DIRIDON STATION AREA PLAN ~ REFRESHER Greenbelt Alliance, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, Working Partnerships, USA

Workshop Partners

!  Greenbelt Alliance !  Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition !  Working Partnerships, USA !  Public Advocates !  Friends of Caltrain !  Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter !  TransForm !  Silicon Valley Leadership Group !  SPUR

Details

"  Site Area = 250 acres "  Existing Transit= Caltrain, VTA Light Rail and bus, Amtrak, ACE

* Avg. weekday ridership for Caltrain= 5,800 passengers "  Proposed Transit= BART, Bus Rapid Transit, High Speed Rail "  Preferred Land Uses:

* Commercial/R&D/Light Industrial= 4,963,400 sq. ft. * Retail/Restaurant= 424,100 sq. ft * Residential= 2,588 units * Hotel= 900 rooms * Ballpark= 32,000 seats* (now what?)

Constraints/ Assumptions

"  Proposed new baseball park (what might go there now that MLB made a decision?)

"  CA High Speed Rail alignment "  Realignment of Autumn Parkway "  Completion of the Los Gatos Creek Master Plan (the

section between Santa Clara St and Park Ave) "  Protection of employment lands "  Building height restrictions due to airport

Other considerations

"  Alameda Urban Village "  West San Carlos Urban Village "  Good Neighbor Committee�s Framework for

Implementation

Envision San Jose 2040

Our Goals

"  Homes, including affordable homes "  Complete Pedestrian/ Bicycle connectivity "  A focus on parks and creeks "  Parking and Transportation Demand Management "  Transit connectivity "  Placemaking: An economic generator "  Quality local jobs

Diridon Station Area Plan�Commenting on the Program Environmental Impact Report �

Draft EIR Commenting 201 �Jan. 30, 2014!

GREENBELT ALLIANCE �Adam Garcia�Policy Researcher �

CEQA’s Role in Development �

◽ Passed by Governor Reagan in 1970 after the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) �

◽ Ensures environmental impacts are considered during the decision-making process for public or private projects �

◽ No CEQA police, public/private influence or Agency lawsuits �

◽ Disclose environmental impacts�◽ Identify ways to avoid damage�◽ Prevent significant unavoidable damage

with reasonable mitigations �◽ Provide reasons for a project’s approval despite

significant environmental impacts�◽ Encourage interagency cooperation�◽ Enhance public participation in the planning process�

CEQA’s Role in Development �

Purpose

Hire a consultant to draft an EIR.

Notify the public there will be a draft EIR released on a certain

date for a given amount of time. PUBLIC REVIEW PERIOD Incorporate public comments

on project into a final EIR including our agency response

to each question asked.

Consider mitigations to significant impacts produced from the project.

Make a final decision on the project.

◽ Awareness of planning activity or projects in your area�◽ Write a form letter to the lead agency to receive future

notices on a project �◽ Review the environmental determination of a project �◽ Familiarize yourself with the key findings of the

document �◽ Strategize how you can use your resources to send your

informed analysis on the project �◽ Write a comment letter to the lead agency regarding

your concerns on the impacts of the project and potential mitigations�

CEQA’s Project Review & Timeline �

30-day

3/16/13

3/18/13

3/21/13

3/26/13

4/5/13

4/10/13

4/15/13

4/20/13

4/25/13

4/28/13

5/2/13

5/6/13

5/10/13

Comment Letter Timeline

Reviewing and Commenting on anEnvironmental Impact Report

Comment Letter Due Date5/10/13

45-day

3/1/13

3/3/13

3/6/13

3/16/13

3/21/13

3/26/13

4/5/13

4/15/13

4/25/13

4/28/13

5/2/13

5/6/13

5/10/13

Comment Letter Timeline

Reviewing and Commenting on anEnvironmental Impact Report

Comment Letter Due Date5/10/13

60-day

2/14/13

2/21/13

2/27/13

3/1/13

3/6/13

3/11/13

4/15/13

4/20/13

4/25/13

4/28/13

5/2/13

5/6/13

5/10/13 Comment Letters Due

Consider additional secondary goals

Review and familiarize yourself with mitigation measures that are appropriate to addressing your goals

Conduct a thorough review the relevant Elements/Sections of the proposed Project

Determine what allies should be contacted to support particular sections, or specialties

Following your review, compile resources to begin drafting EIR comments based on your analysis

Make bullet points of the main findings from your review

Draft a letter with your main findings from the Plan's EIR analysis

Send draft letter to colleagues for review

Edit and update EIR comment letter

Submit EIR comment letter

Begin to review the Plan's EIR

Comment Letter Timeline

Familiarize yourself with the proposed Project or Plan and develop your own goals in the context of the project's goals

Reviewing and Commenting on anEnvironmental Impact Report

Comment Letter Due Date5/10/13

Comment Letters Due

Consider additional secondary goals

Review and familiarize yourself with mitigation measures that are appropriate to addressing your goals

Conduct a thorough review the relevant Elements/Sections of the proposed Project

Determine what allies should be contacted to support particular sections, or specialties

Following your review, compile resources to begin drafting EIR comments based on your analysis

Make bullet points of the main findings from your review

Draft a letter with your main findings from the Plan's EIR analysis

Send draft letter to colleagues for review

Submit EIR comment letter

Begin to review the Plan's EIR

Familiarize yourself with the proposed Project or Plan and develop your own goals in the context of the project's goals

Reviewing and Commenting on anEnvironmental Impact ReportEXAMPLE'DATES'

◽ Aesthetics ◽ Air Quality ◽ Hydrology/Water Quality ◽ Land Use/Planning ◽ Noise ◽ Population/Housing ◽ Public Services ◽ Recreation ◽ Transportation/Tra!c ◽ Utilities/Service Systems

◽ In what way are you an every day expert? ◽ Whose expertise could

you rely upon for support?

Measuring Environmental Impacts

Measuring Environmental Impacts & Mitigations

◽ Global Warming Impacts ◽ Environmental Setting, or

Baseline Conditions ◽ Compare Anticipated Impacts

to Baseline Conditions ◽ Significant E"ect on the

Environment ◽ Direct vs. Reasonable

Foreseeable Indirect E"ects ◽ Significant Irreversible Changes ◽ Growth-Inducing Impact

◽ Cumulative Impacts ◽ Mandatory Findings

of Significance ◽ Mitigation Measures ◽ Alternatives Analysis

How to Comment E!ectively

◽ Awareness of current planning activity for the project ◽ Write a form letter to the lead agency to receive

future notices on the project ◽ Review the online resources describing the project ◽ Anticipate the key findings of the project’s

documentation and potential shortcoming in the project's environmental review

◽ Strategize how you can use your resources to send an informed analysis on the project

◽ Draft an outline of an comment letter to the lead agency regarding your concerns on the impacts of the project and recommended mitigations

How to Comment E!ectively

◽ Decide on your concerns/goals and read relevant sections first; think through your questions as you read the project’s documents

◽ Emphasize your local expertise but base your comments on data, not emotion

◽ Be specific, succinct and professional ◽ Use standard intro, body and conclusion format ◽ Cite sections of the project’s documents directly,

focus on facts and quote relevant professionals and reports

◽ Make sure your take home message is clear

How to Comment E!ectively

Does the Draft EIR provide a clear line of reasoning in its conclusions related to impacts, their level of significance or non-significance, and the level of mitigation that would be achieved by proposed mitigations measures?�

What are your biggest concerns?

◽ Transportation ◽ Parking ◽ Bicycle and Pedestrian Realms ◽ Riparian Corridors ◽ A"ordable Housing

Issue Areas for this Workshop

Diridon Station Area Plan