Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF AN AGREEMENT WITH ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATES (ESA) TO PROVIDE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING SERVICES RELATED TO DEVELOPMENT OF CELLS 3, 4 AND 5 AT THE 157-ACRE SITE, TO BE PAID FOR BY THE DEVELOPER (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
Environmental Science Associates (ESA) was recently requested to provide a proposal for environmental and planning-related services for an amendment to the District at South Bay Specific Plan (Exhibit No. 1), for which a new industrial project is proposed in Cells 3, 4, and 5. ESA provided environmental review services for a project amendment in 2018, and therefore has a deep understanding of the site’s complex remediation requirements and environmental constraints. ESA’s scope of work for this specific assignment will also include the Specific Plan Amendment work, which will consist of comprehensive revisions to the Specific Plan document. ESA will dedicate at least ten (10) fulltime staff members to this assignment and has subcontracted with Fehr and Peers traffic engineers in order to meet the strict deadlines set forth by the project’s expedited schedule. ESA is one of City’s on-call CEQA consultants. However, the scope of this project along with required performance measures included in the Option Agreement for Cells 3, 4, and 5 necessitate a separate contract.
Staff is requesting that the City Council approve the proposed agreement with ESA (Exhibit No. 2) to provide the necessary environmental consulting services in the amount of $1,465,850. A payment in the amount of $274,738 was made on December 23, 2020 for services conducted between July 1, 2020 and August 31, 2020. These services included meetings, technical modeling and analysis, field work, and document preparation related to the Specific Plan Amendment and CEQA analysis. The total contract amount includes the payment made for these incurred costs.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
TAKE the following actions:
1. APPROVE the proposed agreement with Environmental Science Associates (ESA) for environmental consulting services at a cost of $1,465,850, to be paid for by the developer.
2. AUTHORIZE the Mayor to execute the agreement, following approval as to form by the City Attorney.
Body
III. ALTERNATIVES
TAKE any other action the City Council deems appropriate.
IV. BACKGROUND
The City uses consultants on an as-needed basis to prepare environmental documents for development projects proposed by private developers and projects proposed by the City. Typical documents prepared by consultants include Environmental Impact Reports, Addenda and Mitigated Negative Declarations to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act, and Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements prepared to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act.
One of these consultants, Environmental Science Associates (ESA), was retained by the City in 2016 to conduct on-call environmental consulting services. Acting in this capacity, ESA provided environmental review services for a project amendment in 2018, and therefore has a deep understanding of the site’s complex remediation requirements and environmental constraints. ESA’s scope of work for this specific assignment will also include the Specific Plan Amendment work, which will consist of comprehensive revisions to the Specific Plan document. ESA will dedicate at least ten (10) fulltime staff members to this assignment and has subcontracted with Fehr and Peers traffic engineers in order to meet the strict deadlines set forth by the project’s expedited schedule.
The project site is a former landfill, currently being remediated, within the City of Carson. The entire project site that was evaluated in the 2006 EIR includes approximately 168 acres, with 157 acres located southwest of the San Diego Freeway (I-405) and north of the Avalon Boulevard interchange and 11 acres located north of Del Amo Boulevard.
In January 2006, an EIR was prepared by the City for the development of a specific plan on the same project site under the project name “Carson Marketplace.” The development proposed at that time was 1,550 residential units (1,150 for-sale units and 400 rental residential units), a 300-room hotel, and 1,995,125 square feet of commercial floor area. After certain impact areas were scoped out by the project’s Initial Study, the 2006 EIR analyzed impacts to the following resource areas: land use, visual resources, traffic and circulation, hazards, geology and soils, surface water quality, air quality, noise, public services (fire, police, schools, parks and recreation, and libraries), and utilities (water supply, wastewater, and solid waste). The 2006 EIR found that the project would have significant and unavoidable impacts with regard to visual quality, air quality, construction noise, public transit, and traffic.
A Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR), certified in April 2018, was prepared to supplement the previously approved 2006 EIR for the Carson Marketplace Specific Plan, as described above. The 2018 SEIR evaluated changes to only the commercially zoned land located south of Del Amo Boulevard, comprising approximately 157 acres of the overall project site; the 11 acres located north of Del Amo Boulevard were approved for residential uses and were not revised as part of project analyzed under the 2018 SEIR. The revised project analyzed under the 2018 SEIR modified or otherwise reduced the scope of the original project analyzed in the 2006 EIR to ultimately consist of approximately 1,601,500 square feet of regional commercial, general commercial, and related uses, including outlet and entertainment uses, no more than 1,250 residential units, and 350 rooms total in two hotels. Overall, with these proposed modifications, the total square footage was roughly equivalent to but more than 100,000 square feet less than that studied for the project in the 2006 EIR.
The proposed project for cells 3, 4, and 5 include the 96 acres in the southwestern portion of the project site. As analyzed the 2018 SEIR, Cells 3, 4, and 5 assumed the construction of regional commercial, large format retail, neighborhood-scale retail, restaurant, entertainment, and hospitality uses (e.g., theater, gym, hotel, etc.). Residential development was not assumed or permitted in PA 3. Under the proposed modified project, the previously approved uses would be replaced with up to 1,567,090 square feet of industrial and supportive office uses and approximately 33,800 square feet of retail and restaurant uses within an approximately 11.74-acre amenity area. The industrial uses may include distribution warehouses, high-cube warehouses, retail fulfillment centers, e-commerce fulfillment centers, logistics centers, manufacturing and assembly, and associated ancillary auto and trailer parking. The uses within the amenity area may include retail, restaurants, play areas, passive and active lawn areas, seating, and a dog park.
The project scope includes data collection and an initial scoping analysis for technical topics that are likely to be affected by the change in uses under the proposed modified project, including air quality (and the health risk assessment), biological resources, energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, noise, and transportation. The preparation of the technical studies will provide a framework to more fully understand the work that will be needed to complete the ultimate environmental document, which may either be an addendum or SEIR, depending on the outcome of the initial scoping analysis.
Staff is requesting that the City Council approve the agreement with ESA to provide the necessary environmental consulting services for development of cells 3, 4 and 5 of the 157-acre site, in the amount of $1,465,850, to be paid for by the developer.
V. FISCAL IMPACT
There is no impact to the general fund, as funds for these services will be paid for through developer deposits to deposit account number 101-99-999-999-2401 and associated PL10053.
VI. EXHIBITS
1. Environmental Science Associates proposal. (pgs. 5-49)
2. Proposed agreement with Environmental Science Associates. (pgs. 50-88)
Prepared by: Brent Gesch, Principal Adminstrative Analyst, Saied Naaseh, Community Development Director