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01-22-2002 - IKEA Furniture Store Project in Covina: Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration:r • Co eWest Covina Memorandum TO: Andrew G. Pasmant, City Manager AGENDA and City Council FROM: Douglas N. McIsaac, Planning Director ITEM NO. E-1DATE January 22, 2002 SUBJECT: IKEA FURNITURE STORE PROJECT IN COVINA: DRAFT MITGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION SUMARY: The City of Covina is currently considering a proposal to develop a new 330,000-square foot IKEA furniture store on the site of the former Montgomery Wards department store at southeast corner of Barranca Street and Workman Avenue. Covina has prepared a Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration for the project with a public comment period ending on January 25, 2002. This report provides an overview of the project, the Mitigated Negative Declaration, and comments proposed to be submitted to the City of Covina. BACKGROUND: The City of Covina has prepared a Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration of Environmental Impact for the proposal to develop a new IKEA furniture store at the southeast corner of Barranca Street and Workman Avenue. The public comment period regarding the Negative Declaration ends on January 25, 2002. The Covina Planning Commission is scheduled to hold public hearings regarding the project and Negative Declaration on January 22, 2002 and February 12, 2002. The Covina City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on February 19, 2002. DISCUSSION: Staff is bringing this matter to the attention of the City Council because of the large-scale magnitude of the proposed IKEA furniture store, the proximity of the site to the City, and the potential for this project to have impacts on City businesses and infrastructure. As indicated, the City of Covina has elected to prepare a Mitigated Negative Declaration of Environmental Impact (MND) for the project rather than an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). As outlined in this report, staff possesses some concerns regarding the adequacy of the MND. Staff believes that these concerns should be submitted to the City of Covina in writing prior to the January 25, 2002 deadline so that they can be officially taken into consideration by Covina prior to acting on the MND. The 12.75-acre site is located at the southeast corner of Barranca Street and Workman Avenue. The site adjoins West Covina on two sides: To the west on the opposite side of Barranca Street is Eastland Center, and to the south is the California State Bank Building and Restaurant Row. The site is currently occupied by the closed Montgomery Wards department store, which includes a 154,200-square foot retail building and a 24,600-square foot automotive building. At 330,000 square feet, the proposed IKEA store will be approximately double the floor area of the former Montgomery Wards store. In order to facilitate this magnitude of development, the proposed building will be comprised of three levels, with two levels being constructed above grade and a third level consisting of partially subterranean parking. The 330,000 square feet of floor space will be broken down as follows: Component Floor Area Retail 153,300 sq. ft. Warehouse 113,600 sq. ft. Administrative/Lobby/Mechanical 53,700 sq. ft. Restaurant 9,400 sq. ft. TOTAL 330,000 sq. ft. ZACity Counci1\SFRPTSDM\1kea.doc IKEA Furniture Store MO i January 22, 2002- Page 2 A total of 1,484 parking spaces are also proposed to be provided. A total of 1,247 parking spaces are required for the project pursuant to Covina zoning standards. Outlined below are the major points of concern with the Mitigated Negative Declaration as identified by staff at this time: 1. Environmental Baseline As a baseline for evaluating environmental impacts, the MND assumes the former Montgomery Wards store as being operational with a retail use. In this manner, the MND only evaluates the impacts of the IKEA project above and beyond those of the former Montgomery Wards store, and not the total impacts of developing the IKEA store on the currently unutilized site. This is inconsistent with Section 15125(a) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines, which states that the baseline physical conditions for determining environmental impacts are the conditions that exist at the time the Notice of Preparation (NOP) is published. At the time the NOP was published, the Montgomery Wards site was not in active use. This assumption of the MND has a significant impact on the traffic analysis of the IKEA project. By comparing IKEA to Montgomery Wards, the MND claims that the IKEA store will result in a net reduction of 400 daily vehicle trips compared to the existing baseline. 2. Traffic Analysis Based on the environmental baseline described above, the traffic analysis may not accurately reflect the true impacts of the project, and may not provide for adequate mitigation. As stated, the MND evaluates the traffic impacts of IKEA as those that would occur above and beyond an operational Montgomery Wards store. Had the traffic analysis been based only on new traffic generated by IKEA, it should have dictated that a greater number of street intersections be evaluated in the traffic study.. Furthermore, it is likely that such evaluation would have resulted in the determination that significant traffic impacts at several study intersections, resulting in the need for traffic signalization, street improvements, or other mitigation. 3. Eastland Development For the purposes of determining future traffic that might affect the traffic analysis, the MND included the proposal to develop a new Circuit City store on the site of the former Club Disney building. It did not, however, take into consideration the future development of the 2.75-acre site on the west side of Barranca Street adjacent to Eastland, which could support commercial retail, offices, restaurants, and/or a hotel development. 4. Environmental Impact Report In light of the potential under -evaluation of the IKEA project's traffic impacts, the MND may have failed to identify significant impacts that would be caused by the project. In addition to traffic, staff has concerns regarding the manner in which the air quality analysis was conducted and the possibility that this should have lead to a determination of a significant impact. It appears therefore that the project may have a significant effect on the environment and that this conclusion should require the preparation of and Environmental Impact Report instead of a Mitigated Negative Declaration. PLANNING COMMISSION DISCUSSION AND ACTION: At its meeting of January 15, 2002, the West Covina Planning Commission considered this matter. The West Covina Commission. recommended that Covina extend the comment period on the MND for an additional 30 days to allow further time for evaluation of the project. The Commission also commented on the need for a traffic signal at the driveway entrance to the IKEA site off Barranca Street (which is planned), and suggested that a walking ramp be constructed to provide a direct pedestrian link between the IKEA site and Restaurant Row to ZACity Council\SFRPTSDM\Ikea.doc IKEA Furniture Store M4 January 22, 2002- Page 3 0 the south. The Commission also wished to indicate that it supported the development of the site, but wants to make sure that all of the project's impacts are properly addressed. RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council authorize the submittal of comments to the City of Covina regarding the Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration of Environmental Impact for the proposed IKEA furniture store project. Prepared by: Douglas . McIsaac Panniid Director ZACity Council\SFRPTSDM\Ikea.doc