Conditional Use Permit No. P23-02781 - Cedar Avenue Storage

2024030636

City of Fresno

NOE - Notice of Exemption

3/19/2024

3/19/2024

Valeria Ramirez

City of Fresno

Planner

Lead/Public Agency

2600 Fresno St.
Fresno, CA 93721

(559) 621-8246

valeria.ramirez@fresno.gov

36°50'32.8"N 119°45'28.4"W

Cedar & Spruce Avenues

93720

4.21

40403068

State Highway 41

Fresno Christian, Lincoln, Kastner, Yosemite Valley, Eaton

12 S

20 E

35

M Diablo

Categorical Exemption

15332

This project is categorically exempt under Section 15332/Class 32 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines as follows: Under Section 15303/Class 32, the proposed project is exempt from CEQA requirements when the project is characterized as in-fill development meeting 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. By current standards, the subject site is identified as “in-fill” within an urban setting. This project is located on a site within the City limits and is consistent with the Fresno General Plan designation, policies, and zoning. The existing O/UGM (Office/Urban Growth Management) zone districts are consistent with the Employment – Office planned land use designations approved for this site by the Fresno General Plan, Woodward Park 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 State of California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research states that infill development refers to “building within unused and underutilized lands within existing development patterns, typically but not exclusively in urban areas. The proposed project is located within city limits, occurs on a vacant site of approximately 4.21-acres (less than the five-acre maximum). 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 existing offices, storage facility, church, and multi-family residential; 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 Valley 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, as provided in detail below. Traffic Senate Bill (SB) 743 requires that relevant CEQA analysis of transportation impacts be conducted using a metric known as vehicle miles traveled (VMT) instead of Level of Service (LOS). 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 are 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 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 effective on 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.” Based upon the City of Fresno’s adopted VMT thresholds and guidelines, screening of projects is permitted if a project qualifies as a low trip generator (less than 500 daily trips generated). The proposed personal (mini) storage facility project will generate 217 average daily trips with 17 trips during the morning peak hours and 17 daily trips during the afternoon peak hours, which is less than the established threshold, Given the adopted significance threshold criteria of the City of Fresno, staff determined that the proposed project can be screened out from further VMT impact analysis and therefore would not result in any significant traffic impacts based upon the City of Fresno’s adopted thresholds and guidelines for VMT analyses. Noise The project is a personal (mini) storage use. Typical noise from the project would be transportation related noise from vehicles entering and exiting the facility. 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. e) The site can be adequately served by all required utilities and public services. The project has been routed to various utilities and public service providers which have provided project conditions for development of the project. The site has been reviewed and conditioned by the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District, Fresno County Environmental Health Division, City of Fresno Public Works Department, City of Fresno Public Utilities Department, and the City of Fresno Fire Department. In addition, given the surrounding properties and neighborhood have been substantially developed and utilities and public services already exist in the area, and as stated in the Findings for CEQA Section 15303 above, the site can be adequately served by all required utilities, including sewer, water, and solid waste, as well as public services. The project has met the described conditions to be characterized as in-fill development and is therefore categorically exempt pursuant to Section 15303/Class 3 and Section 15332/Class 32. None of the exceptions to Categorical Exemptions set forth in the CEQA Guidelines, Section 15300.2 apply to the project. Furthermore, the proposed project is not expected to have a significant effect on the environment. A categorical exemption, as noted above, has been prepared for the project and the area is not environmentally sensitive.