Environmental Setting, Impacts, and Mitigation Measures CHAPTER 3 - ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING, IMPACTS, AND MITIGATION MEASURES 3-1 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this chapter is to provide the reader with the information necessary to understand and evaluate the potential environmental impacts due to implementation of the proposed Los Angeles Valley College Facilities Master Plan (Master Plan). In accordance with the State CEQA Guidelines (§15128 and §15143), this EIR focuses on the impacts identified in the NOP and during project scoping as needing further analysis (visual resources; air quality, historical resources; archaeological resources; paleontological resources; geology/soils/seismicity; hazardous materials; hydrology and water quality; land use and planning; noise; population and housing; public services; transportation, traffic and parking; and public utilities). A list of the impacts determined to be less than significant and the reasons for that determination are provided in Chapter 5. To assist the reader, each environmental impact category in this EIR is discussed separately. These discussions include a description of the environmental setting, the criteria used to determine significance of potential effects, the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project, mitigation measures, and any unavoidable significant adverse effects that would remain after implementation of the proposed mitigation measures. The environmental setting discussions contain a description of the physical environmental conditions in the vicinity of the project as it existed at the time the Notice of Preparation was distributed (January 2003). The existing environmental conditions described in the setting sections serve as a baseline for the impact analyses in this EIR. The significance criteria identified for each environmental impact category are based on the definitions that have been developed and established by the Los Angeles Community College District, various public agencies, or professional organizations and are consistent with the State CEQA Guidelines. The environmental impact analyses focus on the potentially significant effects that could occur during project construction and/or operation. As required by CEQA, mitigation measures are identified to reduce or eliminate significant adverse impacts to the extent feasible. The analyses presented in this EIR are based on a projected enrollment of 23,000 students or 15,693 full-time-equivalent1 (FTE) students for the 2008-2009 academic year. Total enrollment at Valley College in the fall 2001 semester was 18,487 students. For the 2001-2002 academic year, there were 14,154 full-time-equivalent (FTE) students enrolled at the College. There were an estimated 19,309 students enrolled in the fall 2002 semester and the estimated number of FTE students for the 2002-2003 academic year is 13,393. As of the fall 2002 semester there were 324 FTE employed staff members at Valley College. 1 To determine the number of full-time-equivalent students, the District calculates the total number of instructional hours for all of the enrollments and divides by 525 hours which is roughly the number of instructional hours of one student taking five 3-unit classes for two primary terms. Instructional hours are based on enrollments on a census date and hours are counted differently for full-term and short-term classes. Some courses require reporting of actual hours of attendance only. Los Angeles Valley College Facilities Master Plan Final EIR page 3-1 Environmental Setting, Impacts, and Mitigation Measures 3-2 VISUAL RESOURCES This section describes the visual setting of the Valley College campus and provides an evaluation of the potential impacts of the proposed Master Plan to the College’s visual quality and character, and the effect of artificial light and shading/glare in the project area. A discussion of feasible measures to mitigate or reduce the significant effects on the visual environment is also provided. 3-2.1 Environmental Setting Valley College is located in the San Fernando Valley, within the community of Van Nuys, and is part of the City of Los Angeles Van Nuys-North Sherman Oaks Community Plan Area. The College is bounded on the east by Grant High School and Coldwater Canyon Extension/Tujunga Wash, on the south by Burbank Boulevard, on the west by Fulton Avenue, and on the north by Oxford Street. Agricultural activities predominated in Van Nuys from the time of the establishment of San Fernando Mission (1797) well into the 1930s. Dry cultivation of wheat and barley was introduced in Van Nuys and a large portion of the Valley in the early 1870s, supplanting most of the previous sheep grazing activities. This coincided with the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1876 and marked a significant expansion of agricultural activity in the community. Completion of the Owens Valley Aqueduct (1913) increased agricultural activity while at the same time setting the stage for the dramatic urbanization of the San Fernando Valley. During the decade of the 1940s alone 250,000 new people moved there. This rapid suburbanization, along with a major expansion of the industrial sector, provided the rationale for establishment of Valley College. The local business community and chamber of commerce organizations were instrumental to the establishment of the school, which opened in September 1949 on the campus of Grant High School. The school’s early curriculum reflects the priority placed upon job skills necessary in a rapidly growing suburban economic context, such as business administration, engineering, and teacher training. The Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks communities comprising the Community Plan Area contain varied land uses, including single-family and low-to-medium density residential as well as heavy commercial and industrial uses. The campus is bordered on the east by Grant High School and Tujunga Wash; on the north by two-story, medium-density apartment housing; on the west by single-family residential neighborhoods; and on the south by a combination of commercial uses, a fire station, community care facilities, and two-story medium-density apartment housing. The institutional and commercial uses on Burbank Boulevard are located between Fulton and Ethel Avenues. Multi-family medium-density apartment buildings are located between Ethel and Coldwater Canyon Avenues. Views of Valley College from the surrounding neighborhood are almost completely blocked by the landscaping within Tujunga Wash and along the east border of the campus. Hedges and extensive trees along the north and west perimeters of the College also serve to filter views of the campus. Los Angeles Valley College Facilities Master Plan Final EIR page 3-2 Environmental Setting, Impacts, and Mitigation Measures Preservation and enhancement of visual resources is articulated in a series of objectives and policies within the Van Nuys-North Sherman Oaks Community Plan. These are addressed in a detailed set of planning and urban design improvements to enhance the community’s identity (viz., parkway landscaping, signage/graphics, and street furniture enhancements), including improvements to the appearance of industrial and commercial development and the improved interface of such development with residential areas. Salient policies that are germane when considering the Valley College Master Plan include: • Provision of sufficient and well-designed parking conforming to the urban design guidelines. • Identification, documentation, and preservation of historic and cultural resources (Policy 1- 4.1). • Design and development of projects “to achieve a high level of quality, distinctive character and compatibility with existing uses and development” (Policy 2-1.2). This includes conformance with community urban design standards, shielding and directing onsite lighting onto roadways and pathways and away from residential areas, and utilizing walls and landscape buffers to screen parking areas (including landscaping a minimum of 7 percent of parking lots)(Chapter 5, Design Policies for Individual Projects). • Shared use of existing school facilities to facilitate after hour/non-peak time recreational uses. In the Public and Institutional Land Uses Subsection the need for modernization of facilities and improvement to service levels is acknowledged but is to be balanced by an adequate protection of the community’s amenities and environmental quality. Open Space Subsection, Policy 5-1.1 states the intent of the City to... “encourage the retention of passive and visual open space, which provides a balance to the urban development of the community.” The Circulation Element of the Van Nuys-North Sherman Oaks Community Plan identifies the streets that border Valley College as Secondary Highways. However, none of these is identified as a scenic highway and no other visual resources of concern on or near the Valley College campus are identified. Valley College is arrayed in an L shape and consists of a tight cluster of educational and administrative buildings, bordered by athletic fields on the east and surface parking lots on the south, southeast, west, and north. Approximately 50 acres of the total 105 acres on campus are currently occupied by academic buildings and ancillary green space (e.g., landscape planters, trees, lawn, walkways), while approximately 35 acres are devoted to athletic fields (baseball field, the football field, soccer fields, fenced tennis courts). The remaining acreage is devoted to parking. In order to facilitate a description of