TO: PLANNING COMMISSION

FROM: JAYNI ALLSEP, CONTRACT PLANNER & ENVIRONMENTAL COORDINATOR

SUBJECT: FILE #30003: CONSIDER RECOMMENDATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL COORDINATOR REGARDING RECIRCULATION OF THE REVISED DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR THE TIBURON GLEN PRECISE DEVELOPMENT PLAN (PD #22) TO CREATE EIGHT BUILDING SITES ON A 26.03 ACRE PARCEL; 3700 BLOCK OF PARADISE DRIVE NEAR NORMAN WAY; XANADU PROPERTY HOLDINGS, INC., OWNERS; ASSESSOR’S PARCEL NO. 38-241-01

MEETING DATE: JULY 14, 2003

REPORT DATE:    JULY 10, 2003

Address: Vicinity of 3700 Block of Paradise Drive

Assessor’s Parcel Number: 39-241-01

File Number: 30003

General Plan: Low Density Residential

Zoning: RPD (Residential Planned Development)

Current Use: Vacant

Owners: Xanadu Property Holdings, Inc.

Applicant: Tom Newton, Planning Advisory Corporation

Date Complete: February 15, 2001

Xanadu Property Holdings, Inc. has applied for a Precise Development Plan for development of a 26.03-acre parcel into eight (8) single-family residential lots. The project site is located on the northeast side of the Tiburon Peninsula in the Town of Tiburon. The irregularly shaped parcel is situated on the southwest (upslope) side of Paradise Drive and wraps around the existing Norman Estates neighborhood.

The Town published and circulated a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) in September 2002 for the required 45-day public review and comment period. In addition, on October 9, 2002, the Planning Commission held a meeting to receive verbal comments on the DEIR. After the close of the public comment period on the September 2002 DEIR, the applicant submitted additional application materials. Based on these additional application materials, the Town determined that it would be necessary to revise the DEIR to reflect the new information and changes to the project proposed by the applicant.

The Town recirculated the revised DEIR was for public review and comment beginning on Friday, May 30, 2003 and ending on Monday, July 14, 2003. All comment letters on the revised DEIR received on or before July 8, 2003 are attached to this report. Letters received after July 8th will be forwarded to the Commission as they are received. Comments on the revised DEIR focus the topics listed below:

Traffic/Traffic Safety

Extent of grading, landslide repair and secondary impacts

Tree removal/ Tree mitigation

Sanitary Sewer Service

Cumulative and Growth Inducing Impacts

Most of these topics were also raised by comments on the September 2002 DEIR. The Commission should note that although comments submitted on the September 2002 DEIR are part of the administrative record, they do not require a written response in the Final EIR, since the Town recirculated the entire revised DEIR for public comment.

Summary of Key Findings of the Revised DEIR

 Land Use and Planning

Section 4.0 of the DEIR analyses of the project’s consistency with the Town’s General Plan and Zoning Ordinance, and the Marin County Paradise Drive Visioning Plan. The DEIR concludes that the proposed project would be inconsistent with several Town policies that discourage development on steep slopes and encourage development that minimizes grading to preserve existing landforms and other resources.

Section 4.0 of the revised DEIR also discusses prime open space. Diagram OSC-3 of the Open Space and Conservation Element identifies the subject property as "potential open space." The element lists several "characteristics and attributes" that make a site "worthy of permanent protection to the extent such protection is feasible" and to use during the Town’s development review process to evaluate prime open space. Based on these criteria, the DEIR concludes that several of the defining characteristics are present on the property, and the project site would qualify as "prime open space". Although the proposed project would convert approximately six acres of the lower portion of the site to residential use, 20 acres (77% of the site) would remain undeveloped, private open space preserved through establishment of conservation easements. These private open space areas would be contiguous to off-site public and private open space and would encompass most of the prime open space features present on the site, including significant ridgelines, views, sensitive vegetation, and drainageways.

Geology

The geotechnical reports and revised DEIR note that landslides of various types blanket parts of the site, both in and adjacent to areas of proposed development. Town policy requires the repair, elimination, improvement or avoidance of landslides on lots which could affect building envelopes, off-site properties, and public roadways.

Public comments on the September 2002 DEIR raised concerns regarding the extent of secondary biotic, hydrologic, and other impacts that could result from required landslide repair, which had not been fully described in the application materials. In response to these comments, the applicant submitted additional application materials to the Town, including a landslide repair program. The revised DEIR incorporates the additional information and addresses issues raised during the public comment period related to landslide repair. Based on the information provided with the December 2002 plans, landslides would be mitigated through a combination of grading, installation of sub-drains, catchment basins, retaining walls and other site improvements. A summary of the proposed landslide repair is provided on pages 5.1-13 and 5.1-14 of the revised DEIR. Grading for roadway and utility installation and landslide repair would involve an estimated 13,270 cubic yards of cut and 13,130 cubic yards of fill, resulting in 140 cubic yards of material to be exported. An additional 7,710 cubic yards of cut and 3,450 cubic yards of fill are estimated to be required for individual lot development. The area that would be disturbed by both applicant and lot-owner implemented development is estimated to be five acres.

The revised DEIR recommends mitigation measures that would reduce grading and other geologic impacts to less-than-significant levels. Secondary impacts from grading are discussed under the respective headings below.

Hydrology

Based on December 2002 plans submitted by the applicant, project implementation would result in coverage of an estimated 2.45 acres of impervious surface, an increase of approximately 10%. Project implementation would result in increases in the 100-year peak discharge ranging from 2.4 to 19%. While these increases are minor to moderate, it is not yet known whether the existing roadway culverts under Paradise Drive have adequate capacities to accommodate the increased flows without flooding. Although there is the potential for significant impacts to result from increased water runoff and erosion as a result of this project, the DEIR recommends mitigation measures that would reduce these impacts to less-than-significant levels. Mitigation measures include the replacement of the Paradise Drive culverts if it is determined they are of insufficient capacity to convey the sites 100-year peak flows.

The DEIR identifies several drainageways and six watersheds on the project site. In addition, a spring and two seeps are located on the property. Landslide repair work depicted on the December 2002 plans would slightly alter surface drainage characteristics of some of the drainageways on the site. Impacts on natural drainage channels and wetlands that are considered "Waters of the United States" or "jurisdictional waters", are discussed further below.

Vegetation and Wildlife

Three biotic habitats exist on the site. These include mixed coast live oak-bay woodland (22.09 acres), serpentine bunchgrass (3.51 acres), and freshwater wetland/aquatic (0.43 acres on-site, 0.13 acres off-site). Five special-status plants have been observed on the project site, all growing within the serpentine bunchgrass habitat, located on the higher elevations of Lots 3, 6 and 7. Two of these plants, the Marin dwarf flax and the Tiburon Indian paintbrush, have State and Federal listing status (i.e. threatened, endangered). Although there would be no direct permanent impact from project development on the site’s serpentine bunchgrass habitat, it is likely that there would be indirect impacts through incidental uses by individual lot owners once homes are occupied. In addition, installation of new waterlines could temporarily affect habitat for special-status plants in the serpentine areas due to trenching and grading associated with construction of these facilities. This impact can be mitigated to a less than significant level through the implementation of mitigation measures recommended by the DEIR.

Project implementation would impact approximately five acres of mixed coast live oak-bay woodland, resulting in the removal of an estimated 522 trees. Mitigation measures recommended in the DEIR would lessen the project’s impact on the oak-bay woodland by protecting trees to be preserved, and by selective removal and replacement of trees that are infected with Sudden Oak Death Syndrome (SODS) with oak species that are considered disease resistant. Although this mitigation would have long-term benefits to the habitat value of the woodland, the impact resulting from the removal of trees is considered significant and unavoidable due to the number of years that it would take for the replacement habitat to mature.

As noted above, there are at least five seasonal drainages and two seeps located on the project site. Project development would result in the loss of 0.87 acre of jurisdictional wetlands, primarily on Lot 1, Lot 3 and off-site east of Lot 7. Mitigation measures call of a Wetland Restoration Plan to minimize impacts on wetlands and compensate for lost wetland habitat. The EIR biologists surveyed the site and vicinity for the presence of the California red-legged frog (CRLF). No CRLF have been detected on or ever reported from the Tiburon Glen site or adjacent lands. The project site approximately two miles northwest of Keil Pond, the only known breeding habitat for the CRLF on the Tiburon Peninsula. Considerable development and roads exist between the site and Keil Cove; therefore, it is unlikely that CRLF occur on the site.

Visual and Aesthetic Quality

The DEIR’s photo simulations illustrate development at build-out of the project, as seen from selected viewpoints, mostly along Paradise Drive. The Town’s consultants revised the simulations to reflect the landslide repair and retaining wall information presented in the applicant’s December 2002 plans. Please note that the simulations are not intended to represent what the homes would actually look like. They do illustrate the visual change that could result from the proposed project. The homes depicted in the simulations are conceptual representations of homes that could be constructed on the site, based on the PDP site plan, proposed building envelopes, maximum building heights and floor area, and conceptual designs submitted by the applicant. The project’s visual impacts range from minimal to significant, depending on the viewpoint, the sensitivity of the view and the visual dominance of the proposed development. The DEIR recommends mitigation measures that would reduce most of the visual impacts to less than significant levels. However, the visual impacts from three vantage points (Viewpoints 2, 3 and 4), as discussed further below.

Transportation and Circulation

The traffic study prepared for this project estimates that a total of 80 trips per day would be generated by the proposed project. This projected increase in traffic would not have a significant impact on any nearby streets, and all intersections in the vicinity of the project site would continue to operate at level of service (LOS) C or better. However, under cumulative-plus-Project conditions, the signalized Trestle Glen/Tiburon Boulevard intersection would operate unacceptably at LOS E during the weekday AM peak hour. A recommended mitigation measure would require the applicant to pay a traffic mitigation fee that would go toward the improvements planned for this intersection, which include adding a second westbound through lane to Tiburon Boulevard extending east toward Stewart Drive.

The DEIR traffic analysis indicates that there would be an inadequate line of sight for vehicles turning left out of Development Area No. 2 (Roadway C serving Lots 7 and 8) onto Paradise Drive. The DEIR concludes that this impact can be mitigated to less-than-significant by the removal of one tree and trimming intervening roadside vegetation in order to increase the sight lines to the south.

Other traffic related impacts identified in the DEIR include the lack of adequate on-site parking, construction traffic, steepness of proposed access roads, and the cumulative impact of additional project traffic on pedestrian and bicycle use of Paradise Drive. The DEIR recommends mitigation measures that would reduce these impacts to less-than-significant levels.

Air Quality

Construction activities, including grading of serpentine soils containing naturally occurring asbestos, would generate dust and possibly release asbestos into the air. The DEIR concludes that this impact could be reduced to a less-than-significant level by implementing enhanced dust suppression measures during construction. The number of traffic trips generated by the project in the future would not be large enough to result in a measurable deterioration of local air quality.

Noise

Project construction could generate noise that might affect nearby residences. The DEIR recommends mitigation measures that would reduce these impacts to less than significant levels.

Public Services and Utilities

The Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) would supply water to the project site. The applicant proposes to connect to an existing eight-inch water line that serves the Norman Estates neighborhood. This eight-inch line is connected to the Mount Tiburon water tank, located southwest of the project site. According to MMWD, the water tank would be adequate for both domestic use and fire flow requirements. However, MMWD has indicated that the existing storage capacity of the Mount Tiburon tank is deficient. MMWD is planning to increase the Mount Tiburon tank’s storage capacity in the future, but has not yet developed any specific improvement plans. The DEIR recommends a mitigation measure that would require the applicant to pay storage charges assessed by MMWD to offset the cost of these future planned improvements.

Sanitary District #5 would provide sanitary sewer service to the project. The District’s Paradise Cove treatment plant, located at 3700 Paradise Drive, would serve the project. The revised DEIR indicates that the Paradise Cove treatment plant could reach its maximum capacity prior to the anticipated completion date of the Tiburon Glen project. The revised DEIR identifies the increase in sewage treatment demands on the Sanitary District is as both a project and cumulative impact. The applicant will be required to participate in funding the program selected by the District to improve wastewater treatment facilities. Furthermore, the project could not proceed unless and until the availability of adequate wastewater treatment capacity is verified by the District and, if necessary, the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), and an "ability to serve" letter is issued.

School capacity, police services are adequate to serve the proposed project. The Tiburon Fire Protection District can supply adequate fire protection services to the project, with implementation of a variety of mitigation measures identified in the DEIR that would improve the ability of the fire district to successfully fight fires on the property.

Cultural Resources

The DEIR does not anticipate any discernable impacts to archaeological resources nor does it expect that any human remains are on the site. However, we cannot preclude the possibility that prehistoric cultural deposits and features are present below the ground surface and could be damaged during grading/construction activities. The DEIR identifies mitigation measures that would be implemented in the event that any artifacts or human remains are discovered on the site, reducing any possible impacts to a level of insignificance.

Significant Unavoidable Impacts

The DEIR identifies six (6) significant unavoidable ("SU") impacts of the project, which could not be eliminated or reduced to a less-than-significant level through mitigation measures identified in the DEIR. Most are related to secondary impacts that would result from grading and tree removal necessary for landslide repair. The significant unavoidable impacts are summarized below:

Secondary Grading Impacts (Impact 5.1-3) Grading associated with project development would result in the disturbance of approximately five acres of mixed coast live oak-bay woodland, resulting in the removal of an estimated 522 trees. Grading associated with landslide repair would cause secondary biologic and visual impacts that are considered significant and unavoidable, as described below.

Loss of Mixed Coast Live Oak-Bay Woodland (Impact 5.3-4) - Project implementation would impact approximately five acres of mixed coast live oak-bay woodland, resulting in the removal of an estimated 522 trees. The DEIR’s recommended mitigation measures would lessen the project’s impact on the oak-bay woodland by protecting trees to be preserved, and by selective removal and replacement of trees that are infected with Sudden Oak Death Syndrome (SODS) with oak species that are considered disease resistant. Although this mitigation would have long-term benefits to the habitat value of the woodland, the impact resulting from the removal of trees is considered significant and unavoidable due to the number of years that it would take for the replacement habitat to mature. The impact on the oak-bay woodland is also identified as a significant and unavoidable cumulative biologic impact.

Visual Impact Looking East from Paradise Drive-Viewpoint 2 (Impact 5.4-2) - Exhibits 5.4-7 and 5.4-8 of the revised DEIR show Lots 3, 4, 5 and 6 both before and after development. The revised DEIR concludes that the proposed structures’ texture and angular form would contrast significantly with the woodland backdrop and with the existing view’s uninterrupted wooded slopes. Even with implementation of mitigation measures that would lessen visual and aesthetic impacts of the project (Mitigation Measure 5.4-1), the project would result in a significant unavoidable impact from this vantage point.

Visual Impact Looking West from Paradise Drive - Viewpoint 3 (Impact 5.4-3) - Exhibits 5.4-9 and 5.4-10 of the DEIR show Lots 7 and 8 both before and after development. The DEIR concludes that the two structures’ form, texture and color would likely contrast with the uniform woodland backdrop, which would only partially screen the proposed buildings. The roof of a 30-foot high structure on each of the lots would be expected to interrupt the profile of the tree canopy, although structures themselves would have woodland backdrops. Even with implementation of mitigation measures that would lessen visual and aesthetic impacts of the project (Mitigation Measure 5.4-1), the project would result in a significant unavoidable impact from this vantage point.

Visual Impact Looking West from Paradise Drive - Viewpoint 4 (Impact 5.4-4) - Exhibits 5.4-11 and 5.4-12 of the revised DEIR show Lot 8 looking north from Paradise drive, both before and after development. The revised DEIR concludes that the visual impacts resulting from the structure’s height, color, form, texture and color, combined with the retaining wall and tree removal would likely contrast with the vegetative backdrop, which would only partially screen the proposed building. Even with implementation of mitigation measures that would lessen visual and aesthetic impacts of the project (Mitigation Measure 5.4-1), the project would result in a significant unavoidable impact from this vantage point.

Project Alternatives

The DEIR assesses four alternatives to the proposed project:

No Development Alternative (required by CEQA)

Two-Lot Alternative

Three-Lot Alternative

Four-Lot Alternative (including Modified Four-Lot Alternative)

Public Open Space Alternative

The DEIR concludes that the Public Open Space Alternative is the environmentally superior alternative because it would preclude any future development proposals. However, this alternative would require acquisition by a public agency. The DEIR analysis concludes that the Two-Lot Alternative is the environmentally superior "development alternative" because it avoids or minimizes significant impacts of the proposed project to the greatest extent.

The Town of Tiburon Environmental Review Guidelines, revised November 6, 2002, requires the Planning Commission, acting as an advisory body to the Town Council, to hold a public meeting to hear and consider the recommendation of the Environmental Coordinator as to whether the Town has received "significant new information" that would require recirculation during the public comment period. Public comments on the revised DEIR will be accepted, but the meeting is not a public question-and-answer session.

Section 15088.5. of the CEQA Guidelines states that the term "information" can include changes in the project or environmental setting as well as additional data or other information. New information added to an EIR is not "significant" unless the EIR is changed in a way that deprives the public of a meaningful opportunity to comment upon a substantial adverse environmental effect of the project or a feasible way to mitigate or avoid such an effect (including a feasible project alternative) that the project's proponents have declined to implement. "Significant new information" requiring recirculation includes, for example, a disclosure showing that: 

(1) A new significant environmental impact would result from the project or from a new mitigation measure proposed to be implemented.

(2) A substantial increase in the severity of an environmental impact would result unless mitigation measures are adopted that reduce the impact to a level of insignificance.

(3) A feasible project alternative or mitigation measure considerably different from others previously analyzed would clearly lessen the environmental impacts of the project, but the project's proponents decline to adopt it.

(4) The draft EIR was so fundamentally and basically inadequate and conclusory in nature that meaningful public review and comment were precluded.

DEADLINE FOR CERTIFICATION OF EIR

In response to CEQA litigation filed by the applicant in 2002, the Marin County Superior Court imposed a deadline for EIR certification. After the Town and applicant agreed that recirculation was necessary, the applicant agreed to extend the deadline for EIR certification to September 24, 2003. The court reluctantly agreed to this extension but required the Town to appear shortly thereafter to confirm that the Town has in fact certified the document. Town Staff believes that it would be difficult to secure an additional time extension from the court. As the court-imposed timeline is very tight, every day is important.

FUTURE ACTIONS REQUIRED

The Commission will hold at least one subsequent public meeting to make a recommendation on certification of the Final EIR to the Town Council. The merits of the project will be considered in great detail at subsequent public hearings that will be scheduled following the Commission’s recommendation on certification to the Town Council.

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends that the Planning Commission receive public comment on the revised DEIR. At the conclusion of the public comment, the Environmental Coordinator will offer her recommendation as to whether recirculation is required. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission accept this recommendation and take appropriate action.

EXHIBITS

Written comments received on revised DEIR as of the date of this report.