Environmental Setting, Impacts, and Mitigation Measures CHAPTER 3 - 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 Pierce College Facilities 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; agricultural resources; air quality biological resources; 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 not significant and the reasons for that determination are provided in Chapter 5. To assist the reader, each EIR environmental impact category 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. 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 CEQA regulations. 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 chapter are based on a projected enrollment of 23,252 students in the Fall 2010 semester or 16,423 full-time-equivalent (FTE) students1 for the 2010-2011 academic year. For comparison, there were 18,118 students enrolled in the Fall 2001 semester and the estimated annual number of FTE students for the 2001-2002 academic year is 13,591. Although it is assumed that total enrollment would increase by approximately 28 percent over the next 8 years, it should be noted that the projected 2010 enrollment is comparable to the peak enrollment in years past. For example, in the Fall of 1981 there were 23,700 students enrolled at the College. 1 To determine the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) 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. Los Angeles Pierce College Facilities Master Plan Draft EIR page 3-1 Environmental Setting, Impacts, and Mitigation Measures 3-2 VISUAL RESOURCES This section describes the visual setting of the Pierce College campus and provides an evaluation of the potential impacts of the proposed Master Plan on the visual quality and character, views, shading/glare, and artificial light 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 The Pierce College campus is located in the southwest San Fernando Valley in the Woodland Hills area of the Canoga Park-Winnetka-Woodland Hills–West Hills Community, which is 1 of 35 District Planning Areas that comprise the General Plan of the City of Los Angeles. Historically, the area was an agriculture cattle-oriented community. As surrounding areas began to be developed into residential neighborhoods, the area just north of the Chalk Hills was purchased by the City for development of a college. Pierce College opened in 1947 as an agricultural school. Since then, the surrounding community has been developed with residential, industrial, and commercial uses. It is considered predominantly urban. The campus is bordered by residential land uses to the south and southwest. An adult vocational school is located to the east across Winnetka Avenue and Warner Center (an intensely developed office/industrial park) is located to the west across De Soto Avenue. Residential uses are located north of the campus across Victory Boulevard. One of the most significant planning and land use issues within the Canoga Park–Winnetka– Woodland Hills–West Hills Community is the preservation of open space. The open space portion of Pierce College is identified as an environmentally sensitive resource by the Community Plan. According to the Community Plan, “Pierce College represents a rare opportunity to preserve a significant, publicly held Open Space.” The land use plan map for the Canoga Park-Winnetka-Woodland Hills–West Hills Community shows the campus as open space. Open space is typically defined as land that is free of structures and buildings and/or is natural in character. Furthermore, the Community Plan identifies Pierce College agricultural land as a “Major Development Opportunity Site.” Existing agricultural space at Pierce is considered “one of the few remaining connections to the communities agrarian past.” The Community Plan strives to preserve and enhance the positive characteristics of existing land uses including community identity, scale, height, bulk, setbacks, and appearance. The Pierce College campus is composed of a central cluster of educational and administration facilities, surrounded by large agricultural fields and facilities, surface parking lots, athletic fields and sports facilities, undeveloped rolling hills, and a large Horticulture area. Approximately 200 acres are currently devoted to agricultural use or open space, while 184 acres are currently in non-agriculture use. Existing buildings on the campus contain a total of approximately 585,000 gross square feet of floor space. Approximately 4,119 parking spaces are currently provided on the campus. The northern half of the campus is located on the valley plain; the southern half is situated on the Chalk Hills. For clarification purposes in describing the existing visual setting and evaluating visual impacts, the Pierce College campus has been subdivided into five “landscape units,” or areas of Los Angeles Pierce College Facilities Master Plan Draft EIR page 3-2 Environmental Setting, Impacts, and Mitigation Measures discussion. Each landscape unit is defined by variation in visual resources, including natural and built features. The landscape units (see Figure 3-1) are as follows: • Landscape Unit A – Northeast Corner of Campus – Developed Main Campus • Landscape Unit B – Central Campus – Developed Upper Campus • Landscape Unit C – Southeast Corner of Campus – Horticulture Area • Landscape Unit D – Northwest Corner of Campus –Agricultural Area • Landscape Unit E – Southwest Corner of Campus – Undeveloped Rolling Hills In order to evaluate the specific visual resources and viewer sensitivity of the campus, each landscape unit is analyzed in terms of visual quality and character, scenic vistas and views, shading/glare, and artificial light. A qualitative, descriptive approach is used to evaluate the visual resources objectively. The criterion used for each evaluation is presented at the beginning of each section. Figure 3-1: Landscape Units VICTORY BOULEVARD PARKING LOT #7 MASON STREET OLYMP D IC DRIVE DE SOTO AVENUE DE SOTO A EL RANCHO DRIVE B AVENUE WINNETKA E C STREET D R A N X O 00.511.520.25 Miles Sources: Psomas, 2002; Myra L. Frank & Associates, Inc., 2002. a. Visual Quality and Character The visual quality and character of Pierce College is defined by the natural (geologic, topographic, biologic) and built (classrooms, buildings, recreational) environment. Visual Los Angeles Pierce College Facilities Master Plan Draft EIR page 3-3 Environmental Setting, Impacts, and Mitigation Measures quality is evaluated based on the relative degree of vividness, intactness, and unity. Overall, Pierce College is considered to have a high visual quality because the natural and built features within it are considered vivid, relatively intact, and exhibit a high degree of visual unity. Pierce College has been identified as an important and valued aspect of the community because of its expansive agricultural and undeveloped open space, which have become symbols of the “old” San Fernando Valley. There are some areas of the campus, however, where the visual quality lacks vividness, intactness, and possesses a low degree of visual unity. Additionally, at least 50 percent of the buildings on campus are more than 40 years old and many suffer from deferred maintenance. Over 10 percent of the buildings on campus are temporary structures. The visual quality and character of each landscape unit is described below. Landscape Unit A – Northeast Corner of Campus – Developed Main Campus Landscape Unit A (see Figure 3-2) consists of the central campus core, including over 30 permanent and 17 temporary structures. The area is generally flat and defined on the west by Mason Street, on the north by Victory Boulevard, on the east