Development Plan Application No. 21-04

2024110582

City of Industry

NOE - Notice of Exemption

11/19/2024

11/19/2024

Eduardo Manriquez

City of Industry

Contract Associate Planner

Lead/Public Agency

15625 Mayor Dave Way
City of Industry, CA 91744

(626) 333-2211

emanriquez@cityofindustry.org

34°0'6.8"N 117°53'52.6"W

Epperson Drive & Arenth Avenue

91748

5.89

8264019015

State Route 60

Union Pacific Railroad

710 Epperson Dr, City of Industry, CA 91748

Categorical Exemption

15332 (Class 32)

Section 15332 of the CEQA Guidelines identifies the Class 32categorical exemption for projects characterized as infill development. This exemption is intended to promote infill development within urbanized areas. The class consists of environmentally benign infill projects which are consistent with local general plan and zoning requirements. This class is not intended to be applied to projects which would result in any significant traffic, noise, air quality, or water quality effects. Such projects must meet conditions (a) through (e) described in the analysis below. (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 General Plan land use designation for the Property is “Employment.” The existing use of the Project site is a cold storage warehouse that includes some office space. Uses allowed in the Employment land use designation include industrial manufacturing, assembly, printing, machining, milling, welding, research and development, distribution, warehousing, storage, and supporting office uses, along with any of the uses permitted in the Commercial land use designation. The proposed Project is an allowable use in the Employment land use designation in that a warehouse is a permitted use, and the proposed Project is for the expansion of an existing warehouse. Additionally, the Project is consistent with General Plan Policy LU5, in that Project provides a building expansion that will be of high architectural design, along with new infrastructure that will enhance the Property’s value due to the increase in square footage. The value of new construction is added to the existing improvement assessed value. Also, the new development is consistent with Policy LU2-6, which states the City should “[s]upport the use of energy-saving designs and equipment in all new development and rehabilitation or reconstruction projects” the new building will be solar ready, thereby supporting the use of an of an energy saving design. The Project is in conformance with the City’s applicable development standards outlined in the Zoning Code. This includes setbacks, building height, parking, and landscape standards. The Project consists of a 39,471 square foot expansion to an existing 60,896 square-foot cold storage warehouse along with demolition of 3,378 square-feet of office space which is in accord with the objectives of the Zoning Code in that the Zoning Code designates the Project Site as Industrial. (b) The proposed development occurs within city limits on a project site of no more than five acres surrounded by urban uses. The proposed expansion occurs within the City limits on a Project site that is 5.89 acres and is surrounded by urban uses to the north, south, east, and west. The Property is rectangularly shaped and is north of Arenth Road and west of Epperson Drive. While the project is located on a 5.89-acre property, the actual construction will occur on only a portion of the 5.89 acres. The Project consists of an expansion of 36,093 square-feet of actual building and will only disturb .87 acres of site, and therefore the infill exemption may be utilized. (c) The project site has no value as habitat for endangered, rare, or threatened species. Pursuant to the General Plan Element 3. Resource Management Section 3.1: “[s]ince the city is urbanized and largely built out, it does not contain significant biological resources”. Consistent with the observation made in the general plan, the Project site is developed with an existing industrial building, and was previously disturbed for the construction of that building. Given the built out nature of the site, and the fact that the site is surrounded by developed, industrial uses, the Project site has no value as habitat for endangered, rare, or threatened species and does not contain any endangered habitat. (d) Approval of the project would not result in any significant effects relating to traffic, noise, air quality, or water quality. Traffic – Less than significant traffic impacts are anticipated because the proposed development does not exceed the City’s adopted VMT baseline and thresholds of significance and was screened out for further traffic analysis. Noise – There will be less than significant impacts to noise because the proposed Project is located in an urbanized industrial area that currently generates noise from traffic, roads, and the surrounding industrial businesses. Based on the foregoing, the impacts to noise will be negligible and not be any more significant than what the area already produces. Potential noise impacts will be further mitigated by the LA County Noise Ordinance and through the implementation of best management practices required for construction. Also, conditions of approval will be attached requiring the Applicant, property owner, construction contractors, and business owners to comply with the Los Angeles County Noise Ordinance (Los Angeles County Code, Section 2.08.390). Air Quality – There will be less than significant impacts to air quality because the temporary construction and post construction operations will not exceed the threshold of significance and will be conditioned (in the attached conditions of approval) that the Applicant, property owner, construction contractors, and business owners will be required to comply with the requirements of the California State Building Code, all State and Federal standards regarding air quality, and the City’s General Plan and Code. Furthermore, the Project will continue to operate as an industrial use as it has operated since 1989. Water Quality – There will be less than significant impacts to water quality because the Project will comply with all requirements set forth by the Los Angeles County Regional Water Quality Control Board and Best Management Practices (BMPs). Also, the Project is required to have an approved Low impact Development (LID) Plan and Water Quality Management Plan approved by the Engineering Department to construct and has already received said approval. (e) The site can be adequately served by all required utilities and public services. The Project site is in an area where all public services and facilities are available to allow for maximum development permissible in the General Plan. All roads and utilities are existing and maintained by the City and the respective utility entities, and have served the industrial use for many years and are suitable for the expansion of the building.