HomeMy WebLinkAboutEQCB Min 2004-04-14
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1 CITY OF SEAL BEACH
Environmental Quality Control Board
Adjourned Meeting Minutes of April 14, 2004
Chairperson Unrath called the Adjourned Meeting of the Environmental Quality Control
Board (EQCB) of April 14, 2004 to order at 6:31 p.m. The meeting was held in City
Council Chambers and began with the Salute to the Flag.
Roll Call
Present:
Absent:
Chairperson Unrath, Members Barton, Hurley, O'Malley, and Voce
None
Also
Present:
Department of Development Services
Mac Cummins, Associate Planner
II Approval of Agenda
So moved by Chairperson Unrath.
III Oral Communications
None.
IV Consent Calendar
None.
V Scheduled Matters
1. Response To Notice Of Preparation Of Draft EIR - Long Beach Home Depot,
City Of Long Beach.
Recommendation: Authorize approval of letter with any modifications
determined appropriate. Instruct Chairperson to sign proposed response letter.
Instruct Staff to forward to the City Council for information. Receive and File
Staff Report.
1 These Minutes were transcribed from an audiotape of the meetIng.
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City of Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board
Meeting Minutes of Apri/14, 2004
Staff Report
Mr. Cummins explained that a Notice of Preparation (NOP) will many times be
distributed prior to the actual Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to place agencies on
notice that there is intent to prepare an EIR and to provide additional time to comment
on the document. He stated that sometimes this is done before the actual document is
released using a scoping process, as was done with the Boeing Integrated Defense
Systems (BIDS) Project. He said that Staff has reviewed the document and found some
areas requiring further clarification and detail when presented in the Draft EIR. He
stated that typically the EQCB will review the document as well as City Council (CC);
however, because the April 12, 2004 City Council meeting was cancelled, CC will not
have an opportunity to review this NOP. He indicated that what is proposed is a mixed-
use project measuring a little over 190,000 square feet on 16 acres. He said the project
would be comprised of several land uses with the predominant one being the Home
Depot store with ancillary garden facilities of well over 100,000 square feet. He stated
that Staff has made several recommendations in the Comment Letter for more
comprehensive definition and study of the potential environmental impacts. He noted
that a member of the City of Long Beach Environmental Staff had attended the BIDS
hearings and had very emphatically presented their concerns regarding traffic impacts
from the BIDS project, but the City of Long Beach must have known that the Home
Depot project was in the pipeline when the Boeing hearings were taking place. Mr.
Cummins stated that the Home Depot project would contribute significantly more traffic
impacts than the BIDS project would. He pointed out that the comment letter does
mention this Long Beach representative by name. He stated that tonight Staff would
like the Board to authorize Chairperson Unrath to sign the draft letter so that Staff can
forward it to the City of Long Beach for use in preparing the DEIR.
Board Comments
Chairperson Unrath asked whether the Board should restrict their comments solely to
issues that would impact the City of Seal Beach. Mr. Cummins stated that tYPically
comments would be restricted to those impacts affecting Seal Beach.
Member O'Malley asked jf it would be appropriate to make recommendations of
additional items that might be needed in the comment letter. He said that most of the
areas of his concern are addressed in the comment letter; however, he is seriously
concerned about the issue of the 4 fuel oil storage tanks and the 36 inches of sludge
contained in the bottom of Tank NO.4 that must be disposed of, as documented in the
original NOP on Page 2, 15t paragraph, Line 2. He then referred to Page 9, 2nd
paragraph, Line 2 where removal of these tanks is discussed. He said that the
comment letter should recommend that the EIR address the removal of the hazardous
waste in Tank No. 4 and the impact of and mitigation measures to control any
contamination of the San Gabriel River, College Park West (CPW), and Leisure World,
Seal Beach. He noted that these tanks are 9 million gallon tanks, which means there is
a lot of sludge left in Tank NO.4.
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City of Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board
Meeting Minutes of Apri/14, 2004
Member Voce asked if there was a definition of this "sludge." Mr. O'Malley stated that
the NOP has no definition. Mr. Cummins stated that this would definitely appear in the
EIR. Member O'Malley noted that if they are talking about contamination of soil with
hazardous materials, the only thing that could contaminate that soil would be whatever
is in the tanks. Mr. Cummins stated that if the Board is comfortable with Mr. O'Malley's
statements, it would be appropriate to include them under the Hazards and Hazardous
Materials section of the comment letter as Item VilA. The Board was in agreement.
Vice-Chairperson Hurley referred to Item XV. Transportation/Traffic under "Concerns of
the City of Seal Beach." and recommended referencing these comments to the specific
item numbers as they appear in the NOP. He also suggested the following text to be
added to the paragraph that follows:
"Regarding Item 16B, the scope of the study on impacts on area intersections is not
specified. JI
Mr. Cummins stated that comments included in the traffic section are usually worded as
broadly as possible to allow for potential future challenges. Vice-Chairperson Hurley
suggested eliminating the heading "Concerns of the City of Seal Beach" and instead
beginning this section with the following text:
'The City of Seal Beach has several concerns regarding traffic, including, but not limited
to the following:"
Mr. Cummins indicated that Staff would advise the Board to refrain from addressing
specific subsections of the traffic analysis, particularly because the City of Seal Beach
has not yet received a copy of the City of Long Beach traffic analysis. He said that the
comment letter specifies that the City of Long Beach must complete a more
comprehensive analysis than what is indicated in the NOP. Chairperson Unrath
recommended that the areas requiring further analysis be specifically outlined in the
comment letter. Mr. Cummins referenced the last paragraph on Page 8 of the comment
letter under Item XV. TRA NSPOR TA T10N/TRAFFIC and noted that this section begins
to address these issues more specifically. He emphasized that Staff wants to ensure
that when considering the scope of an impacted intersection the EIR includes a
sufficiently wide buffer surrounding the project.
Member Barton stated that her main concern is traffic impacts. She said that she could
not imagine how the increase in traffic at this intersection is to be efficiently managed.
Member O'Malley noted that the NOP makes no mention of completion of any traffic
studies so far. He said it would be interesting to see what the analysis reflects. Vice-
Chairperson Hurley asked if this project could proceed with traffic impacts projected to
double. Mr. Cummins stated that there is a threshold level that varies with each city, but
typically the threshold is at Level D. Chairperson Unrath noted that the intersection of
Westminster Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) is already at Level F during rush
hour. Mr. Cummins stated that as he recalled the threshold level is typically a 1 percent
change to the worse in traffic. He indicated that if it is more than 1 percent it is a
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City of Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board
Meetmg Minutes of Apri/14, 2004
significant impact and must be mitigated to the extent possible, otherwise it becomes
necessary to file an SOC. Member O'Malley stated that this was probably why the City
of Long Beach had been so concerned with mitigation of traffic impacts for the Boeing
Project, as this would ultimately have helped them when presenting the proposal for the
Home Depot project.
Member Voce stated that because there is no access to a traffic analysis, he feels that
within the comment letter it is important to place more emphasis on projected traffic
impacts. He noted that the project area intersections must be traveled by Seal Beach
residents in order to access the onramps to the 1-405 Freeway. Mr. Cummins stated
that once the City receives a copy of the EIR, it would be forwarded to the Traffic
Engineer for analysis.
Chairperson Unrath asked if the NOP addresses the area of the transport route for
trucks removing materials during the demolition of the existing site. Mr. Cummins
stated that this would probably be addressed in the DEIR. Chairperson Unrath
indicated that the most likely route would be using Westminster Avenue traveling east to
Seal Beach Boulevard. He said he would like to specify that the trucks use a transport
route that does not traverse the City of Seal Beach. Member Voce expressed concerns
over transportation of hazardous materials through the City of Seal Beach. Mr.
Cummins stated that these issues could also be address under Item XV.
TRANSPORTATlON/ TRAFFIC. Chairperson Unrath noted that fugitive dust from this
project falling upon Leisure World should also be a serious consideration. Mr. Cummins
suggested the following text be added to the comment letter:
'The EIR should be vel}' clear on proposals for mitigating dust emissions."
Chairperson Unrath stated that if the City of Seal Beach is asking the City of Long
Beach to pay its fair share on traffic mitigation measures, and the City of Long Beach is
asking the City of Seal Beach to pay its fair share of traffic mitigation for the Boeing
Project, he is concerned that the cities' fair shares would simply cancel each other out
and there would then be no improvements in traffic. Mr. Cummins confIrmed that
depending upon how great the disparities are, this does occur. He said that he is not
certain that there is anything the City or the EQCB can do to prevent this from occurring,
particularly if the dollar amounts proposed by each city for traffic mitigation are fairly
close in range. He noted that there are certain circumstances where it would definitely
not be feasible, such as with the Boeing Project where the best means for mitigating
traffic at the intersection of Seal Beach Boulevard and Westminster Avenue would be to
add additional right turn pockets; however it is not possible for the City to acquire the
right-of-way to accommodate these turn pockets.
Member O'Malley noted that Page 41 of the NOP describes how the dirt and waste
materials are to be removed from the site and taken to a refuse location in the City of
Long Beach. He noted that it does not describe the route to be taken.
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City of Seal Beach EnVtronmental Quality Control Board
Meetmg Minutes of Apri/14, 2004
MOTION by Hurley; SECOND by Voce to Authorize approval of the comment letter as
amended. Instruct Chairperson to sign proposed letter. Instruct Staff to forward to the
City Council for information. Receive and File Staff Report.
MOTION CARRIED:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
5-0
Unrath, Barton, Hurley, O'Malley, and Voce
None
None
VI Staff Concerns
Mr. Cummins noted that the members of the Board should all have received a copy of
the City's Negative Declaration (ND) for the Rossmoor Center Redevelopment Project.
He apologized for the short time available for review, but he noted that the document
was just published yesterday. Member O'Malley asked if The Parasol Restaurant is to
be demolished. Mr. Cummins reported that it is scheduled for demolition. Member
Barton stated that it should be preserved as a historic building. Mr. Cummins noted that
The Parasol is not listed on the local registry of historic structures.
Mr. Cummins then stated that Member Barton had inquired as to whether the City has
the ability to comment on medians and other physical characteristics for roadways
within the City. He confirmed that Board members could certainly include these types of
comments on the Home Depot Project.
Vice-Chairperson Hurley asked whether the San Gabriel River Master Plan was to be
on the April 28, 2004 agenda. Mr. Cummins stated that the City has not yet received
the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for this project, so it will not be discussed at the
April 28 meeting.
VII Board Concerns
Vice-Chairperson Hurley referred to the Installation Restoration Program, Status Report
Re: RAB Project Update that appeared on the Consent Calendar for the March 31, 2004
EQCB meeting and questioned whether the percent of cost as it appears in the report is
correct. He said he feels that 90 percent should be devoted to clean up rather than the
60 percent quoted. Mr. Cummins stated that there is a significant cost related to
investigation to determine what is out there and how to clean it up. Member Voce
stated that the 60 percent indicates the expense for the specific action plan.
Vice-Chairperson Hurley then requested that his copy of the agenda packet for the April
28, 2004 meeting be delivered to his next door neighbor at #7-1, as Mr. Hurley will not
be at home on April 23, 2004
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City of Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board
Meeting Minutes of Apri/14, 2004
Member Barton stated that she appreciated the manner in which the information was
distributed this time.
Chairperson Unrath thanked the Board members for their attendance at tonight's
adjourned meeting.
VIII Adjournment
MOTION by O'Malley; SECOND by Hurley to adjourn to the scheduled meeting of April
28, 2004.
MOTION CARRIED:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
5-0
Unrath, Barton, Hurley, O'Malley, and Voce
None
None
Chairperson Unrath adjourned the meeting at 7:15 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
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Carmen Alvarez, Executive Secr ry
Department of Development Services
The Board on April 28, 2004, approved the Minutes of the Environmental Quality
Control Board of Wednesday, April 14, 2004. C;..e-..
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