NOTICE OF PREPARATION
Metropolitan Transportation Commission
San Francisco Bay Area Regional Transportation Plan/
Sustainable Communities Strategy
Environmental Impact Report
Interested agencies, organizations and individuals are invited by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) to comment on the scope and content of the environmental impact assessment that will be conducted for the update of Plan Bay Area, an integrated land use and transportation plan looking out to the year 2040 for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. A map of the area is included in this notice as Figure 1.
MTC is the lead agency undertaking preparation of a program-level Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for Plan Bay Area 2040. Plan Bay Area 2040 (or “the Plan”) is the update of the area Regional Transportation Plan / Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS), a long-range plan that balances future mobility and housing needs with other economic, environmental, and public health goals. It identifies regional transportation planning needs, priorities and funding, and allows project sponsors to qualify for federal funding for public transit, streets and roads and bicycle and pedestrian facilities. The Plan must demonstrate achievement of a region’s share of state greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and is required to be updated every four years. Attachment A (which can be downloaded as part of the EIR Notice of Preparation in the Related Documents box of the Public Hearing Section of the MTC website) provides more information on MTC, SB 375, Plan Bay Area 2040 and alternative plan scenarios.
In accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines (Section 15082), the purpose of this Notice of Preparation is to seek comments about the scope and comment of the environmental impact assessment that will be conducted for this update of the Plan. If you represent an agency that may rely upon the EIR for project approval and/or tiering, MTC and ABAG are particularly interested in what information may be helpful for these purposes. Input is also sought from organizations and individuals as to the issues that should be addressed in the EIR.
Figure 1. Nine-County San Francisco Bay Area
Adoption and implementation of the Plan has the potential to result in environmental effects in all of the environmental impact areas identified in CEQA. For this reason, the Plan Bay Area 2040 EIR will be a “full scope” document and will analyze all of the required CEQA environmental issue areas. These include: aesthetics and visual resources; agriculture and forestry resources; air quality (including toxic air contaminants); biological resources; cultural resources; geology, seismicity, soils, and mineral resources; energy consumption; greenhouse gas emissions and climate change (including sea level rise); hazards and hazardous materials; hydrology and water quality; land use and planning; noise and vibration; population and housing; public services and recreation; transportation; utilities and other service systems. The EIR will also address cumulative effects, growth inducing impacts and other issues required by CEQA.
All interested agencies, organizations and individuals are welcome to submit comments and/or participate in the scoping meetings for the Draft EIR. Oral comments will be accepted during three regional scoping meetings:
Thursday, May 26, 2016
11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library
One Washington Square, Room 225
San Jose, California
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
MetroCenter Auditorium
101 8th Street
Oakland, California
Thursday, June 2, 2016
11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Finley Community Center
2060 W. College Avenue
Santa Rosa, California
Written comments will be accepted at the scoping meetings; via mail to MTC Public Information, 375 Beale Street, Suite 800, San Francisco, CA, 94105; via fax to 510.817.5848 before May 19 (beginning May 23, send fax to 415.536.9800); or via email to eircomments@mtc.ca.gov. Written comments must be received at the MTC offices no later than June 15, 2016. For more information, call the MTC Public Information Office at 510.817.5757 before May 19 (beginning May 23, call 415.778.6757). Note: MTC and ABAG will have new phone numbers beginning May 23.
Do you need written materials in large type or in Braille to participate in MTC or BATA meetings? Do you need a sign language interpreter or other assistance? Is English your second language? Do you need one of our documents translated? Do you need an interpreter who speaks your language present at one of our meetings?
We can help! You can request assistance by calling 510.817.5757 before May 19 (call 415.778.6757 beginning May 23) or 510.817.5769 for TDD/TTY before May 19 (the TDD/TTY number is 415.778.6769 beginning May 23). Visit www.mtc.ca.gov for more information. We require at least three days’ notice to provide reasonable accommodations. We prefer more notice if possible. We will make every effort to arrange for assistance as soon as possible.
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