I. INTRODUCTION A. INTRODUCTION Before approving a project, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires the lead agency to prepare and certify a Final Environmental Impact Report (Final EIR). The contents of a Final EIR are specified in Section 15132 of the CEQA Guidelines, as follows: The Final EIR shall consist of: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) The Draft EIR or a revision of the Draft. Comments and recommendations received on the Draft EIR either verbatim or in summary. A list of persons, organizations, and public agencies commenting on the Draft EIR. The responses of the Lead Agency to significant environmental points raised in the review and consultation process. Any other information added by the lead agency. As described in Sections 15088, 15089, 15090 and 15132 of the State CEQA Guidelines, the Lead Agency must evaluate comments received on the Draft EIR and prepare written responses and consider the information contained in a Final EIR before approving a project. The evaluation and response to public comments is an important part of the CEQA process as it allows the following: (1) the opportunity to review and comment on the methods of analysis contained within the Draft EIR; (2) the ability to detect any omissions that may have occurred during preparation of the Draft EIR; (3) the ability to check for accuracy of the analysis contained within the Draft EIR; (4) the ability to share expertise; and (5) the ability to discover public concerns. Project Summary The proposed project includes the construction of a new industrial park consisting of four buildings. Building 1 consists of a single story with a mezzanine that occupies approximately 115,973 total square feet and provides 123 parking spaces; Building 2 consists of two stories that occupy approximately 133,680 total square feet and provides 79 parking spaces; Building 3 consists of a single story with a mezzanine that occupies approximately 116,724 total square feet and provides 96 parking spaces; and Building 4 consists of a single story with a mezzanine that occupies approximately 113,743 total square feet and provides 106 parking spaces. In total, the proposed project would occupy approximately 353,375 square feet of warehouse space, 112,745 square feet of office space, and 14,000 square feet of manufacturing space. The heights of each of the four buildings range from 37 feet to a maximum building height of 40 feet. Consistent with the policies of the Urban Design Chapter of the Southeast Los Angeles Community Plan, the proposed project design includes the installation of shielded exterior area lighting wall packs mounted to the faces of the buildings 29 feet above the finished floor to provide nighttime light shielding for the nearest residence, a duplex located approximately 150 feet west of the proposed project site at 4015 and 4017 Long Beach Avenue West. Surface parking would be located adjacent to the front and side facades of the four proposed buildings. The proposed project has been designed with the Final Environmental Impact Report Page I-1
rear of Buildings 1 and 2 and the rear of Buildings 3 and 4 facing each other, and the remaining three faces of each building have been designed with pedestrian-scale features such as decorative concrete panels in different shades of beige with gray trim and glazing to break up the building facades, mechanical roof equipment completely screened from view, enclosure of trash areas, and operable windows on the mezzanine level. A landscape buffer would separate the public sidewalks from the parking lots, and the following street dedications would be made to the city: 5 street widening on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. 8.5 street widening on the north and 12.5 street widening on the south of South Alameda Street 22 street widening on 41st Street Pedestrian/vehicular conflicts would be minimized through a perimeter sidewalk with clearly defined driveways located at breaks in a continuous landscape strip. The following table shows the dedications for the streets surrounding the project site: Street Name 41st Street Alameda Street Martin Luther King Blvd. Long Beach Ave. 1 Existing SELACP SELACP Update Mobility Plan Update Class II 104 80 Collector 64 44 Collector 66 40 Major Class II 104 80 Street --- --- Avenue III 72 46 (Standard) 60 36 (Standard) 60 36 (Standard) 60 36 Class II 104 80 Collector 64 44 Boulevard I 136 100 The project has been reviewed under the existing Transportation Element standards. However, the required dedications under Mobility Plan 2035 would be as in the table above. The City of Los Angeles Zoning Ordinance designates the proposed project area as M2-2, Light Industrial Zone. 2 The purpose of the M2 zoning classification is to allow for lower-impact industrial uses such as clothing design and manufacturing, furniture design and manufacturing, packaging and assembly, warehouse/distribution, biomedical research/manufacturing, and wholesale sales. Light industry also includes a variety of neighborhood industrial services that benefit from the close geographic relationship to customers, wholesalers, and related services. Such uses include animal hospitals and kennels, automobile service and painting, lumber yards and specialty construction materials. 1 2 Long Beach Avenue is designated as a Major Highway II in the existing SELACP and proposed update to the SELACP which requires a dedicated right-of-way width of 104 feet and a roadway width of 80 feet The current dedicated rightof-way width of Long Beach Avenue is 140 feet which includes 60 feet of right-of-way for the Metro Blue Line light rail line. Long Beach Avenue is designated as a Boulevard I in Mobility Plan 2035 which requires a dedicated right-ofway width of 136 feet which includes the 60 feet of Blue Line right-of-way. The currently dedicated right-of-way width of 140 feet complies with the requirements of the existing and proposed SELACP and Mobility Plan 2035. City of Los Angeles Municipal Code, Chapter 1, Article 2, Section 12.19. Final Environmental Impact Report Page I-2
B. BACKGROUND As defined by Section 15050 of the CEQA Guidelines, the City of Los Angeles Planning Department is the Lead Agency for the Project. A Notice of Preparation (NOP) was prepared and circulated on June 17, 2014, through July 17, 2014, for the required 30-day public review period to solicit input on the scope and content of the EIR. The NOP and letters of comment received on the NOP are Appendices I and II, respectively, of the Draft EIR. The Draft EIR was completed and forwarded to the Governor s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), and a Notice of Completion (NOC) was posted at both OPR and the Office of Los Angeles County Clerk on January 22, 2015. Copies of the Draft EIR and Notice of Availability (NOA) were mailed to 350 representatives and interested parties. The Draft EIR was made available for public review at the City of Los Angeles website until March 9, 2015, for a period of 46 days (January 22, 2015, through March 9, 2015). An NOA of the Draft EIR for public review was advertised in the Los Angeles Times newspaper, as well as sent via regular mail to 85 public agency representatives and 265 interested parties, including private organizations and individuals. In addition, copies of the Draft EIR were available during the public review period at three local libraries: Vernon Branch Library 4504 South Central Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90011 (323) 234-9106 Junipero Serra Library 4607 South Main Street Los Angeles, CA 90037 (323) 234-1685 Los Angeles Central Library 630 West 5th Street Los Angeles, CA 90071 (213) 228-7000 Although the 46-day public comment period closed on March 9, 2015, at 5 p.m., the City received and accepted the submittal of thirteen (13) late letters of comment from individuals and one (1) late letter of comment from a City agency. In total, the City received seven (7) letters of comment from agencies and eighty-one (81) letters of comment from individuals and organizations. The 4051 South Alameda Street Project EIR comprises two sections consisting of the Draft EIR and the Final EIR. Both of these sections will be submitted to the decision-makers including the City Council for their use, consideration, and certification prior to taking action on the proposed project. Final Environmental Impact Report Page I-3
C. ORGANIZATION OF THE FINAL EIR Together with the Draft EIR, this document constitutes the Final EIR for the Project and includes the following sections: Section I. Introduction: This section provides an introduction to the Final EIR. Section II. List of Commenters: This section includes a list of the persons and agencies who submitted comments on the Draft EIR. Original comment letters are also included in Appendix A, Comment Letters on the Draft EIR. Section III. Responses to Comments: This section includes responses to each of the comments submitted by persons and agencies listed in Section II. Section IV. Corrections and Additions to the Draft EIR: This section provides corrections and additions to the Draft EIR, based on comments received during and after the public review period and based on staff-initiated text changes. These changes are minor and do not add significant new information that would affect the analysis or conclusions presented in the Draft EIR. They do not add significant new information to the Draft EIR or result in more severe significant environmental impacts associated with the proposed project; and do not require recirculation of the Draft EIR. CEQA only requires recirculation of a Draft EIR when significant new information is added to a Draft EIR. Section 15088.5 of the CEQA Guidelines states that New information added to an EIR is not significant unless the EIR is changed in a way that deprives the public of a meaningful opportunity to comment upon a substantial adverse environmental effect of the project or a feasible way to mitigate or avoid such an effect (including a feasible project alternative) that the project s proponents have declined to implement. CEQA Guidelines Section 15088.5 also provides that Recirculation is not required where the new information added to the EIR merely clarifies or amplifies or makes insignificant modifications in an adequate EIR. Section V. Mitigation Monitoring Plan: This section includes all of the mitigation measures identified to reduce or avoid environmental impacts of the project and notes the monitoring phase, the enforcement phase, and the applicable department or agency responsible for ensuring that each mitigation measure is implemented. Appendices: The appendices to this document include copies of all the comments received on the Draft EIR and additional information cited to support the responses to comments: Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Comment Letters on the Draft EIR LADOT Traffic Study Policies and Procedures Caltrans Guide for the Preparation of Traffic Impact Studies Appendix D Preliminary Health Risk Evaluation Lancer Site, January 18, 1995 Appendix E Site Investigation Report Lancer Site, October 29, 2003 Appendix F Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, September 1, 2006 Appendix G Phase II and Limited Phase III Environmental Site Assessment, October 9, 2006 Appendix H Phase I/II Environmental Site Assessment, May 25, 2006 Final Environmental Impact Report Page I-4
Appendix I Hexavalent Chromium Analysis, November 3, 2006 Appendix J Preliminary Risk Assessment, May 31, 2007 Appendix K Soil Vapor Survey, March 2011 Appendix L Appendix M Appendix N Appendix O DTSC Arsenic Strategies DTSC Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) Note DTSC Letter on Site Characterization and Health Risk Assessment Hire Agreement Appendix P City Bureau of Sanitation Letter, January 14, 2016 Final Environmental Impact Report Page I-5