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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Resolution 12017 (Condominiums 1203 1211 Lincoln Ave.)RESOLUTION NO. 12017 RESOLUTION OF THE SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL ADOPTING A STATEMENT OF OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS AND APPROVING THE MITIGATION MONITORING AND REPORTING PROGRAM (MMRP) FOR A NEW 36 -UNIT RESIDENTIAL CONDOMINIUM BUILDING AT 1203 AND 1211 LINCOLN (CORNER OF LINCOLN AVENUE AND MISSION AVENUE) (APNs: 011-184-08 AND 09) The City Council of the City of San Rafael finds and determinates that: WHEREAS, on May 31, 2005, a revised Environmental and Design Review Permit application and Vesting Tentative Condominium Map application were received by the Community Development Department requesting approval of construction of a 36 -unit residential condominium building at 1203-1211 Lincoln Avenue with associated parking and landscaping improvements; and WHEREAS, on June 29, 2005, a Use Permit application for a height bonus was received by the Community Development Department and on July 6, 2005, the Environmental and Design Review Permit, Vesting Tentative Map and Use Permit applications were deemed complete for processing; and WHEREAS, consistent with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration was prepared analyzing potential environmental impacts of the project and identified potentially significant impacts on Air Quality, Cultural Resources, and Noise. The Mitigated Negative Declaration determined that project impacts could be mitigated to less -than -significant levels through implementation of recommended mitigation measures or through compliance with recommended conditions of project approval; and WHEREAS, copies of the Mitigated Negative Declaration were made available for a 20 - day review period by pertinent agencies and interested members of the public, commencing on July 6, 2005; and WHEREAS, on July 26, 2005, the Planning Commission held a duly -noticed public hearing on the proposed project and the Mitigated Negative Declaration, accepting all oral and written public testimony and the written report of the Department of Community Development, and on a 3-2-2 vote adopted a resolution adopting the Mitigated Negative Declaration; and WHEREAS, on August 2, 2005, the Planning Commission approval was appealed, alleging, among other issues, that adopted mitigation measures associated with the demolition of existing historic structures were insufficient, necessitating the preparation of an environmental impact report; and WHEREAS, on October 17, 2005, the City Council held a duly noticed public hearing on the appeal of the proposed project and the Mitigated Negative Declaration, accepting all oral and written public testimony and the written report of the Department of Community Development; and granted the appeal, requiring the preparation of an environmental impact report; and WHEREAS, the City prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), dated May 2006 (State Clearinghouse #2006012055), which was released for a 45 -day public review period from May 17, 2006 to June 30, 2006 and included a public hearing with the City Council held on June 5, 2006; and \ �0 WHEREAS, the City has evaluated the comments received by persons who reviewed the DEIR and has prepared responses to comments received during the 45 -day public review period; and WHEREAS, said comments received on the EIR and a list of those commenting on the DEIR have been attached to and made a part of the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) (Response to Comments Document, July 2006) for said project as required by Section 15132 of the CEQA Guidelines; and WHEREAS, a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program has been prepared to outline the procedures for implementing all mitigation measures in the FEIR; and WHEREAS, the FEIR concludes that all but two impacts identified in the FEIR have been or can be mitigated to a level of less -than -significant, with the exception that the proposed project would result in the demolition of structures at 1203 and 1211 Lincoln Avenue which are eligible for the California Register of Historic Places and are considered cultural resources for purposes of CEQA; and WHEREAS, the CEQA Guidelines Section 15093 requires the decision-making agency to balance, as applicable, the economic, legal, social, technological, or other benefits of a proposed project against its unavoidable environmental risks when determining whether to approve a project. If these benefits outweigh the unavoidable adverse environmental effects, the adverse effects may be considered "acceptable." The decision-making agency must state in writing the specific reasons to support its action based on the FEIR and/or other information in the record. The statement of overriding considerations must be supported by substantial evidence in the record; and WHEREAS, on August 7, 2006, the City Council held a duly noticed public hearing on the proposed planning applications for the 1203-1211 Lincoln Avenue project, accepting all public testimony and the written report of the Community Development Department staff. As part of this hearing process the City Council considered the draft Statement of Overriding Considerations, as well as the draft Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP), which is presented in attached Exhibit A of this resolution. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of San Rafael does hereby: a) adopt the following Statement of Overriding Considerations; and b) approves the MMRP presented in Exhibit A, finding that the MMRP has been prepared in accordance with the CEQA Guidelines: STATEMENT OF OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS The City of San Rafael adopts the following Statement of Overriding Considerations based on information in the FEIR and other information in the project record. The City recognizes that implementation of the proposed project would result in significant adverse environmental impacts that cannot be avoided even with the adoption of all feasible mitigation measures. Despite the occurrence of these effects, however, the City chooses to approve the project because, in its view, the economic, social, and other benefits that the project will produce will render the significant effects acceptable. The following statement identifies why, in the City's judgment, the benefits of the project as approved outweigh its unavoidable significant effects. Any one of these reasons is sufficient to justify approval of the project. Thus, even if a court were to conclude that not every reason is supported by substantial evidence, the City would stand by its determination that each individual reason is sufficient. The substantial evidence supporting the various benefits can be found in the preceding findings, which are incorporated by reference into this section, and into the documents found in the Record of Proceedings. i As discussed above, the EIR identified significant and unavoidable impacts to Cultural Resources that would result from the demolition of the structures at 1203 and 1211 Lincoln Avenue. The City finds that these impacts on Cultural Resources would be acceptable because mitigation measures have been required to reduce these impacts to the extent feasible, and on balancing the benefits to be realized by approval of the project against the remaining environmental risks, the following economic, social, and other considerations outweigh the impacts and support approval of the project: Provision of Housing and Implementation of, the San Rafael General Plan 2020. The proposed project would be consistent with the General Plan 2020 with respect to its provision of 36 housing units in a High Density Residential land use district. The General Plan specifically identified the project site as a downtown development site (Exhibit BB San Rafael General Plan), signifying the City's intent to encourage and allow redevelopment of the project site with the proposed density and applicable incentives for creation of affordable housing. Furthermore, the residential focus of the project serves to accommodate the projected need for 2,090 additional housing units in the City by the year 2007 by adding eleven additional housing units to the City's housing stock. Four of these housing units would be deed -restricted for sale to low-income households and two units deed -restricted for sale to moderate -income households. These would contribute to the City's need for 207 low-income housing units and 562 moderate -income housing units by the year 2007. The City's approval of the project, as proposed, fully complies with and implements the policy decisions embodied in the San Rafael General Plan 2020. Smart Growth and Transit Oriented Development The project would implement "Smart Growth" principles by creating in -fill high-density residential living units in the San Rafael Downtown, which provides a full range of services and amenities within short distances from the project site. In addition, the project is considered a transit - oriented development given its proximity to public transit, with the Bettini Transportation Center located within one-fifth mile of the project site. The convenience of existing transit would increase transit and pedestrian trips, therefore reducing commute and short -distance auto trips, which in turn reduces regional air quality impacts. Elimination of Substandard Housing and Hazardous Conditions The project would eliminate existing substandard housing units with numerous housing, building, fire, and electrical code violations and replace them with new housing units that would be constructed to meet current housing, building, fire, and electrical code requirements. In addition, the project would eliminate multiple driveways to the project site, therefore improving traffic safety from cars backing onto Mission Avenue, a heavily traveled thoroughfare. Economically Infeasible to Rehabilitate the Existing Buildings Based on an economic feasibility study prepared for the project by a local architect, contractor and City staff, the rehabilitation of the project for residential re -use would be financially infeasible due to construction costs, market rental rates, taxes, debt servicing, and estimated rates of return. Provision of Construction Jobs and Investment In Prominent San Rafael Property Construction of the project will provide work for numerous individuals in the construction industry, as well as for architects, engineers, and other professionals. In addition, the project would facilitate financial investment into a prominent location in the San Rafael Downtown, improving the aesthetic and monetary value of the project site and possibly generate additional investment in the San Rafael Downtown. I, JEANNE M. LEONCINI, Clerk of the City of San Rafael, hereby certify that the forgoing resolution was duly and regularly introduced and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held Monday, the 7th of August, 2006, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: Councilmembers: NOES: Councilmembers: ABSENT: Councilmembers: ABSTAIN: Councilmembers: Heller, Miller, Phillips and Mayor Boro None Cohen None 4 JOANNE M. LEONCIIII, City Clerk V. MITIGATION MONITORING AND REPORTING PROGRAM LINCOLN AND MISSION RESIDENTIAL CONDOMINIUMS This Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP) was formulated based on the findings of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prepared for the Lincoln and Mission Residential Condominiums project. This MMRP is in compliance with Section 15097 of the CEQA Guidelines, which requires that the Lead Agency "adopt a program for monitoring or reporting on the revisions which it has required in the project and the measures it has imposed to mitigate or avoid significant environmental effects." The MMRP lists mitigation measures recommended in the EIR and identifies mitigation monitoring requirements. Table A presents the mitigation measures identified for the proposed project. Each mitigation measure is numbered according to the topical section to which it pertains. As an example, Mitigation Measure CULT -1 is the first mitigation measure identified in Section E, Cultural and Paleontological Resources. The first column of Table A provides the mitigation measures that were identified in the EIR. The column entitled "Party Responsible for Implementing Mitigation" identifies the party responsible for carrying out the required actions. The columns entitled "Party Responsible for Monitoring," and "Timing," identify the party ultimately responsible for ensuring that the mitigation measure is implemented, and the approximate timeframe for the oversight agency to ensure implementation of the mitigation measure. EXHIBIT A