Environmental Assessment No. P23-04759/P23-01108

2023080446

City of Fresno

NOE - Notice of Exemption

8/21/2023

8/21/2023

Brittany Martin

City of Fresno

Planner I

Lead/Public Agency

2600 Fresno St Third Floor, Suite 3043
Fresno, CA 93721

(559) 621-8059

brittany.martin@fresno.gov

36°44'4.6"N 119°41'47.1"W

East Kings Canyon Road and South Clovis Avenue

93727

2.83

70

474-030-54

State Highway 180

Southern Pacific Railroad

John S. Wash Elementary, Fancher Creek Elementary

Fresno Irrigation District, Fancher No. 6, St George N. 12, Briggs No. 7

14S

21E

9

Categorical Exemption

Section 15332/Class 32

Section 15332/Class 32 (Class 32/In-Fill Development Projects) of the CEQA Guidelines exempts from the provisions of CEQA, projects characterized as in-fill development, which meet the following conditions: a) The project is consistent with the applicable general plan designation and all applicable general plan policies as well as with applicable zoning designation and regulations. The proposed project (General Retail) will meet all the provisions of the Fresno Municipal Code. The project is consistent with the Fresno General Plan designation, policies, and zoning. The existing CMX (Corridor/Center Mixed-Use) zone district is consistent with the Mixed Use- Corridor/Center planned land use designation approved for this site by the Fresno General Plan, Roosevelt Community Plan, and the Fresno County Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan. b) The proposed development occurs within city limits on a project site of no more than five acres substantially surrounded by urban uses. The proposed project (General Retail) is located within the city limits, occurs on a vacant site of approximately 2.83 acres, which is less than the five-acre maximum, and is surrounded by a commercial retail shopping center. c) The project has no value as habitat for endangered, rare, or threatened species. The site is currently vacant. The Fresno Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) did not identify this site as habitat for rare or threatened species. Surrounding developments consists of commercial retail shopping center with existing restaurants, tenant spaces, and retail stores; therefore, it has no value as habitat for endangered, rare, or threatened species. d) Approval of the project would not result in any significant effects relating to traffic, noise, air quality, or water quality. The proposed project was routed to the San Joaquin Air Pollution Control District, the city of Fresno Public Utilities Department-Water Division, Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District, and no significant effects were identified relating to traffic, noise, air quality, or water quality. Traffic Senate Bill (SB) 743, signed in 2013, changes how transportation studies are conducted in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documents. Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) replaces motorist delay and level of service (LOS) as the metric for impact determination. VMT measures how much actual auto travel (additional miles driven) a proposed project would create on California roads. If the project adds excessive car travel onto our roads, the project may cause a significant transportation impact. The State CEQA Guidelines were amended to implement SB 743, by adding Section 15064.3. Among its provisions, Section 15064.3 confirms that, except with respect to transportation projects, a project’s effect on automobile delay shall not constitute a significant environmental impact. Therefore, LOS measures of impacts on traffic facilities is no longer a relevant CEQA criteria for transportation impacts. CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.3(b)(4) states that “[a] lead agency has discretion to evaluate a project’s vehicle miles traveled, including whether to express the change in absolute terms, per capita, per household or in any other measure. A lead agency may use models to estimate a project’s vehicle miles traveled and may revise those estimates to reflect professional judgment based on substantial evidence. Any assumptions used to estimate used to estimate vehicle miles traveled and any revision to model outputs should be documented and explained in the environmental document prepared for the project. The standard of adequacy in Section 15151 shall apply to the analysis described in this section.” On June 25, 2020, the City of Fresno adopted CEQA Guidelines for Vehicle Miles Traveled Thresholds, dated June 25, 2020, pursuant to Senate Bill 743 to be effective of July 1, 2020. The thresholds described therein are referred to herein as the City of Fresno VMT Thresholds. The City of Fresno VMT Thresholds document was prepared and adopted consistent with the requirements of CEQA Guidelines Sections 15064.3 and 15064.7. The December 2018 Technical Advisory on Evaluating Transportation Impacts in CEQA (Technical Advisory) published by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), was utilized as a reference and guidance document in the preparation of the Fresno VMT Thresholds. The City of Fresno VMT Thresholds adopted a screening standard and criteria that can be used to screen out qualified projects that meet the adopted criteria from needing to prepare a detailed VMT analysis. The City of Fresno VMT Thresholds Section 3.0 regarding Project Screening discusses a variety of projects that may be screened out of a VMT analysis including specific development and transportation projects. For development projects, conditions may exist that would presume that a development project has a less than significant impact. These may be size, location, proximity to transit, or trip-making potential. For transportation projects, the primary attribute to consider with transportation projects is the potential to increase vehicle travel, sometimes referred to as “induced travel.” Staff utilized the Fresno Council of Governments (COG) Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Screening Tool to determine the VMT for the proposed project. The adopted threshold of significance is 13%, which means that projects that generate VMT in excess of 13% than the existing regional VMT per capita or per employee would have a significant environmental impact; projects that meet the 13% threshold are determined to have a less than significant effect on regional VMT. According to the VMT screening tool, the proposed Tractor Supply project is located within a medium-VMT zone and is estimated to generate 24.42 VMT, lower than the 25.60 VMT (13%) threshold. The proposed project was eligible to screen out because the project meets the criteria described in the adopted guidelines of including less than 500 Active Daily Trips (ADT). A trip generation study, provided by KD Anderson & Associates, Inc, dated August 29, 2022, (KDA Report) was prepared for a Tractor Supply Store in Visalia, CA. The KDA Report, states the Tractor Supply project would generate approximately 119 to 192 new average daily trips net new weekday, 0 new AM peak hour, and 33 new PM peak hour trips. Small projects that generate or attract fewer than 110 trips per day generally may be assumed to cause a less-than significant transportation impact, which is lower than 13% VMT threshold. Therefore, the proposed project would not result in any significant traffic impacts based on the City of Fresno’s adopted thresholds and guidelines for VMT analyses. Noise The project is a new retail store development. The project site is located in a developed shopping center adjacent to existing residential uses and vacant lots; therefore, the project would not result in a significant amount of noise compared to the other adjacent uses and would be conditioned to comply with any applicable noise standards of the Citywide Development Code. Air Quality The project is conditioned to comply with any applicable regulations and conditions from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and the project is subject to review by the agency in regard to air quality during construction and operation. No significant air quality impacts were identified the air district. Water Quality The site has been reviewed and conditioned by the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District, Fresno County Public Health, and the City of Fresno Public Utilities in regard to water quality. The surrounding properties have been substantially developed and therefore utilities and public services infrastructure exists in the area. Therefore, no significant water quality impacts were identified. None of the exceptions to Categorical Exemptions outlined in the CEQA Guidelines, Section 15300.2 apply to the project. Furthermore, the proposed project is not expected to affect the environment significantly. A categorical exemption, as noted above, has been prepared for the project, and the area is not environmentally sensitive.