2 Division 20, Chapter 6.95, Section 25507 (http://cers.calepa.ca.gov/). Contact the Fresno County Hazmat Compliance Program at (559) 600-3271 for more information. Future projects have the potential to expose nearby residents to elevated noise levels.
Consideration should be given to your City’s municipal code. As a measure to protect ground water, all water wells and/or septic systems that exist or have been abandoned within the project areas should be properly destroyed by an appropriately licensed contractor.
Should any underground storage tank(s) be found, the applicants shall apply for and secure an Underground Storage Tank Removal Permit from the Fresno County Department of Public Health, Environmental Health Division. Contact the Fresno County Hazmat Compliance Program at (559) 600-3271 for more information.
The following comments pertain to the future demolition of existing structures:
Should the structures have an active rodent or insect infestation, the infestation should be abated prior to demolition of the structures in order to prevent the spread of vectors to adjacent properties. In the process of demolishing the existing structures, the contractor may encounter asbestos containing construction materials and materials coated with lead-based paints. If asbestos containing materials are encountered, contact the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District at (559) 230-6000 for more information. If the structures were constructed prior to 1979 or if lead-based paint is suspected to have been used in these structures, then prior to demolition and/or remodel work the contractor should contact the following agencies for current regulations and requirements:
California Department of Public Health, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch, at (510) 620-5600.
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, at (415) 947-8000. State of California, Industrial Relations Department, Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Consultation Service (CAL-OSHA) at (559) 454-5302.
REVIEWED BY:
Kevin Tsuda, R.E.H.S.
Environmental Health Specialist II (559) 600-33271
cc: Deep Sidhu- Environmental Health Division (CT. 55.12) 295
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Attachment 7
CEQA Guidelines 15183 – Finding of Consistency
General Plan Amendment 2021-007, Ordinance Amendment 2021-004, and Rezone 2021-010
Pursuant to Article 12 of the State C alifornia Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines, the City of Clovis has determined that the project described below will not require additional environmental review.
Lead Agency: City of Clovis – Planning and Development Services
Lead Agency
Contact:
McKencie Perez, MPA, Senior Planner
(559) 324-2310
[email protected]
Applicant: City of Clovis
1033 Fifth Street
Clovis, CA 93612
Project
Location:
120 separate parcels located adjacent to the north side of Highway 168 from Armstrong Avenue to Owens Mountain Parkway. See attached Exhibit A , Aerial Photo , for all land included in project area.
Exemption: CEQA Guidelines section 15183 – Special Situations, Projects consistent with a Community Plan, General Plan, or Zoning
Project Description
The proposed Research and Technology (R-T) Park Cleanup Project (“Project”) includes amendments to the City of Clovis General Plan, Zoning, Development Code, and the Clovis R-T Park Architectural Guidelines for approximately 333 acres of land designated as the Clovis R-T Park.
The purpose of these amendments is to correct inconsistencies between the aforementioned documents and to allow for student and faculty housing per direction from the Clovis City Council. Each of these corrective actions is summarized below.
General Plan Amendment
The City’s existing General Plan was adopted in 2014. Based on the existing General Plan, the R -T Park boundary was shown incorrectly. Therefore, a general plan
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amendment is needed to correct this technical inaccuracy. The amendment would also allow campus related housing within the R -T Park per the direction of the Clovis City Council.
Development Code Amendment
The proposed Project would further define the MU -BC land use designation to allow for campus related housing uses in the R-T zone district, add development guidelines for the campus related housing, and create a R -T overlay zone district. The objective of these actions is to create and maintain consistency among the applicable plans and policies, while maintaining the intent of the City Council’s vision for the R-T Park.
Rezone
The current land use designation for the plan area is MU-BC (Mixed Use /Business Campus) which allows a range of industrial, commercial, and institutional uses, with a focus on research and technology uses, along with residential densities up to 25 dwelling units per acre . The MU -BC designation will remain unchanged in conjunction with the Project. The corresponding zone district should be the R-T zone district; however, there are parcels within the R-T Park area that currently maintain residential zoning. Therefore, in order to bring the zoning into consistency with the MU -BC land use designation, a rezone is needed. Under this action, the City will either rezone properties directly to the R-T zone district or apply an R-T overlay zone district allowing for existing residential properties to remain residential, while also allowing for R -T Park development should those properties choose to develop per the R-T development standards.
Environmental Determination
Pursuant t o Article 12 of the CEQA Guidelines, the Project is exempt from additional environmental review in accordance with section 15183. For projects that are “consistent with the development density established by existing zoning, community plan or general plan policies for which an EIR was certified shall not require additional environmental review, except as might be necessary to examine whether there are project -specific significant effects which are peculiar to the project or its site.” Further, CEQA Guidelines state that “if an impact is not peculiar to the parcel or to the project, has been addressed as a significant effect in the prior EIR, or can be substantially mitigated by the imposition of uniformly applied development policies or standards, then an additional EIR need not be prepared for the project solely on the basis of that impact.” If no additional mitigation measures are required to reduce project specific impacts to a less than significant level, other than those required in the prior EIR, then the section 15183 exemption applies.
Evidence for Exemption
The establishment of the full plan area underwent environmental review on two separate occasions to consider the full approximately 333 acres designated to the R -T Park. The first ±188 acres of l and designated for the R -T Park was approved and the Final EIR certified by the Clovis City Council in June 1999. The R -T Park Expansion, which added approximately 153 acres (known as Phase III), was approved in conjunction with the certification of a sepa rate EIR in August 2009. Additionally, an EIR was certified for the 308
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General Plan in 2014, which considered the environmental impacts of densities up to 25 dwelling units per acre within the underlying MU-BC land use designation.
The proposed amendments as sociated with this Project do not effectuate any physical change to the environment, but rather allow the R-T Park to develop the way the General Plan intended. The proposed General Plan and Development Code text changes also clarify the City’s policy inte rpretation as to the allowance for campus -related housing in conjunction with a university. The following points provide additional support for the project’s reliance on the section 15183 exemption:
The entire Project area that is potentially affected by the proposed Project (approximately 333 acres) is designated as MU-BC within the 2014 Clovis General Plan. The proposal does not include a change from the existing MU -BC land use designation to any other land use designation.
Though the City took actions in 2001 and 2009 to establish the comprehensive boundary of the “Clovis R -T Park”, the 2014 General Plan showed only a portion of the total area within the “focus area” identified for the R -T Park. The proposed Project actions would modify the boundary of the General Plan focus area to include the entire R -T Park as previously adopted by the Council, clarifying the Council’s intent to apply R -T development standards a nd criteria to this area.
These standards and criteria do not exceed the intensity of the underlying MU-BC land use designation and were previously evaluated by the City.
The MU-BC land use designation establishes criteria for the maximum intensity of development including a non -residential floor area ratio of 4.0 and a residential density of up to 25 units per acre. No changes to these criteria are proposed.
The R-T zone district is compatible with the MU-BC land use designation and by the City’s previous designation of the affected area as the “Clovis R -T Park”, R-T is the intended zoning for the Project area. The rezoning of properties to the R-T zone district or R-T overlay zone district will implement the General Plan, as well as the City’s previous actions to establish the Clovis R -T Park in 1999 and 2009, as described above.
The existing MU -BC land use designation and the R -T zone d istrict allow the development of schools, special edu cation, and training facilities (including colleges and universities), through the approval of an administrative use permit (AUP).
As demonstrated through the City’s approval of AUP2016 -009, which included a student housing component, and the City’s more recent approval of the California Health Sciences University memorandum of understanding from January of 2021, the City has determined that university -affiliated housing may be included as an ancillary use within an overall university campus.
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The proposed Project will confirm the City’s previous determinations regarding the allowance for university -affiliated housing and will clarify the process used to consider and approve such projects.
While future development within the R -T Park could result in poten tial environmental effects, approving the proposed amendments themselves will not, because the proposed amendments do not, in and of themselves, apply to any physical development or use. To the extent that individual projects are proposed in the future, in cluding but not limited to an administrative use permit (AUP) for an expanded CHSU campus, those projects will be assessed and required to comply with the provisions of CEQA . Increases in intensity and density will be reviewed at the time of project submission and mitigated accordingly.
The Project amendments merely create a framework that achieves consistency between the City’s planning documents as they relate to the R -T Park and clarify the City’s policy previous interpretations. As such, the proposed amendments will permit future applications to apply for development within the plan area but will not intensify existing uses at the time the proposed amendments are approved.
Projects within the plan area will require discretionary or ministerial review and will require the appropriate land use applications. Discretionary projects will be evaluated pursuant to the requirements of CEQA , and the appropriate level of environmenta l review will be completed when the scope and impacts of each individual application are known.
Based on these factors, the City may determine that the proposed Project amendments are consistent with the City’s General Plan and that potential impacts associated with the project were evaluated in the EIR ’s prepared in conjunction with the 2001 and 2009 actions to establish the R-T Park and the 2014 General Plan EIR. No impacts peculiar to the Project, or impacts not previously evaluated, have been identifi ed. Therefore, the proposed amendments for the R -T Park Cleanup are exempt from CEQA pursuant to a Finding of Consistency with the City’s General Plan set forth in section 15183 of the CEQA Guidelines.
Date: June 27, 2024
Prepared By: McKencie Perez, MPA
Submitted By: McKencie Perez, MPA, Senior Planner
City of Clovis Planning & Development Services
(559) 324-2310
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Exhibit A
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