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Date: June 6, 2023
Prepared by: Konnie Dobreva, JD
To: City of Signal Hill
Community Development Department
2175 Cherry Avenue
Signal Hill, CA 90755
Project
Location:
2201 Cherry Avenue
Signal Hill, CA 90755
Subject: CEQA Class 1 Exemption – 2201 Cherry Avenue Project The Long Beach Firefighters Association (LBFFA) (Applicant) is seeking approval from the City of Signal Hill for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to operate as a Club/Lodge to allow the continued accessory use of their office headquarters as an event space. For large events, defined as groups of 55 persons and over, the applicant would be required to execute a License Agreement with the City for use of the adjacent City parking lots on North Legion Drive during the large events (Project, proposed Project). The Project does not include any physical changes to the Project site. The City of Signal Hill is the Lead Agency for the proposed Project. The Lead Agency will utilize this document as evidence that the proposed Project qualifies for a Categorical Exemption – Class 1 Existing Facility Exemption – from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which is further described below.
Project Description
The proposed Project site is located at 2201 Cherry Avenue, Signal Hill, California, 90755 in the southwest portion of the City of Signal Hill in Los Angeles County. The Project site is identified as Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN) 7215-003-009. The Project site is shown in Figure 1, Local Vicinity.
The site has a General Plan land use designation of High Density Residential and a zoning designation of Commercial Residential (CR). As it relates to the Project, the CR zone is intended to provide for limited small scale commercial and office uses along, or in conjunction with, medium density residential uses. The use of Club/Lodge is a conditionally permitted use under the CR zone.
Areas immediately north of the Project site include multi-family residential uses, designated as High Density Residential land use and zoned as CR. The area immediately east of the Project site consists of Cherry Avenue followed by multifamily residential uses designated as High Density Residential land use and zoned as Residential High Density (RH). The area to the west of the site consists of North Legion Drive followed by an upper and lower level City owned and operated surface parking lot designated as Public Institutional land use and zoned Public Institutional (PI). The area to the south of the site consists of a City park and Signal Hill City Hall and Civic Center designated as Public Institutional land Use and zoned PI.
The Applicant, LBFFA, is requesting approval of a CUP to allow for the continued use of their office space to hold private club events. Additionally, as part of the club and events use, LBFFA is requesting use of the adjacent City parking lots on North Legion Drive for spillover parking during large events (55 persons and over). The Project would not include any physical changes to the Project site. The Project site encompasses approximately 0.24-acre and is developed with an existing 8,442 SF building that is currently being shared Attachment C
Categorical Exemption – Class 1
City of Signal Hill 2201 Cherry Avenue Project
2 by three tenants. LBFFA occupies approximately 7,417 SF of tenant space as the Long Beach Fire Fighters Local 372 Office Headquarters and leases the remaining office space to two tenants. Approximately 4,382 SF of the LBFFA tenant space is designated for office space use while the remaining 3,035 SF is dedicated for meeting and event space.
LBFFA has owned and occupied space in the building since 2017 where they have regularly held private club events. Larger events (defined as 55 persons and over) are held approximately 10 times per year while smaller events are held weekly to a few times a month. All events are held fully indoors within the LBFFA meeting space. The Project has been conditioned to limit the number of large events annually to no more than 10 and to require all events end at or before 10 p.m.
The site is improved with sidewalks and landscaping including trees, turf grass, and other ornamental vegetation as well as an illuminated tenant monument sign on Cherry Avenue. Access to the site is provided via two driveways on East Hill Street. Both driveways lead to a tuck-under enclosed parking garage with a total of 26 parking stalls, inclusive of one accessible stall. The two adjacent parking lots on North Legion Drive provide a combined total of 71 stalls of which 3 are accessible stalls. The lots are currently used daily for City Hall employee parking between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. with the majority of spaces in the upper lot unused on a daily basis.
Class 1 Existing Facility Exemption
Article 19 of the CEQA Guidelines includes, as required by Public Resources Code Section 21084, a list of classes of projects which have been determined not to have a significant effect on the environment. This document demonstrates that the proposed Project qualifies for a Categorical Exemption as an Existing Facility (Class 1 Exemption), consistent with the provisions of CEQA Guidelines Sections 15301 and 15300.2 and provides information for City decisionmakers to find that the proposed Project is exempt under CEQA.
Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301, a Class 1 Exemption consists of the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of existing or former use. The types of "existing facilities" itemized in the CEQA Guidelines are not intended to be allinclusive of the types of projects which might fall within Class 1 Exemption. The key consideration is whether the project involves negligible or no expansion of use. According to Section 15302 (e)(2), expansions of use are considered negligible if additions to existing structures will not result in an increase of more than 10,000 square feet (SF) and the project site is (A) in an area where all public services and facilities are available to allow for maximum development permissible in the General Plan and (B) the area in which the project site is located is not environmentally sensitive.
The City of Signal Hill determined that the proposed Project would not result in any significant effects on the environment. This finding is supported by the analysis provided in Table 1, Environmental Impact Analysis, below. The City of Signal Hill makes the following findings in support of the Class 1 Exemption (refer to CEQA Guidelines §15301):
This project is categorically exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Article 19, Section 15301 Class 1 as an Existing Facility (Class 1 Exemption). The proposed Project qualifies for the Class 1 categorical exemption because it consists of the continuation of event and office uses in an existing commercial building and does not involve expansion of the existing building or require offsite utility improvements.
Categorical Exemption – Class 1
City of Signal Hill 2201 Cherry Avenue Project
3 None of the exceptions to the exemptions as set forth in State CEQA Guidelines Section 15300.2 apply.
Specifically, the proposed Project:
a. Is not located in a particularly sensitive environment. The subject site is located in an urbanized area where all necessary public services and facilities are available, and the surrounding area is not environmentally sensitive.
b. There is no possibility of a cumulative impact of the same type of project in the same place over time. The proposed Project involves the continuation of event and office uses in an existing commercial building. Once the Project is completed, the likelihood of a successive project on this site is low and probability of a cumulative impact is low.
c. No Significant Effect. No adverse environmental impacts will occur as a result of the proposed Project’s continued use of the existing building for events and its use of the adjacent City parking lots for large event parking.
d. Would not damage scenic resources, including but not limited to, trees, historic buildings, rock outcroppings, or similar resources, within a highway officially designated as a state scenic highway. e. Is not located on a site which is included on any list compiled pursuant to Section 65962.5 of the Government Code.
f. Would not cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of a historical resource.
The proposed Project would not meet any of the conditions of exceptions, and therefore, would qualify for a Class 1 Exemption.
Categorical Exemption – Class 1
City of Signal Hill 2201 Cherry Avenue Project
4 Figure 1 – Local Vicinity
Categorical Exemption – Class 1
City of Signal Hill 2201 Cherry Avenue Project
5 Environmental Analysis
The discussion in Table 1 below compares the environmental impacts of the proposed Project to the existing conditions.
Table 1: Environmental Impact Analysis
Environmental Topic Impacts
Aesthetics: No impact. The Project does not propose any physical exterior or interior improvements to the Project site or existing building.
Agriculture and Forest Resources: No impact. The Project would not result in land use changes or ground disturbance.
Air Quality: No impact. The Project would not require construction or changes in existing operation of the Project site.
Biological Resources: No impact. The Project would not result in construction or changes to existing vegetation on the Project site.
Cultural Resources: No impact. The Project would not result in construction or ground disturbance.
Energy: No impact. The Project would not require construction or changes in existing operation of the Project site.
Geology/Soils: No impact. The Project would not result in construction or ground disturbance.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions: No impact. The Project would not require construction or changes in existing operation of the Project site.
Hazards and Hazardous Materials: No impact. The Project would not result in the use or transport of hazardous materials.
Hydrology/Water Quality: No impact. The Project would not result in construction or changes to site hydrology and water quality.
Land Use/Planning: No impact. The Project would not result in land use changes.
Mineral Resources: No impact. The Project would not result in mineral extraction.
Noise: Less than significant impact. Noise is regulated in Signal Hill by Chapter 9.16 (Noise) of the Signal Hill Municipal Code (SHMC) which prohibits the generation of any loud, unnecessary, or unusual noise which disturbs the peace or quiet of any neighborhood or which causes discomfort or annoyance to any reasonable person of normal sensitiveness in the area.
The Project involves a request for a CUP to allow the continued use of events in the LBFFA’s event space. Large events (55 persons or more) would occur a maximum of 10 times per year while smaller events are anticipated to occur weekly to several times per month. All events would occur fully indoors within the LBFFA event space. Additionally, the Project has been conditioned to limit Categorical Exemption – Class 1
City of Signal Hill 2201 Cherry Avenue Project
6 event hours to 10:00 p.m. and to monitor activity, parking location, and noise in the parking areas during events. If noise nuisances occur the City may withdraw the allowance to use the parking areas. The use would also be subject to the SHMC Noise
Standards of Chapter 9.16 and any nuisances will be cited under Code Enforcement procedures. Overall, the continued use of the building to hold club events would result in less than significant impacts related to noise.
Population/Housing: No impact. The Project would not result in changes to population or housing.
Public Services: No impact. The Project would not result in changes to public services.
Recreation: No impact. The Project would not result in changes to public recreation facilities.
Transportation: No impact. The Project would not result in changes to existing site access. The site is currently accessed via two driveways on East Hill Street which lead to a tuck-under enclosed parking garage.
Parking is not covered under CEQA, thus, the following discussion is provided for informational purposes only. There are 26 existing parking spaces on-site. The SHMC requires one parking space per 250 SF of gross floor area of office space. Therefore, the designated office space would require 18 spaces (4,382 SF / 250 SF = 17.5). The SHMC does not have parking requirements for meeting/event space or for clubs. However, the SHMC does include parking standards for commercial uses that are not specifically listed at one parking space per 250 SF of gross floor area. This would mean the meeting/club space would require 12 spaces (3,035 SF / 250 = 12.1). In total, the Project would require 30 parking spaces. However, in 1973, a parking variance was approved for the building which required 26 total spaces. Since LBFFA occasionally holds larger events (55 persons and over) which would require additional parking, the Project has been conditioned to require events greater than 55 persons to utilize the adjacent City parking lots on Legion Drive for spillover parking. Use of the adjacent City parking lots on Legion Drive during large events would not result in significant impacts related to transportation. Additionally, the LBFFA already holds regular private club events, therefore, no change to circulation and access would occur with implementation of the Project. As discussed previously the Project has been conditioned to require monitoring of parking activity and location during events, and impacts are not anticipated replated to transportation. Overall, impacts related to transportation would be less than significant.
Tribal Cultural Resources: No impact. The Project would not result in construction or ground disturbance.
Utilities/Service Systems: No impact. The Project would not result in the construction or relocation of utility systems.
Categorical Exemption – Class 1
City of Signal Hill 2201 Cherry Avenue Project
7 Wildfire: No impact. The Project would not result in construction or changes to the site that could exacerbate the risk of wildfire.