Carmel Canine Sports Center Project Environmental Impact Report (PLN13052)
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Proposal to Prepare the Carmel Canine Sports Center Project Environmental Impact Report (PLN13052) Prepared by: Prepared for: AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Inc. Monterey County 104 West Anapamu Street, Suite 204A RMA – Planning Department Santa Barbara, California, 93101 168 West Alisal Street, 2nd Floor Phone (805) 962-0992 Fax (805) 966-1706 Salinas, California, 93901 amec.com June 13, 2014 2 | P a g e June 13, 2014 Mr. Steve Mason, Associate Planner RMA – Planning Department County of Monterey 168 West Alisal Street, 2nd Floor Salinas, CA 93901-2439 Subject: Proposal to Prepare an Environmental Impact Report for the Carmel Canine Sports Center Project – PLN130352 Dear Mr. Mason: AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Inc. (AMEC) is pleased to provide the attached revised proposal to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Carmel Canine Sports Center project. AMEC has assembled a strong team with directly relevant experience for this type of project. Highlights of our team’s capabilities and strengths include: . A Project Manager with substantial experience in environmental review and permitting of controversial projects in jurisdictions with high constituency involvement, including current management of a Project EIR in the Del Monte Forest Planning Area of Monterey County. A team with substantial experience preparing EIRs addressing controversial and complex development projects, including innovative approaches to water resource management, habitat and sensitive species compliance, and noise and traffic mitigation. A team with in-depth knowledge of federal, state, and local regulatory standards, processes, and requirements. AMEC’s team would conduct work from our Santa Barbara and San Francisco offices, while Central Coast Transportation Consulting, AMEC’s subconsultant for traffic analysis, would be based in Morro Bay. AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Inc Central Coast Transportation Consulting Rita Bright, Project Manager Joe Fernandez, PE, AICP, Principal 104 W. Anapamu Street, Suite 204A 895 Napa Avenue, Suite A-3 Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Morro Bay, CA 93442 P: (805) 962-0992 P: (805) 316-0101 [email protected] [email protected] This proposal demonstrates our understanding of the County’s needs and our commitment to meeting the County’s objectives. We look forward to the opportunity to work with you. Respectfully Submitted, Aaron Goldschmidt, Vice President Environmental Planning and Natural Resources Program AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Inc. 3 | P a g e 4 | P a g e Statement of Qualifications and Experience A. Firm Capabilities and Capacity AMEC operates more than 100 offices in North America, with more than 3,000 scientists, geologists, engineers, biologists, environmental planners, and other specialists. AMEC’s Environment & Infrastructure division specializes in the preparation of documents compliant with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), interagency coordination, planning and permitting, and preparation of technical analyses, environmental, permitting and technical services throughout California. AMEC maintains 14 California offices supporting more than 700 employees (Figure 1). AMEC’s Santa Barbara office includes senior CEQA Program and Project Managers with extensive prior experience as public agency planning managers. AMEC’s Bay Area offices include more than 200 professional staff. AMEC’s California offices offer substantial additional expertise in environmental, land use and transportation planning, and sensitive species surveys, and noise modeling, as well as extensive experience with all aspects of state and federal permitting. AMEC’s Environmental Planning Group has successfully supported government agencies and private clients throughout California, including representing our clients at public meetings, staff meetings, and decision-maker hearings. We have acted as liaison between agency staff and applicants to achieve project compliance with CEQA, NEPA, and resource agency standards, including work with joint review panels involving multiple agencies. AMEC has facilitated both public and private development projects through the local land use permit process and has staff with knowledgeable expertise in the full range of local planning and permitting processes. The team assembled by AMEC for this project will be led by management staff based in our Santa Barbara and San Francisco offices. AMEC’s proposed project team to prepare this CEQA-compliant Environmental Impact Report (EIR) comprises a balanced mix of experienced environmental professionals complemented by technical specialists familiar with the project area’s planning history and potential project issues. Our proposed Project Manager and Deputy Project Manager have ongoing experience performing environmental review and permitting of controversial projects in sensitive areas including management of a Supplemental EIR for the Huckleberry Hill Public Safety Radio Project in the Del Monte Forest Planning Area of Monterey County. Our team is highly familiar with Monterey County, state, and federal regulatory standards, processes, and requirements; Central Coast sensitive species and habitats; hydrology and water supply concerns; congestion and trip generation in rural suburban communities; land use compatibility and policy consistency analysis; and, in addressing community concerns in public meetings and EIRs for controversial projects. Because traffic is a key issue to be analyzed in this EIR, AMEC has retained the services of teaming partner Central Coast Transportation Consultants, which has substantial experience working in the County of Monterey. AMEC has worked closely with the firm’s Principal, Mr. Joe Fernandez, PE, on highly complex environmental and EIR analyses. 5 | P a g e B. Project Team AMEC’s Team for the Carmel Canine Sports Center Project is identified in the Organizational Chart (Figure 2) with resumes included in Appendix A. Our team members were selected based on their experience managing EIRs for controversial projects, familiarity with the County’s General Plan and ordinances, proven experience conducting analyses of resource areas to be covered in this EIR, and their availability to dedicate their efforts to this important project. Our project management team has also demonstrated their ability to deliver high-quality EIRs on complex projects in a timely and efficient manner and is supported by a strong technical team, including staff and a subconsultant expert in traffic and constraints analyses. AMEC’s management team and key resource specialists, including our subcontractor, Central Coast Transportation Consultants, are introduced below. 6 | P a g e B.A PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM EXPERIENCE Experience of the project management team is presented in detail below, with experience of technical personnel provided in Table 2. Aaron Goldschmidt – Principal in Charge Mr. Goldschmidt has more than 20 years of research and consulting experience. As a Principal in Charge and Vice President, Mr. Goldschmidt works with corporate leadership, national-level managers, and regional and local staff across the company to commit all resources necessary to provide consistency and quality to all efforts related to these programs and services. His planning and analysis experience for environmental studies encompasses all aspects and resource areas related to planning in the natural environment, including geological resources, soil science, agriculture, biological resources, public services and infrastructure, land use, environmental noise, energy, and transportation. In addition to providing technical analyses, he has served as program manager for numerous on-call contracts providing CEQA and joint CEQA/NEPA-complaint documentation, including EIRs, MNDs, ISs, EISs, EAs, related decision documents, and ancillary studies. Mr. Goldschmidt would oversee all EIR Team personnel while ensuring compliance with the Project’s budget and schedule to provide high quality deliverables to Monterey County. Ms. Rita Bright – Project Manager Ms. Bright is a senior AMEC project manager has over 25 years of experience in the planning and environmental field and has drafted or managed preparation of over 20 EIRs on a wide variety of projects in diverse jurisdictions. Ms. Bright is currently project manager for the Huckleberry Hill Public Safety Radio SEIR, a controversial project requiring focused analysis of policy consistency, visual resources, and neighborhood compatibility issue. Ms. Bright’s experience also includes extensive planning work including supervision of multiple general plan updates and implementation programs and overseeing public agency discretionary permit and environmental review involving hundreds of development projects. Ms. Bright’s 22 years of experience as a planner and division manager for Santa Barbara County’s Planning & Development Department provides her with a clear understanding of agency staff needs and expectations. As a former Deputy Director of the Development Review Division for Santa Barbara County, Ms. Bright’s environmental and planning expertise for Santa Barbara County provides her with insight into the variety of issues encountered in exclusive California communities, small towns, larger urban communities, and the unique issues encountered in semi-rural areas. Ms. Bright’s extensive experience provides her with a clear understanding of land use, agricultural resource, visual resource, and neighborhood compatibility issues, special