CITY OF SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA Dual-Branded Hotel at Coleman and Brokaw RESPONSES TO COMMENTS ON THE INITIAL STUDY & MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION JULY 2021 Responses to Comments RESPONSES TO COMMENTS This document contains all of the written comments received by the City of Santa Clara on the Dual-Branded Hotel at Coleman and Brokaw Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) and presents the City’s responses to each of the substantive comments submitted by public agencies and members of the public. Written comments were received during the 30-day public review period, which extended from March 26, 2021 to April 26, 2021. Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), prior to approving a project, the decision- making body of the lead agency must consider the proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration, together with all comments received during the public review process. (CEQA Guidelines Section 15074.) Although written responses to comments on an MND are not required by CEQA, the City has determined to exceed the minimum requirements and prepare a response to the comments received that pertain to the adequacy of the IS/MND. According to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), the State agencies that were invited to review the IS/MND included the following:1 • California Natural Resources Agency • California Department of Conservation (DOC) • California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Regions 2 and 3 • California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) • California Department of Parks and Recreation • California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) • California Department of Water Resources (DWR) • California Highway Patrol (CHP) • California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), District 4 • California Department of Transportation, Department of Transportation Planning (DOT) • California Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics • California Air Resources Board (ARB) 1 Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, CEQAnet Web Portal, https://ceqanet.opr.ca.gov/2021030592. Dual-Branded Hotel at Coleman and Brokaw IS/MND 1 Responses to Comments • California Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), Region 2 • California State Lands Commission (SLC) • California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) • State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), Division of Water Quality • California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) • Office of Historic Preservation • California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC) No comment letters were received from public agencies or organizations on the proposed IS/MND. A single comment letter was submitted by Lozeau Drury LLP on behalf of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), Local Union 270 and its members living in and around the City of Santa Clara. The responses to comments presented herein focus on questions raised related to the adequacy of the environmental analysis of the proposed project that was presented in the IS/MND. Some comments address issues unrelated to the potential environmental impacts of the project or the adequacy of the IS/MND. Although these comments are acknowledged and additional information may be provided, detailed responses to such comments have not been included. Due to the length of the submitted comment letter and attachments, the responses to the comments are presented first, followed by the comment letter and attachments. For ease of reference, the comments have been bracketed and numbered, and the numbered responses correspond to the designated comment number. 2 Dual-Branded Hotel at Coleman and Brokaw IS/MND Responses to Comments Text Changes to the Initial Study Based on the public comments received as well as internal review by the City, the following text changes to the Initial Study are made (deleted text shown as strikethrough text; added text shown as double-underlined text): Page 14, 7th paragraph: As shown on Figure 9A, the site is currently developed with commercial buildings and parking areas. A one-story, 10,840 10,865-square-foot office building occupies the northwestern parcel at 312 Brokaw Road. This building is currently occupied by AVR Van Rental Solutions, which offers airport mini-van rentals. The southwestern parcel at 1290 Coleman Avenue is developed with a one-story, 2,078 2,547-square- foot . Page 33, 1st full paragraph: Existing baseline conditions at the project site include a 10,840 10,865-square-foot office building occupied by AVR Van Rental solutions, an airport van rental business (312 Brokaw Road), a 2,078 2,547-square-foot restaurant (1290 Coleman Avenue) occupied by La Costa Del Sol, and a 3,500-square-foot restaurant (1240 Coleman Avenue), which is currently vacant. The project site is an existing source of operational emissions; therefore, CalEEMod was used to estimate the existing baseline operational emissions generated by AVR Van Rental solutions and La Costa Del Sol (emissions from the vacant restaurant building on-site were assumed to be zero). The CalEEMod results are included in Appendix A. Pages 38 and 176, Mitigation Measure BR-1: If any site grading or project construction will occur during the general bird nesting season (February 1st through August 31st), a bird nesting survey shall be conducted by a qualified raptor biologist prior to any grading or construction activity. If conducted during the early part of the breeding season (January to April), the survey shall be conducted no more than 14 days prior to initiation of grading/construction activities; if conducted during the late part of the breeding season (May to August), the survey shall be performed no more than 30 days prior to initiation of these activities. If active nests are identified, a 250-foot fenced buffer (or an appropriate buffer zone determined in consultation with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife) shall be established around the nest tree and the site shall be protected until September 1st or until the young have fledged. A biological monitor shall be present during earth-moving activity near the buffer zone to make sure that grading does not enter the buffer area. Dual-Branded Hotel at Coleman and Brokaw IS/MND 3 Responses to Comments Pages 137 and 182, Improvement Measure 1: The signal control for the east and west legs of the intersection of Coleman Avenue and Brokaw Road should be changed from protected left-turn phasing to protected plus permissive phasing split phase. A shared through/left-turn lane should be added to the east and west approaches within the existing right-of-way. This will provide one left-turn lane, one shared left and through lane, and one right-turn lane to both the eastbound and westbound approaches to the intersection. The eastbound right-turn coding should be changed from Include to Overlap, indicating that many eastbound right turns would be able to turn right on red. In addition, no U-turns should be allowed on northbound Coleman Avenue. A third southbound through lane on Coleman Avenue should be added by restriping the existing right turn lane into separate through and right-turn lanes. The recommended improvements are shown on Figure TRA-8. Page 137, 2nd full paragraph: With implementation of the improvements listed in Improvement Measure 1 and a cycle length of 140 seconds, the intersection would operate at an acceptable LOS E F (average delay 72 95.7 seconds/vehicle) during the PM peak hour under background -plus-project conditions. This improvement measure would not require Brokaw Road to be widened. The same improvement measure is conditioned for approval of the Gateway Crossings development located on the west side of Coleman Avenue is one left-turn lane, one shared left and through lane, and one right-turn lane with split phase on the east and west legs and the addition of a third southbound through lane. The mitigation measure proposed for this project would require restriping of the shared left and through lane to an exclusive through lane along the east and west legs and change the signal control from split phase to protected plus permissive phasing. Page 141, 2nd full paragraph: With implementation of these improvements, the Coleman Avenue and Brokaw Road intersection would operate at an acceptable LOS D F (average delay 54.6 81.7 seconds/vehicle) during the AM peak hour and LOS F (average delay 141.4 113.2 seconds/vehicle) during the PM peak hour under cumulative-plus-project conditions, which is still better than cumulative no-project conditions. Page 143, 1st and 2nd paragraphs: As shown in Table TRA-9, the westbound left-turn at the intersection of Coleman Avenue and Brokaw Road is the only movement expected to have a queue storage deficiency. The queuing analysis indicates that the maximum vehicle queues for the westbound left-turn pocket at the Coleman Avenue and Brokaw Road intersection would exceed the existing vehicle storage capacity under existing, existing-plus- project, background, conditions during the PM peak hour and under existing and background-plus-project conditions during both the AM and PM peak hours. 4 Dual-Branded Hotel at Coleman and Brokaw IS/MND Responses to Comments The westbound left-turn pocket currently provides only 50 feet of vehicle storage, which can accommodate only two vehicles. The estimated 95th-percentile vehicle queue for the westbound left-turn movement is approximately two three vehicles (or 50 75 feet) during the AM peak hour and 11 16 vehicles (or 275 400 feet) during the PM peak hour under existing and background conditions. Field observations confirm that westbound left-turn vehicles queue out of the turn pocket during the PM peak hour. Implementation of Improvement Measure 1 at this intersection to address the degradation in level of service would change the lane striping on this leg by adding another lane and changing the left-turn signal control to protected plus permissive phasing that would be a shared left-turn and through lane.