HomeMy WebLinkAboutSupplemental - Letter from Christopher Caldwell 01) 61CI
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LAW OFFICES I I /�
CALDWELL, LESLIE, NEWCOMBE 8 PETTIT r (�/4.1n�^'Yr(,`
CHRISTOPHER G. CALDWELL A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION I �
ROBYN C. CROWTHER 606 SOUTH OLIVE STREET, SUITE 500 SHERRYL LEE MICHAELSON /
DAVID P. KOWAL LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90014-1507 RALPH H. NUTTER
TAMARA LANGE JAN B. NORMAN
MICHAEL R. LESLIE TELEPHONE (213) 629-9040 of COUNSEL
JOAN MACK TELECOPIER (213) 629-9022
MARY NEWCOMBE EMAIL: CLNP@CLNP.COM
DAVID PETTIT
RODO LFO F. RUIZ WWW.CLNP.COM
WRITER'S E-MAIL: CALDWELL@CLNP.COM
November 8, 1999
BY HAND DELIVERY
Joanne Yeo
City Clerk, City of Seal Beach
211 Eighth Street
Seal Beach, California 90740
Re: Public Hearing on November 8, 1999
for Mitigated Negative Declaration 99-1
Dear Ms. Yeo:
I understand that the Seal Beach City Council is scheduled to hold a further
hearing this evening concerning Mitigated Negative Declaration 99-1 for the proposed I-
405 overcrossing project. I am writing this letter on behalf of the City of Los Alamitos,
Century National Properties, and Rossmoor Homeowners Association concerning this
document. For reasons that I have previously stated on behalf of these clients,both in
writing and at the last public hearing on this project,we believe that the Negative
Declaration fails to comply with CEQA. A complete environmental impact report needs
to be prepared for this project or, at a bare minimum,the Negative Declaration needs to
be recirculated for further public comment. We do not believe that the revisions that
have been made to the document correct the errors that.have been identified by my clients
and the other parties that have commented on the Negative Declaration.
In addition, based on statements made by members of the City Council and the
City's own staff at the last hearing in this matter, it is evident that there is another issue
that has not been properly analyzed in the Negative Declaration. At the last hearing, one
of the City's staffers stated that plans had not been completed for traffic flow during the
construction of the proposed project. It was also stated that, during some of the
construction periods, there will be only one lane of traffic flow in each direction. If that
is the case, then there will be significant construction-related traffic impacts that have not
been acknowledged in the Negative Declaration and must be acknowledged as
significant. Moreover, these circumstances establish the existence of significant public
November 8, 1999
Page 2
safety impacts that will arise from the construction of the project. The issue of
ambulance traffic moving north on Seal Beach Boulevard has been discussed repeatedly
at the public hearings on this project and the proposed Bixby Ranch project. If traffic is
reduced to one lane, there will be an impact on the ability of ambulances to move north
through this area, which already is described in the Negative Declaration as a
"bottleneck," even before the construction activities begin.
For all of these reasons, as well as the reason previously stated by my clients, we
submit that the Negative Declaration should not be approved. We specifically request
that thisletter be made part of the record at the hearing before the City Council this
evening.
Very truly yours,
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CHRISTOPHER G. CALDWELL
132-05/Yeo 99-11-08 cgc