE C LEARINGHOUSE N UMBER: 2015052053 Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza and Transit Improvement Project P REPARED F OR: - 22) San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District -2688 P.O. Box 12688 (Mail Stop LKS Oakland, CA 94604 -7423 Contact: Janie Layton (510) 874 P REPARED BY: nd Floor ICF International 620 Folsom Street, 2 San Francisco, CA 94107 (415 677-7162 Contact: Aaron Carter ) 2015 July In July ICF International. 2015. Final itial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration, Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza and Transit Improvement Project. (ICF 00036.14.) San Francisco, CA. Prepared for San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District, Oakland, CA. Introduction ImprovementThe San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District is the Lead Agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza and Transit Project (Project). On May 20, 2015, BART published a Draft Initial -Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND), which analyzed the potential impacts of the Project. Pursuant to Section 15073 of the State CEQA Guidelines, the Draft IS/MND provided for a 30 day public and Clearinghouseagency review period from May 20, 2015, to June 18, 2015. The- Notice of Availability and Notice of Intent (NOA/NOI) to adopt the MND was posted with, the Alameda County Clerk and the State , mailed to all owners and occupants within 1/8 mile of the Project site, emailed to the Project’s list of interested people and organizations and made available on the BART website.. T A public meeting was conducted on June 1, 2015, at Commentsthe City of andBerkeley Responses Central Library, to receive public comments on the IS/MND. No oral comments were received at the public meeting he transcript of the meeting is included in Section 1, . This Final MND for the Project has been prepared in compliance with CEQA and includes the followingl Section information: 1 − A copy of each public comment letter received during the public review period and l anSection individual 2 – response to each substantive issue. underline A revisedstrikeout IS/MND including edits to provide clarification or additional detail made in response to comments.Cultur In thisal Resources revised IS/MND, new or revised text is showns with for additions and s th for deletions. The only edits IS/MND.are to the description of architectural resources in Section 5, . None of these changes introduce significant new Thi information or affect e conclusions presented in the s document constitutes the proposed Final MND for the Project. The BART Board of Directors will consider the proposed Final MND, including the responses to comments, and may adopt the proposed Final MND if it finds, on the basis of. the whole record before it, that there is no substantial evidence that the Project will have a significant effect on the environment and that the MND reflects BART’s independent judgement and analysis Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza and Transit July 2015 i Improvement Project Contents Page Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... i Section 1: Comments and Responses ................................................................................................................ CR-1 ............................................................................................................... CR-1 Comments .................................................................................................................................................. CR-1 Comments Received on the Draft IS/MND .......................................................................................................................... CR-2 Responses to .............................................................................................. CR-3 Comment Letter 1: Bettina Roth ................................................. CR-4 Responses to Comment Letter 1: Bettina Roth .................... CR-7 Comment Letter 2: The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association Comment ....................................................................................................................CR-11 Responses to Comment Letter 2: The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association ........................................................................................CR-13 Letter 3: John S. English .........................................................CR-14 Responses to Comment Letter 3: John S. English .............................CR-17 Comment Letter 4: Governor’s Office of Planning and Research ......................................................................................................CR-18 Responses to Comment Letter 4: Governor’s Office of Planning and Research Section Public2: Initial Hearing Study/Draft Transcript Mitigated (June 1, Negative2015) Declaration ................................................................... IS-i Introduction...................................................................................................................................................................................1 ...................................................................................................................4 Determination ..............................................................................................................................................................................4 Environmental Factors Potentially Affected ................................................................................................................................................5 .......................................................................................................................................................10 Proposed Project Description .......................................................................................................................................................................11 Environmental Checklist Agricu ..................................................................................................................15 1. Aesthetics ......................................................................................................................................................................17 2. ltural and Forestry Resources ..................................................................................................................................................25 3. Air Quality ......................................................................................................................................................28 4. Biological Resources ........................................................................................................................................................39 5. Cultural Resources .....................................................................................................................................42 6. Geology and Soils .......................................................................................................................46 7. Greenhouse Gas Emissions 9 ................................................................................................................................50 8. Hazards and Hazardous Materials nning...........................................................................................................................................55 . Hydrology and Water Quality ....................................................................................................................................................57 10. Land Use and Pla ..............................................................................................................................................................................58 11. Mineral Resources ........................................................................................................................................68 12. Noise ...........................................................................................................................................................69 13. Population and Housing ...................................................................................................................................................................70 14. Public Services ..........................................................................................................................................71 15. Recreation ...............................................................................................................................76 16. Transportation/Traffic 17. Utilities and Service Systems Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza and Transit July 2015 iii Improvement Project San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District .................................................................................................................79 .......................................................................................................................................................................83 18. Mandatory Findings of Significance References...................................................................................................................................................................................84 List of Preparers Appendix A Air Quality Modeling Assumptions and Calculations