Report finds ‘unavoidable’ impacts of redeveloping Strawberry seminary site
Greenhouse-gas emissions, vehicle miles traveled and construction noise would carry a “significant unavoidable” degree of impact to the environment under the proposal to develop the former seminary site in Strawberry, according to a new study.
The draft environmental impact report, released July 16 after a three-year wait and now in its 60-day public review period through Sept. 16, examines the potential impacts in more than a dozen categories of property owner North Coast Land Holdings’ plans to bring a 1,000-student commuter school, 336 units of housing, a 150-bed residential-care facility, a fitness center and a daycare to the 127-acre site.
In the vast majority of those categories, including air quality, aesthetics, biological resources and land use, the report determined the impacts of the proposed development to be less than significant or able to be reduced to that level with appropriate mitigation measures, according to the report, prepared by Sacramento-based Ascent Environmental.
However, even with a slew of recommended mitigation measures, the report notes the development “would result in construction- and operation-related (greenhouse gas) emissions that could contribute to climate change on a cumulative basis” and would exceed regional thresholds for vehicle miles traveled, a metric used in transportation planning to measure how much additional driving a project might cause on roads.
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