HomeMy WebLinkAbout8.1 Attch 5 Exh A-2 Stmt of Overriding Consdierations EXHIBIT A-2
STATEMENT OF OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS
1. General. Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15093, the City Council of the City
of Dublin makes the following Statement of Overriding Considerations.
The City Council has balanced the benefits of the 2013 Dublin Crossing Specific Plan
project (Project) to the City of Dublin against the significant adverse impacts identified in
the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that cannot be reduced to less than significant
through feasible mitigations or alternatives. Pursuant to Section 15093, the City Council
determined that the benefits of the Project outweighed the adverse impacts as part of its
resolution certifying the EIR and adopting environmental findings and a Statement of
Overriding Considerations on November 5, 2013 (via Resolution 186-13).
The City Council is now considering the environmental impacts of the project as revised
by the amendments to the General Plan, Dublin Crossing Specific Plan, Crossing
Development Agreement and Eastern Dublin Specific Plan in reaching its decision to
approve the Revised Project. A CEQAAddendum, dated April 21, 2015 has been
prepared that documents that there are no new or substantially more severe significant
impacts resulting from the Dublin Crossing Specific Plan Amendment (2015) — Revised
Project— as compared to the Dublin Crossing Specific Plan Project (2013) — Original
Project.
Even with mitigation, the City Council recognized that implementation of the Revised
Project carries with it unavoidable adverse environmental effects as identified in the
EIR. The City Council specifically finds that to the extent the identified significant
adverse impacts for the Project are not reduced to acceptable levels through feasible
mitigation or alternatives, there are specific economic, social, land use and other
considerations that support approval of the Revised Project.
2. Siqnificant Unavoidable Adverse Impacts. The following significant unavoidable
air quality and traffic impacts are associated with the Revised Project as identified in the
EIR.
Short-term Construction Air Quality — The proposed project would result in future short-
term air quality impacts associated with construction activities, including grading,
operation of equipment, and demolition of existing structures within the project area.
The BAAQMD requires the construction mitigation measures to be implemented at all
construction sites, regardless of size. However, as the proposed project would facilitate
future development and generate construction emissions that could potentially exceed
BAAQMD thresholds, a significant unavoidable impact would occur. (Impact 3.2-1.)
Lonq-term Operational Air Quality —The total unmitigated operational emissions
associated with buildout of the proposed project would exceed the BAAQMD thresholds
for ROG, NOx, PM10, and PM2.5. With application of the measures/design features
regarding area and mobile source emissions within the Specific Plan, operational
1
ATTACHMENT 5 ��( .p•2„
emissions would still exceed the thresholds for ROG, NOx, and PM10. The proposed
project could also result in exposure of sensitive land use in excess of applicable Toxic
Air Contaminant standards, even with mitigation. Therefore, these would be considered
significant and unavoidable impacts. (Impacts 3.2-3, 3.2-5.)
Lonq-term Operational Impacts to Freeway Ramps — The proposed project would result
in a significant impact to the following freeway ramps: Southbound Hacienda Drive to I-
580 Eastbound On-ramp under project and cumulative conditions and Southbound
Tassajara Road to I-580 Westbound On-ramp under cumulative conditions. Mitigation
measures 3.12-7 would require modification of the ramp metering rates so that more
vehicles could access the freeway. However, the freeway ramps are operated by
Caltrans, which sets metering rates based on overall operations in the freeway corridor.
As the cities surrounding the I-580 corridor continue to build out and additional parallel
east/west connectors such as the Stoneridge Drive and Dublin Boulevard extensions
are completed, it is likely that the ramp meter rates would change over time to
accommodate the demand on both the freeway ramps and freeway segments. Because
the future metering rates cannot be predicted with certainty, the project impacts to
freeway ramps would be considered a significant and unavoidable impact. (Impact 3.12-
7.)
3. Overridinq Considerations. The City Council has carefully considered each
impact in reaching its decision to approve the Revised Project. The City Council now
balances those unavoidable impacts against its benefits, and hereby determines that
the unavoidable impacts are outweighed by the benefits of the Revised Project as
further set forth below. Any one of these benefits is sufficient to justify approval of the
Revised Project. The substantial evidence supporting the various benefits can be found
in the record as a whole.
The Revised Project will facilitate development of an infill area, fully served by public
utilities, and convenient to major arterials, services, BART and public transit. The
Revised Project includes medium and medium-high density residential and commercial
uses to make more efficient use of its infill location and proximity to transit facilities.
The Revised Project will allow the City to assist the School District in acquiring a site for
a school in the project area to serve the community.
The Revised Project includes design standards for residential and commercial uses as
well as streetscapes that will result in an attractive and vibrant community. The
Revised Project emphasizes higher density, compact development patterns appropriate
to its location near the BART station and the Iron Horse Trail where a diverse mix of
uses would be readily accessible through alternative transport modes. It also
emphasizes pedestrian level development where walking and bicycling would be safe,
feasible alternatives to automobile trips within the Project area and to or from nearby
neighborhoods, transit and commercial uses. Development standards and design
guidelines provide measures for ensuring attractive, visually appealing development of
private projects and public spaces.
2
The Revised Project includes a significant residential component that will assist the City
in meeting its Housing Element RHNA goals. The potential housing will be at densities
complementary to existing residential and non-residential uses in the area. The Project
will also provide funding for future construction and maintenance of a 30-acre
community park and 5-acre joint-use neighborhood park. This amount of parkland and
funding exceeds what the Project would otherwise be required to provide. The Project
provides an elementary school site. In addition, the developers will contribute $17.5
million to the City for use on municipal capital projects and other benefits as part of the
Development Agreement relating to the Project.
The Project includes the potential for up to 200,000 square feet of revenue producing
commercial development that will create new jobs and sales and property taxes. The
Project is also expected to have a fiscally beneficial impact on the City's financial and
services resources, estimated by the City's financial consultant to be a net benefit of
over $100,000 annually upon full build out. Future development of the site will provide
construction employment and permanent employment opportunities for Dublin
residents.
The Project provides an effective means to implement the City's objectives for the area,
as described in the Specific Plan and EIR. For all of the above reasons, the benefits of
the Revised Project outweigh its significant unavoidable air quality and traffic impacts.
2438727.1
3