HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-25-2014 th cal poly housing project
FROM: Derek Johnson, Community Development Director
Prepared By: Kim Murry, Deputy Director, Long Range Planning
SUBJECT: CAL POLY PROPOSED HOUSING SOUTH DORM PROJECT
RECOMMENDATION
Receive public input that will help to inform the City’s comments in response to Cal Poly’s
Recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report.
DISCUSSION
Background
Cal Poly is proposing to construct 1,475 beds of freshmen housing and a 300-500 space parking
structure on a 12-acre site that currently provides 1,324 surface parking spaces for staff, campus
residents and the general student population. A draft environmental impact report (EIR) was
prepared and circulated for the project and the City provided a response (Attachment 1). Cal Poly
considered additional alternatives for the project and is recirculating the Draft EIR as required by
state law. This recirculation provides an opportunity for the City to provide additional comments
regarding potential environmental impacts and possible mitigations.
Process
The City has the ability and responsibility to provide a response to the Draft EIR that describes
potential impacts that have not been adequately addressed by the environmental document. The
purpose of this Town Hall meeting is to provide a forum for the citizens of the City to express their
opinions on the project directly to the City Council and provide input so that the City’s response to
the recirculated Draft EIR is fully informed. The deadline for submitting comments is March 31,
2014 at 5 pm. Attachment 2 provides information regarding where and how to submit comments.
The Board of Trustees of the California State University will make the final determination
regarding the project. As a result, the City does not have land use authority over this project. The
recirculated Draft EIR will be submitted to the Trustees with the proposed project for approval later
this spring, after the responses have been developed to address comments submitted by the City,
other agencies, and the general public. The action taken by the Trustees will be to certify the EIR as
adequate (meaning it has fully described the potential environmental effects and offered mitigations
where possible) and to make a determination on the project itself. If there are remaining significant
environmental impacts, the Trustees will need to make a determination of overriding findings to
approve the project despite these potential impacts.
Meeting Date
Item Number March 25, 2014
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FISCAL IMPACT
To the extent that the Cal Poly project generates unmitigated impacts to City infrastructure and
services, there may be a financial impact to the City. This potential impact is unknown at this time.
ALTERNATIVES
The City does not have land use authority over the project but is working with Cal Poly to discuss
options to meet the mutual goals of the City and the University.
ATTACHMENTS
1. City comment letter on Draft EIR dated January 24, 2014
2. Notice of availability of Recirculated Draft EIR
AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW ON LINE
The project documents are available on Cal Poly’s website at the link below:
http://afd.calpoly.edu/facilities/facp_index.asp
T:\Council Agenda Reports\2014\2014-03-25 (Town Hall Mtg)\TownHallReport.docx
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