Loading...
16-0419_PLACEWORKS_Correspondence - Heather M Minner (Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger)4/19/2016 I SHUTE MIHALY & -WEINBERGERLLP 396 HAYES STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102 T: (41S) SS2-7272 F: (415) 552.5816 www.smwlaw.com April 18, 2016 Via E -Mail and U.S. Mail San Juan Capistrano City Council City of San ,Tuan Capistrano 32400 Paseo Adelanto San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675 HEATHER M. MINNER Attorney Re: April_ 19, 201_6 Meeting Agenda Item F 16: Pro l°rcls-c cl Hotel Ca P.. _ _. iano _str Dear Mayor Patterson and Members of the City Council: Our firm represents Save Our Historic Town Center, a community group formed to protect the important historical and social values of the City's Historic 'Town Center. We have reviewed the City's request for proposals and Placeworks' proposed scope of services for environmental review of the proposed Hotel Capistrano by Kimpton Inn ("Project") and have concluded that the proposed approach to environmental review for this Project does not comply with the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA" ). We urge the City to rethink this approach before approving any agreement to proceed as proposed. The City requested proposals to determine whether the Project qualifies for an addendum to the mitigated negative declaration ("MND") for the Urban Village San Juan Hotel and Villas project or whether it requires a new mitigated negative declaration or environmental impact report. The answer to this question is clear, however. Because the proposed Hotel Capistrano is a new project, it may not rely on the MND prepared for the San Juan Hotel and Villas project. Under certain circumstances, CEQA allows a lead agency to prepare a subsequent MND or an addendum to a MND when a project for which the MND is prepared is later modified. Pub. Res. Code § 21166; 14 Cal. Code Regs. § 15162. However, this option is not available when the public agency is considering "a new project altogether" rather than simply a change to a previously considered project. Save Our Neighborhood v. Lishman (2006) 140 Cal.AppAth 1288, 1301. Mayor Patterson San Juan Capistrano City Council April 18, 2016 Page 2 The Court of Appeal's holding in Save Our Neighborhood is instructive here. in that case, a MND was prepared for a proposed "North Point" development project consisting of a 106 -unit motel, restaurants, lounge, gas station, convenience store, and carwash. Id. at 1291. The North Point project was never constructed, but a new "Gateway Project" was proposed on the same site consisting of a 102 -room hotel with convention facilities and a gas station with a convenience store and carwash. Id. at 1291- 92. The City of Placerville approved an addendum to the prior North Point MND for the new Gateway Project. "Although planned for the same land and involving similar mixes of uses," the court ruled that "the North Point Project and the Gateway Project are different projects nonetheless. They have different proponents and there is no suggestion that the latter project utilized any of the drawings or other materials connected with the earlier project as a basis for the new configuration of uses." Id. at 1300. Thus, the court found that the use of an addendum for this "new project" was inappropriate and the City violated CEQA by failing to conduct independent environmental review of the Gateway Project. Id. at 1300-01. The same is true here. The developer of the San Juan Hotel and Villas Project, Urban Village, is not proposing the Hotel Capistrano Project. Further, the project drawings have entirely changed. The density, circulation pattern, and mix of uses are markedly different. The F16 Agenda Report itself refers to the Hotel Capistrano by Kimpton as a "new project." Accordingly, the City may not rely on an addendum or supplement to the MND for the Urban Village project. The scope of services submitted by Placeworks, however, proposes to do just that. It proposes to review the Urban Village MND and determine if a supplemental MND or addendum is warranted. Moreover, it assumes that "the Initial Study would support the preparation of an Addendum to the San Juan Hotel & Villas MND ...." We respectfully request that the City decline to pursue this approach. 776710.1 Very truly yours, SHUTE, MIHALY & WEINBERGER LLP Heather M. Minner SHUTE) MIHALY ('_T—WEINBERGERLLN