Santa Ana Unified School District Facilities & Governmental Relations Thelma Meléndez De Santa Ana, Ph.D
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Santa Ana Unified School District Facilities & Governmental Relations Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana, Ph.D. Joe Dixon, Assistant Superintendent Superintendent Notice of Preparation for a Draft Environmental Impact Report TO: Agencies, Organizations, Property Owners, and Interested Parties PROJECT TITLE: Saddleback High School Stadium Project PROJECT LOCATION: 2802 S. Flower Street, Santa Ana, CA 92707 SUBJECT: Notice of Preparation (NOP) for a Draft Environmental Impact Report (Draft EIR) for Saddleback High School Stadium Project in compliance with California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 15082(a), 15103, and 15375. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Santa Ana Unified School District (District), as lead agency under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), has determined that an EIR will be prepared for the project identified. The District has prepared this NOP in order to provide opportunity for input from public agencies, organizations, property owners, and interested parties on the scope of the environmental analysis addressing the potential effects of the proposed project. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The proposed project includes installation of bleachers and lighting on the existing artificial turf field and synthetic track on the Saddleback High School campus. Bleachers. Separate home and visiting team bleacher structures would provide a combined seating capacity for 2,000 spectators. Bleachers would be installed on existing concrete pads. The bleachers would have a scaffold design and open- back aluminum construction. A prefabricated press box would be installed atop the home team bleachers. Public Address System. Speakers would be mounted on the light poles on both sides of the playing field and placed slightly above bleacher level. Speakers would also be mounted on the press box on top of the home side bleachers. Lighting. Field lighting would include four 80-foot tall poles with 14 fixtures per pole. The proposed lighting control system would be programmable for various lighting levels for different events. Field illumination varies from 42 foot-candles to a maximum 60 foot-candles. A 50-foot-candle light would be used during football games, as recommended by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). The majority of all other events would operate at less than 30 foot-candles. Each individual light fixture would be shielded to reduce intrusion “spillover” lighting that goes beyond the school property and “sky-glow” effects. POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS: The Initial Study found that the proposed project would have no impact or less than significant impact on the following environmental topics: agricultural and forest resources, biological resources, cultural resources, geology and soils, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and water quality, land use and planning, mineral resources, population and housing, recreation, and utilities and service systems. The focus of the EIR will be on the potentially significant effects of the project: aesthetics, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, noise, public services, and transportation and traffic. DOCUMENT AVAILABILITY AND PUBLIC REVIEW PERIOD: The District is soliciting public comments regarding the environmental impacts of the proposed project. The District will accept written comments between March 1, 2013 and April 1, 2013 at 4:30 pm. The Initial Study is available for review at the following locations: Santa Ana Unified School District office, 1601 East Chestnut Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92701 Saddleback High School office, 2802 S. Flower Street, Santa Ana, CA 92707 Website: www.sausd.us - Facilities Department webpage COMMENTS: Public comments should focus on environmental impacts and project alternatives to be addressed in the Draft EIR. Comments can be sent to the following address or e-mailed to [email protected]. For more information contact the Facilities Department at (714) 480-5359. 1601 East Chestnut Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92701 ATTN: Tova K. Corman, Senior Facilities Planner 1601 East Chestnut Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92701-6322, (714) 480-5357 BOARD OF EDUCATION José Alfredo Hernández, J.D., President • Rob Richardson, Vice President Audrey Yamagata-Noji, Ph.D., Clerk • John Palacio, Member • Cecilia Iglesias, Member NOTICE OF PREPARATION AND INITIAL STUDY FOR: SADDLEBACK HIGH SCHOOL STADIUM PROJECT prepared for: SANTA ANA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT Contact: Tova K. Corman, M.A. Senior Facilities Planner prepared by: THE PLANNING CENTER|DC&E Contact: Alice Houseworth, AICP LEED AP, Senior Planner MARCH 2013 Santa Ana Unified School District Facilities & Governmental Relations Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana, Ph.D. Joe Dixon, Assistant Superintendent Superintendent Notice of Preparation for a Draft Environmental Impact Report TO: Agencies, Organizations, Property Owners, and Interested Parties SUBJECT: Notice of Preparation (NOP) for a Draft Environmental Impact Report (Draft EIR) for Saddleback High School Stadium Project in compliance with California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 15082(a), 15103, and 15375. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Santa Ana Unified School District (District), as lead agency under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), has determined that an EIR will be prepared pursuant to the requirements of CEQA (California Public Resources Code, Division 13, Section 21000, et seq.) and the CEQA Guidelines (Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, Division 6, Chapter 3, Section 15000, et seq.) for the project identified below. The District has prepared this NOP for the Draft EIR in order to provide opportunity for input from public agencies, organizations, property owners, and interested parties on the scope of the environmental analysis addressing the potential effects of the proposed project. PROJECT TITLE: Saddleback High School Stadium Project PROJECT LOCATION: 2802 S. Flower Street, Santa Ana, CA 92707 PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The proposed project includes installation of bleachers and lighting on the existing synthetic track and field on the Saddleback High School (SHS) campus. Bleachers. Separate home and visiting team bleacher structures would provide a combined seating capacity for 2,000 spectators. The home side bleachers would be on the north side of the field and have seating capacity for approximately 1,500 people. The bleachers would be about 17 feet tall, 116 feet wide, and 23 feet deep. On the south side of the field, the approximately 500-seat visitor side bleachers would be about 14 feet high, 116 feet wide, and 23 feet deep. Bleachers would be installed on existing concrete pads. The bleachers would have a scaffold design and open-back aluminum construction. A prefabricated press box would be installed atop the home team bleachers. Public Address System. Speakers would be mounted on the light poles on both the east and west sides of the playing field and placed slightly above bleacher level. Speakers would also be mounted on the press box on top of the home side bleachers. 1601 East Chestnut Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92701-6322, (714) 480-5357 BOARD OF EDUCATION Rob Richardson, President • José Alfredo Hernández, J.D., Vice President Audrey Yamagata-Noji, Ph.D., Clerk • John Palacio, Member • Roman A. Reyna, Member Lighting. Field lighting would include four 80-foot tall poles with 13 fixtures per pole. The proposed lighting control system would be programmable for various lighting levels for different events. Field illumination varies from 40 foot-candles to a maximum 61 foot-candles. A 50-foot-candle light would be used during football games, as recommended by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). The majority of all other events would operate at less than 30 foot-candles. Each individual light fixture would be shielded to reduce intrusion “spillover” lighting that goes beyond the school property and “sky- glow” effects. POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS: Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(d), and based on the environmental analysis in the Initial Study, the District has determined that an EIR is the appropriate level of environmental documentation for the proposed project. The Initial Study found that the proposed project would have no impact or less than significant impact on the following environmental topics: agricultural and forest resources, biological resources, cultural resources, geology and soils, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and water quality, land use and planning, mineral resources, population and housing, recreation, and utilities and service systems. Should it be demonstrated, however, that the project may result in a significant or potentially significant impact in any of these topic areas, they will be analyzed in full in the EIR. The focus of the EIR will be on the potentially significant effects of the project: aesthetics, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, noise, public services, and transportation and traffic. DOCUMENT AVAILABILITY: The Initial Study is available for review at the following locations: Santa Ana Unified School District office, 1601 East Chestnut Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92701 Saddleback High School office, 2802 S. Flower Street, Santa Ana, CA 92707 Website: www.sausd.us - Facilities Department webpage PUBLIC REVIEW PERIOD: Pursuant to California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 15082(b), the District is soliciting public comments regarding the environmental impacts of the proposed project. The District will accept written comments between March 1, 2013 and April 1, 2013 at 4:30 pm. RESPONSES AND COMMENTS: Comments can be