Notice of Availability and Completion for DEIR for Keller Crossing Specific Plan No. 380 Amendment No. 1. (GPA210004, SP380A01, CZ2100012, and TTM38163)

This notice is to advise that the County of Riverside, as lead agency, has completed and is issuing notification of the availability and completion of a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR), State Clearinghouse No. 2021080570 for General Plan Amendment 210004 (GPA 210004), Specific Plan No 380, Amendment No. 1, (SP 380A01), Change of Zone No. 2100012 (CZ 2100012), and Tentative Tract Map No. 38163 (TTM 38163), Keller Crossing project as described below.

The County is conducting a 45-day comment period from September 22, 2022, to November 7, 2022. All written comments must be received in writing by November 7, 2022, by 5:00 p.m. (end of the 45-day public review period). Please send all comments via mail to Riverside County Planning Department, Attention: Russell Brady, 4080 Lemon Street, 12th Floor, Riverside, CA 92501 OR via email to [email protected]

The proposed Project consists of applications for the first amendment to the Keller Crossing Specific Plan No. 380 (SP00380A01), a General Plan Amendment (GPA210004), a Change of Zone (CZ2100012), and a Tentative Tract Map (TTM38163) to allow for future of development of the 196.0 acre Project site with up to 176,000 square feet (s.f.) of “Commercial Retail” land uses on 13.3 acres, 277 “Medium-Density Residential (MDR)” dwelling units on 61.2 acres, 76 “Medium-High-Density Residential (MHDR)” dwelling units on 14.1 acres, 80 “High-Density Residential (HDR)” dwelling units that would be age qualified on 7.3 acres, 1.0 acre of “Community Development-Very Low Density Residential (CD-VLDR)” land uses (with no CD-VLDR dwelling units proposed or allocated), 10.5 acres of “Open Space-Recreation (OS-R)” land uses, 11.2 acres of “Open Space-Water (OS-W)” land uses, 61.4 acres of “Open Space-Conservation Habitat (OS-CH)” land uses, and 16.0 acres of major circulation facilities. 

Present Land Use/Zoning/General Plan Designation: Vacant/Specific Plan Zone (SP Zone)/ Very Low Density Residential (VLDR), Low Density Residential (LDR), Medium Density Residential (MDR), Mixed Use, Commercial Retail (CR), and Open Space-Conservation (OS-C).

The Project would result in the following significant and unavoidable impacts, even after the implementation of Project design features, mandatory regulatory requirements, and feasible mitigation measures:

• Air Quality: Significant and Unavoidable Direct and Cumulatively-Considerable Impact.  Project operational emissions would exceed the SCAQMD Regional Threshold for VOCs.  Mitigation measures are not available to reduce the Project’s operational-related VOC emissions, as the majority of the Project’s operational emissions (i.e., more than 72.9%) are associated with vehicular-related traffic.  Mobile source emissions are regulated by standards imposed by federal and State agencies, not local governments.  No other mitigation measures related to vehicle tailpipe emissions are available that are within Riverside County’s jurisdictional authority and that are feasible for Riverside County to enforce and have a proportional nexus to the Project’s level of impact. Additionally, the remaining Project-related operational emissions of VOCs are due to area source emissions (i.e., consumer products, such as solvents used in cleaning supplies, kitchen aerosols, cosmetics, and toiletries).  As with mobile sources, consumer products cannot be regulated by the County of Riverside. CARB is primarily responsible for controlling pollution from consumer products.  As such, it is concluded that operation of the Project would generate VOC emissions that would exceed the applicable SCAQMD Regional Threshold for this pollutant on a daily basis.  The Project’s operational-related VOC emissions would cumulatively contribute to an existing air quality violation in the SoCAB (i.e., ozone concentrations), as well as cumulatively contribute to the net increase of a criteria pollutant for which the SCAB is non-attainment (i.e., federal and State ozone concentrations).  Accordingly, the Project’s long-term operational-related emissions of VOCs are concluded to result in a significant and unavoidable impact on both a direct and cumulatively-considerable basis.
• Air Quality: Significant and Unavoidable Direct and Cumulatively-Considerable Impact.  Project operational emissions would exceed the SCAQMD Regional Threshold for VOCs.  Mitigation measures are not available to reduce the Project’s operational-related VOC emissions, as discussed above.  Accordingly, the proposed Project would conflict with the 2016 SCAQMD AQMP, and impacts would be significant and unavoidable on both a direct and cumulatively-considerable basis.
• Transportation: Significant and Unavoidable Direct and Cumulatively-Considerable Impact.  Buildout of the residential uses proposed as part of the Project would result in a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) per capita that is 53.9% above the County’s VMT per capita threshold of significance, while buildout of the commercial retail component has the potential to result in VMT impact in the event any individual commercial retail building exceeds 50,000 s.f. in size.  The proposed Project has been designed to provide for residential land uses in close proximity to the proposed on-site commercial retail uses within Planning Area 7 of proposed SP 380A1.  Additionally, the Project would be required to comply with the development standards and design guidelines pursuant to SP 380A1, which includes requirements to provide trails, sidewalks, and bike lanes within the proposed development.  Additionally, the Project would be subject to compliance with Mitigation Measure MM 4.18-2, which requires the identification of site-specific TDM measures to reduce VMT prior to approval of implementing multi-family or commercial retail developments associated with the Project.  Notwithstanding, even with the implementation of all feasible VMT reduction measures, Project-generated VMT cannot be reduced to a level of less than significant.

PROJECT LOCATION:

NW Corner of Keller Road and Winchester Road (SR-79) in unincorporated Riverside County