3A Public Hearing 2010 0503 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Tucker, LLP (representing ICI Development Company and P.H. Holdings LP); Gary E. Kruger, T.E.; and Hilton Garden Inn/San Leandro and San Leandro Marina Inn. Additional oral comments were provided at the San Leandro Planning Commission's regular meeting held on February 18, 2010. Responses to all of the comments provided by these agencies and individuals are provided in the Final EIR document, including certain revisions and changes to text in the Draft EIR. None of these changes to the Draft EIR involve a new significant environmental impact, a substantial increase in the severity of an environmental impact, or a feasible mitigation measure or alternative considerably different from that presented in the Draft EIR. Recirculation of the Draft EIR is not warranted. One of the issues raised in the letter from Bayfair Center indicates that the DEIR is inadequate because it does not address the potential that the project's proposed retail development "will severely impact existing retail centers in San Leandro and the vicinity, and result in blight and urban decay due to store closures, empty storefronts and vacant spaces." To respond to this issue, staff retained the economics firm of Keyser Marston Associates (KMA) to undertake a review of the trade area and its demographics; to quantify the retail spending power in the trade areas and compare them to Bayfair sales and potential sales at the Kaiser Site; to review all of the competitive retail centers in the field; and to reviewed the experience at Eastmont Mall and Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza as it pertains to urban decay. The KMA analysis concluded the following: Since the Mixed -Use Retail Development identified in the DEIR could feature a variety of potential retail concepts with markedly different potential impacts on existing retailers, it is premature to conclude as to potential urban decay impacts; • The analysis provided in the Bayfair Center letter is inconclusive in demonstrating the potential for urban decay even for a retail concept that would be potentially competitive with Bayfair; • Even if the retail concept focused on store types represented at Bayfair (not assured), the share of trade area sales at the Kaiser Site would be small, at about 10% of trade area potential for these stores; this would not be a dominant center and would not, therefore, likely cause urban decay. • Bayfair currently captures only a small share of retail spending for shoppers' goods by residents of the Bayfair trade area; therefore, it is unrealistic to portray that a high proportion of retail sales at the Kaiser Site, even if focused on similar store types, would be at the expense of Bayfair; • Data indicate that the trade area within a ten minute drive time of the Kaiser Site is underserved for shoppers' goods, with sales potential exceeding sales by more than $200 million annually; therefore, retail at the Kaiser Site focused on shoppers' goods could serve an unmet demand; • The Eastmont and Crenshaw examples do not in the least support an urban decay finding for this project. Planning Commission Staff Report April 22, 2010 Kaiser Permanente San Leandro Medical Center and Mixed Use Retail Development Project Page 14 of 28