3A Public Hearing 2010 0503 - Laserfiche WebLink

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significant but mitigable traffic noise, public service (school), and wastewater impacts. This alternative is rejected as infeasible because it would not achieve any of the City's or the Project sponsor's objectives for the Project. The No Project/Existing Zoning Alternative would not include retail, mixed-use housing or a hotel, or the Kaiser Medical Center, it would not provide the surrounding communities with any of the identified needs for retail or medical services, nor would it provide the tax base or the types of jobs to the community that are identified in the project objectives. 35. Under Alternative 3: Reduced Project, the same uses proposed under the proposed project would occur (Mixed -Use Retail Development on the northern portion of the project site and the Kaiser Medical Center on the southern portion of the project site), but the square footage of all uses would be reduced by approximately 20 percent. In addition, this alternative would not include future expansion of the Kaiser Medical Center as proposed under Build -Out of the proposed project. The Reduced Project Alternative would result in a reduction in traffic when compared to the proposed project. This reduction in traffic would reduce air quality and climate change impacts. However, these impacts would still be significant and unavoidable. Because the significant and unavoidable impacts associated with air emissions and traffic would be less severe under the Reduced Project Alternative it would be considered the environmentally superior alternative. Although the Reduced Project Alternative meets most of the project objectives (as it includes some form or combination of retail, mixed-use, and medical uses), this alternative is rejected as infeasible because it would not allow for full development of the proposed uses. The Reduced Project Alternative would not allow for buildout of the Kaiser Medical Center, and would therefore not meet the project objective of meeting the future needs of the Kaiser Permanente members. It is essential to Kaiser's future operations to have those future uses identified under buildout of the Medical Center as close as possible to the new hospital because of Kaiser's integrated care delivery model. Furthermore, the Reduced Project Alternative would not maximize sales tax revenue and the property tax base for the City, a primary objective of the Project. It would also create fewer jobs for the community. 36. Under Alternative 4: Additional Site Access from Merced Street Alternative, the same uses and same square footages of uses as proposed under the proposed project would occur (Mixed -Use Retail Development on the northern portion of the project site and the Kaiser Medical Center on the southern portion of the project site), but an additional access point would be provided from Merced Street. This access would be provided by the construction of a new roadway east into the project site, north of the Republic Avenue extension, through an adjacent parcel known as the Foundry site. The Additional Site Access from Merced Street Alternative would result in the same environmental impacts as would the proposed project, except that the levels of service for the Republic Avenue/Merced Street intersection would improve as a portion of the traffic would be diverted into the new project access driveway prior to the Republic Avenue intersection. This alternative is rejected as infeasible because implementation of this Alternative would require the acquisition of additional property (the project proponent does not own this property), and potentially the demolition of buildings on the adjacent parcel. -19-