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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-08-27 - AGENDA REPORTS - EIR MC 20 238 CONTR INCREASEO Agenda Item: 6 1. CITY OF SANTA CLARITA AGENDA REPORT CONSENT CALENDAR 14) CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: ' DATE: August 27, 2024 SUBJECT: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR WILEY CANYON DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (MASTER CASE 20-238) CONTRACT INCREASE DEPARTMENT: Community Development PRESENTER: Erika Iverson RECOMMENDED ACTION City Council: Authorize an expenditure increase to the Dudek contract for the preparation of the Wiley Canyon Development Project Environmental Impact Report (Master Case 20-238) from $239,960 to $335,200 and include a contingency in the amount of $33,520, for a total contract amount not to exceed $368,720. 2. Authorize the City Manager or designee to execute all documents, subject to City Attorney approval. BACKGROUND The Wiley Canyon Development Project (Project), Master Case 20-238, is a request by Wiley Canyon, LLC, (applicant) to develop a mixed -use development consisting of a four-story senior living facility, ground -floor commercial, and 379 apartment units within three planning areas on an approximately 31-acre site east of Interstate 5 and west of Wiley Canyon Road, between Hawkbryn Avenue and Calgrove Boulevard in the community of Newhall, as shown on the attached aerial map. The property is located in the Mixed Use Neighborhood (MX-N) zone and is within the Calgrove Corridor/Smiser Ranch area, which has a maximum allowable development of 830,000 square feet, as identified in the City of Santa Clarita's (City) General Plan. The Project was formally submitted on October 28, 2020. An environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was initiated. Based on anticipated impacts associated with the Project, the appropriate CEQA document required for the Project is an Page 1 Packet Pg. 272 O Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Because the City does not have the in-house expertise or resources available to complete an EIR, an outside environmental consulting firm is required to complete this task. In August of 2021, staff solicited proposals from qualified firms to prepare the EIR. On November 9, 2021, the City Council awarded the contract to Dudek for a contract amount of $239,960, with a ten percent contingency of $23,996, for a total contract amount not to exceed $263,956. Since then, the Draft EIR has been prepared and circulated for public review, and two public hearings have been held by the Planning Commission. The Draft EIR was circulated for a 45-day public review beginning March 1, 2024, and ending April 15, 2024. During the review period, the first Planning Commission meeting was held on March 19, 2024, to provide an introduction to the project proposal and an overview of the Draft EIR. Following the meeting on March 19, 2024, and the close of the public review of the Draft EIR, comments received on the Draft EIR were reviewed and organized, and individual comments were numbered for purposes of preparing responses. Based on comments from the Planning Commission, the applicant made revisions to the site plan. A second Planning Commission meeting was held on June 18, 2024, to provide an overview of the revisions proposed by the applicant, and the Planning Commission continued the hearing process to a date uncertain while the applicant finalizes the site plan, addresses requests for more information from the Planning Commission, and all responses to comments on the Draft EIR are prepared. CONTRACT AMENDMENT The original proposal for the preparation of the EIR assumed that no more than 100 individual comments would be received on the Draft EIR. Following the close of the public review and the Planning Commission hearing on March 19, over 500 individual comments were identified. Preparation of the Final EIR, which will be considered by the Planning Commission at a future hearing, will include responses to all comments that were received on the Draft EIR. In addition, to address site plan changes made by the applicant in response to comments, the Final EIR will include a chapter for changes to the Draft EIR to identify instances where revisions to the Draft EIR are appropriate. The high volume of individual comments that require a response in the Final EIR and the revisions to the site plan, result in the additional work to be done by the consultant, and therefore the need to update the contract with Dudek. The updated total cost of the Dudek proposal is $335,200. Staff has included a ten -percent contingency for $33,520, for a total contract amount not to exceed $368,720. The applicant is responsible for all costs associated with the preparation of the EIR, including the additional costs of this proposed amendment. The applicant will deposit the additional funds into a trust account to be maintained by the City. Any unspent funds would be returned to the applicant following completion of the project review and public hearing process. ALTERNATIVE ACTION Other action as determined by the City Council. Page 2 Packet Pg. 273 O FISCAL IMPACT There will be no fiscal impact. All costs associated with the preparation of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Wiley Canyon Development Project will be the responsibility of the applicant. ATTACHMENTS Aerial Map Dudek Change Order 1 Page 3 Packet Pg. 274 Buubdinfou;!Bfsjbm!Nbq!!)Xjmfz!Dbozpo!Efwfmpqnfou!Qspkfdu!FJS!Dpousbdu!Bnfoenfou* June 28, 2024 Erika Iverson Senior Planner City of Santa Clarita Planning Division 23920 Valencia Boulevard, Suite 140 Santa Clarita, CA 91355 Subject: Change Order Request No. I the Wiley Canyon Project EIR Dear Erika Iverson: This letter provides Dudek's requested Change Order Number 1 (CO-1) to reflect additional effort required to support the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the proposed Wiley Canyon Project (Project). This CO-1 requests an augment to Task 5 related to the Responses to Comments effort required for the Final EIR. In the proposal prepared for the Project, dated September 2021, for purposes of cost estimation Dudek assumed response to no more than 100 individual public comments on the Draft EIR (noting that a single comment letter could contain multiple comments). While Dudek assumed that comments received related to technical items prepared by other team members would be addressed by the appropriate individual and provided to Dudek for final incorporation into the Draft Final EIR document, the number of comment letters and individual comments far exceeds the original proposal assumption. At the close of the public review period, Dudek received a total of 60 letters, broken down as follows: 10 agency comment letters, 4 organization comment letters, 46 individual comment letters. Several of these comment letters are in excess of 30 pages containing as many as 97 comments. In total, 503 comments were bracketed, organized, and either assigned to technical team members or are being responded to by Dudek. The attached CO-1 and Cost Estimate are provided for your consideration. As shown in CO-1, Dudek utilized funds for future subtasks within Task 5 to review, organize, and prepare draft responses to the comments received. As such, we are requesting CO-1 to complete responses to comments, replenish future budgeted tasks, and prepare the Draft Final EIR, Final EIR, and certification support documents. Please note, Dudek has adjusted billing rates since the original proposal in 2021; this Change Order request utilizes the current 2024 billing rates for Project team members. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Ms. Cobleigh by phone at 626.204.9829 or by email at ncobleigh@dudek.com. Thank you. Sincerely, Nicole Cobleigh Senior Project Manager DUDEK JUNE 2024 Packet Pg. 276 6.b TO: ERIKA IVERSON SUBJECT: CHANGE ORDER REQUEST NO. 1 THE WILEY CANYON PROJECT EIR Scope of Work Subtask 5.1 Draft Final EIR (Augment) This augment requests additional funds due to the exceedance in the assumed number of comments received. The September 2021 proposal assumed no more than 100 individual public comments on the Draft EIR (noting that a single comment letter could contain multiple comments). At the close of the public review period, Dudek received a total of 60 letters, broken down as follows: 10 agency comment letters, 4 organization comment letters, 46 individual comment letters. Several of these comment letters are in excess of 30 pages containing more than 90 comments. A total of 503 comments were bracketed, organized, and either assigned or are being responded to by Dudek. As such, this task augments the budget for the preparation of a "Responses to Comments Received" document to address environmental issues pertinent to the analysis presented in the EIR. Subtask 5.1 includes the review and organization of comment letters, coordination with applicant subconsultants, collaboration with City staff, and preparing responses to all comments received. All comments received were numbered to indicate comment letter and comment number, and the responses to those comments are similarly numbered to allow easy correlation. Dudek is preparing draft responses to comments received. Dudek has also identified responses with support from the applicant's subconsultants. Upon receipt of applicant responses, Dudek will revise the Responses to Comments with individual responses. In the event that multiple comments on the same topic(s) are identified, Dudek will use Topical Responses as a way to save time and budget, and where appropriate, direct individual commenters to the appropriate Topical Response(s). Given the number of comments received, Dudek has allocated additional budget for our Publications Department to compile and format into the Final EIR. Additionally, due to changes to the Project Description, Dudek will prepare a "Changes to the Draft EIR" chapter that will identify instances where revisions to the Draft EIR are appropriate. In this chapter, deleted text will be indicated by strikeout and inserted text by bold underline. Subtask 5.1 Assumptions ■ This task assumes only minimal revisions to the document and no additional changes to the Project Description, analysis, or mitigation measures set forth in the EIR are necessary as a result of the additional information provided by the City. ■ Technical team members will prepare draft Responses to Comments for inclusion in the overall Response to Comment effort Subtask 5.1 Deliverables ■ One (1) electronic copy of the Draft Final EIR for City staff review Subtask 5.2 Final EIR (Augment) Upon receipt of a consolidated set of review comments from City staff on the draft Responses to Comments, the City Attorney and project team members on the Draft Final EIR, Dudek will prepare the Final EIR for certification. Dudek will assemble text changes to the Final EIR as appropriate. This proposal assumes two (2) screencheck reviews of responses to comments by City staff prior to completion of the Final EIR. Dudek will assemble the Final EIR and provide the necessary copies and digital files to City staff to take the EIR through the hearing process to certification. The Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP) will also be finalized for inclusion in the D U D E K JUNE 2024 Packet Pg. 277 6.b TO: ERIKA IVERSON SUBJECT: CHANGE ORDER REQUEST NO. 1 THE WILEY CANYON PROJECT EIR Final EIR. Dudek assumes that there will be no more than two (2) rounds of administrative review for the Final EIR before finalizing the documents for certification. The Final EIR, responses to comments, and the MMRP will be submitted to the City for distribution. Subtask 5.2 Assumptions ■ Two (2) screencheck reviews of Responses to Comments by City staff prior to completion of the Final EIR ■ Consolidated set of review comments from City staff, the City Attorney and Project team members ■ This scope and cost do not include Responses to Comments submitted before or at public hearings. Subtask 5.2 Deliverables ■ Fifteen (15) hard copies of the Final EIR for public review; and ■ One (1) reproducible master of the Final EIR ziubtask 5.3 Certification Supp rc Also included as part of the Final EIR package will be the Findings of Fact and a Statement of Overriding Considerations. Dudek will prepare draft CEQA Findings of Fact for submittal to the City, utilizing a recently adopted example of the findings as used by the City. If applicable, Dudek will also prepare a Statement of Overriding Considerations. A Statement of Overriding Considerations may be required if significant unmitigated impacts are identified as part of the CEQA review process. The Statement of Overriding Considerations will be prepared if the City finds that the benefits of the proposed project outweigh unavoidable adverse environmental effects. The statement will set forth the specific overriding social, economic, legal, technical, or other beneficial aspects of the project supporting the City's decision; this will be based on substantial evidence in the Final EIR or elsewhere in the record. Dudek will also prepare the Findings of Fact for review and comment and will submit them to the City prior to EIR certification. The final set of findings and Statement of Overriding Considerations will be completed based on revisions by City staff and legal counsel. Upon certification of the EIR by the City Council, Dudek will assist the City in preparing and filing a Notice of Determination (NOD) with both the County Clerk and State Clearinghouse as well as include the payment of California Department of Fish and Wildlife filing fees. Subtask 5.3 Assumptions ■ Attendance at up to two additional (2) Project hearings by up to two Dudek team members • One (1) round of review for the Findings of Fact and a Statement of Overriding Considerations ■ One (1) round of review for the NOD ■ Dudek will post the NOD with the State Clearinghouse and file with the Los Angeles County Clerk (including payment of filing fees) Subtask 5.3 Deliverables ■ One (1) electronic copy of the Findings of Fact • One (1) electric copy of the Statement of Overriding Considerations DUDEK JUNE 2024 3 Packet Pg. 278 6.b TO: ERIKA IVERSON SUBJECT: CHANGE ORDER REQUEST NO. 1 THE WILEY CANYON PROJECT EIR Cost Estimate As shown in Attachment A, Cost Estimate, this Change Order request provides an itemized cost by staff and hourly rate for the amount of $95,240. All tasks will continue to be billed on a time -and -materials basis in accordance with the terms and conditions of our primary Agreement, dated December 16, 2021. This Change Order is provided to document the City's written authorization to amend our existing Agreement. All other terms and conditions of the original Agreement between the City and Dudek remain in effect. Upon receipt of signed authorization from the City, work can continue in accordance with the requested CO-1. DUDEK JUNE 2024 Packet Pg. 279 6.b TO: ERIKA IVERSON SUBJECT: CHANGE ORDER REQUEST NO. 1 THE WILEY CANYON PROJECT EIR Attachment A i aan riiai �i� 5.1 Draft Final EIR 32 64 64 256 96 320 $13,760 $52,160 $13,760 $52,160 5.2 Final EIR 24 48 52 104 24 96 100 248 $13,000 $38,840 $300 $1,200 $13,300 $40,040 5.3 Cerfificafion Support 8 8 40 8 48 16 $5,840 $3,040 $3,800 $9,640 $3,040 TOTALS 64 120 156 368 1 24 1 96 1 244 584 $32,600 $94,040 $4,100 $1,200 $36,700 $95,240 Packet Pg. 280