EIR No. 25-003
Pacific Airshow
City Council Meeting
September 2, 2025
EIR No. 25-003 (Pacific Airshow)
• Analyzes and discloses the potential environmental impacts associated with the Pacific Airshow
– Project Description includes new airshow activities
• Impacts – EIR analyzes 6 environmental impact areas
– Significance of impacts based on established thresholds – In CEQA terms, impacts categorized as:
• No impact
• Less than significant
• Less than significant with incorporation of mitigation measures • Potentially significant
• Mitigation Measures
– Mitigation Measures identified to reduce level of significance or minimize less than significant impacts (wildlife hazards & biological monitoring) • Significant and Unavoidable Impacts – potentially significant impacts that cannot be feasibly mitigated to a less than significant level
Topical Issues Analyzed
Issues Analyzed in the Initial Study and
determined to have No Impact or LTS
Impact
• Aesthetics
• Agriculture and Forestry Resources
• Cultural Resources
• Energy
• Geology & Soils/Mineral Resources
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Hydrology and Water Quality
• Land Use & Planning
• Population & Housing
• Public Services
• Utilities & Services systems
• Wildfire
Issues Analyzed in the EIR
• Air Quality
• Biological Resources
• Hazards and Hazardous Materials
• Noise
• Transportation
• Tribal Cultural Resources
Significant and Unavoidable Impacts
• Air Quality
– Operation emissions estimates from increased mobile source emissions (i.e. – vehicle trips) would continue to exceed daily emissions thresholds for criteria pollutants VOC, Nox, CO
• Hazards & Hazardous Materials
– Emergency evacuation
– Lack of significance thresholds
– Difficult to assume the wide range of possible emergency conditions, number and location of increased population during airshow activities, and probable increase in response times
– Emergency response measures recommended to compliment the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan and airshow evacuation plan
• Noise & Vibration
– Noise and vibration from multi-day music festival would exceed established noise standards
– Mitigation is proposed to minimize impacts, but would remain significant Alternatives
CEQA requires an EIR to identify and analyze a reasonable range of alternatives to the project that would:
– Feasibly obtain most of the objectives of the project – Avoid or substantially lessen any of the significant effects of the project, as proposed
The Draft Program EIR evaluated 3 Alternatives:
• Alternative 1: No Project/ No Airshow
– Assumes no airshow would occur for the foreseeable future – Required by CEQA
• Alternative 2: 2023 Airshow – assumes 2023 version of the Airshow with none of the new airshow activities described in the project description • Alternative 3: Reduced Project – assumes reduced size of Airshow with no military aircraft or equivalent noise-producing jets
Final EIR
• Includes Draft Program EIR (made available for public review from February 20th through April 7th)
• Comments on the Draft Program EIR
• Responses to comments on the Draft Program EIR
• Text changes to the Draft Program EIR
• Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program
Statement of Overriding
Considerations
• If the lead agency determines that it is infeasible to mitigate a significant environmental impact, the agency must adopt a “statement of overriding considerations.”
– The lead agency finds that specific overriding economic, legal, social, technological, or other benefits of the project outweigh the significant effects on the environment.
Recommended Action
• Recommend certification of EIR No. 25-003 because:
– It adequately analyzes the potential environmental impacts associated with the Pacific Airshow
– Identifies project alternatives pursuant to CEQA
– Provides mitigation measures to lessen the project’s impacts – Has been prepared in accordance with the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
• Approve CEQA Findings of Fact and Statement of Overriding Considerations
Questions?