On July 2, 2018, the Yolo County Superior Court issued a peremptory writ of mandate (“writ”) against the County of Yolo and Yolo County Board of Supervisors (“County”) regarding the County’s Mitigated Negative Declaration under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) for the Use Permit of the Field & Pond event center and bed and breakfast located in western Yolo County (Att. D). In its writ, the Court ordered the County to undertake further study and preparation of a subsequent Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) to address only the potential impacts of the project on the tricolored blackbird, valley elderberry longhorn beetle (VELB), and golden eagle. The writ provided that the Use Permit and related mitigation measures would remain in effect during this period of further environmental analysis, and Field & Pond would be allowed to continue operating the project under the strict control of the Use Permit during this period.
Accordingly, the County prepared a limited project-level EIR, pursuant to the requirements of CEQA and order of the Yolo County Superior Court, to consider potential environmental effects of the project on the tricolored blackbird, VELB, and golden eagle, and to determine the level of significance of such environmental effects.
PROJECT SITE CHARACTERISTICS/SETTING
The project is located at 26055 County Road 29, approximately five to six miles northwest of the City of Winters on an 80-acre agriculturally-zoned parcel (APNs: 047-120-011 and 050-150-012). The project site is currently in use as a home site and event site (under said Use Permit), and is under a nine-year Williamson Act contract that was non-renewed in August 2015. Attachment A shows that the main components of the project are situated on the northern portion of the 80-acre parcel.
Chickahominy Slough bisects the property separating the home site areas, which encompass approximately 11 acres, from the southern portions that contain oak woodlands in hilly terrain. The approximately 69 acres of the 80-acre property south of Chickahominy Slough are under a conservation easement held by the Wildlife Heritage Foundation; the 11 acres of established home site/event areas are exempted from the easement's restrictions. The 80-acre property is surrounded by large rural parcels in active agricultural production, including orchards, row crops, livestock, grazing land, and rural residences. The property is accessed off CR 29, near its terminus, towards the western foothills in the unincorporated area of the County. Attachment A also includes an aerial view of the property.
PROJECT BACKGROUND/DESCRIPTION
The property owners applied for a Use Permit in 2015 to operate a large bed and breakfast/inn and large special events facility, known as Field & Pond, on property that has historically been identified as the “William Cannedy Farm.” The home site had been used for special events 'by-right' under the provisions of the Yolo County Code (Zoning Regulations) and, subsequently, pursuant to the Use Permit issued by the Board of Supervisors.
The project includes use of the property grounds and existing structures as a large bed and breakfast and large event center that would accommodate lodging, as well as indoor/outdoor events. Mitigation measures imposed by the Board of Supervisors for issuance of the Use Permit limited the number of events to 20 per year, not to exceed 150 attendees, with the exception of four events per year that may be up to 300 attendees, among other requirements. The Use Permit approved by the Board of Supervisors contained a number of conditions of approval; these conditions, including those that were based on mitigation measures for environmental resources previously analyzed for the project, will remain in effect, with the exception of the tricolored blackbird, VELB, and golden eagle, which are further addressed below.
The original Mitigated Negative Declaration and Initial Study for the project (collectively referred to as "MND") was circulated for public review on March 8, 2016. As a result of changes since the original MND was issued, a revised MND was completed and recirculated on June 28, 2016 ("Revised MND"). Additional minor changes to the Revised MND were made in an Errata dated October 5, 2016.
The Planning Commission reviewed the project application and Revised MND at a public hearing on August 11, 2016, and denied the requested Use Permit for the Field & Pond project. The decision was subsequently appealed to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors approved the Use Permit and adopted the Revised MND and Errata on October 11, 2016. A link to the Board packet item for the October 11, 2016, meeting is included here for reference.
A lawsuit regarding the project was filed with the Yolo County Superior Court on November 14, 2016. See Farmland Protection Alliance et al. v. County of Yolo Case No. CV PT 16- 001896 in Attachment E. The lawsuit alleged that the Use Permit was in violation of CEQA, the provisions in the Williamson Act, and the provisions of the County Code's Zoning Regulations, and claimed that the CEQA documentation failed to address impacts associated with a range of environmental topics, including traffic, agriculture, and endangered species. The County Superior Court issued a statement of decision on January 16, 2018, and a judgment on June 20, 2018, rejecting most of the claimed violations, but finding that the Revised MND was deficient as to three species (see Attachment D). The Court found that substantial evidence supported a fair argument that the project may have a significant environmental impact on the tricolored blackbird, VELB, and golden eagle. The judgment and resulting writ of mandate required the County to undertake further study and preparation of an Environmental Impact Report to address only the potential impacts of the project on the tricolored blackbird, VELB, and golden eagle, while the Use Permit remained intact.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT
To initiate the Court ordered process, the County circulated a Notice of Preparation (NOP) of an EIR for the Field & Pond project on July 12, 2018. The County held a public scoping meeting on July 18, 2018, to receive comments regarding the scope of the environmental analysis to be included in the Draft EIR. Four comment letters were received from the public during the NOP process. Comments regarding aspects of the project related to potential impacts on the tricolored blackbird, VELB, and golden eagle are addressed in Chapter 3.0 of the Draft EIR, which is appended to the Final EIR in Attachment B.
Concerns related to impacts associated with Swainson's hawk, fire hazards, noise, water quality,and wastewater disposal/septic system capacity were also identified in the NOP comments. These issue areas were analyzed and addressed in the original and/or Revised MND, which was reviewed by the Court and found to be sufficient; therefore, no further analysis of these issues was required since the Court's writ limited the scope of the Draft EIR to the potential impacts of the project on the tricolored blackbird, VELB, and golden eagle only.
The Draft EIR found potentially significant impacts to VELB due to the presence of five elderberry shrubs at, or near, the Project site. The VELB are not known to be sensitive to human presence, but ground-disturbing activity could impact the species. Accordingly, the Draft EIR imposed a 100-foot setback from elderberry shrubs and Chickahominy Slough for construction and ground-disturbing activities, excluding agricultural activities, and certain protective measures during nearby construction to avoid impacts. With those mitigation measures in place, the impact to VELB would be considered less-than-significant.
As to the golden eagle, the Draft EIR was unable to identify documentation of a nesting site at, or near, the property following a records search and on-site inspection. Given that the project does not remove golden eagle foraging habitat and there were no active golden eagle nests on the property, the Draft EIR concluded that the impacts to golden eagles are less-than-significant.
The Draft EIR similarly concluded that impacts to the tricolored blackbird were less-than-significant. Observations of tricolored blackbirds at the site have been minimal since 2011, and regular site visits from 2014 have indicated that breeding is not occurring at the site. The County retained two qualified biologists, Dr. Robert Meese from UC Davis, the preeminent expert on tricolored blackbirds, and Jim Estep (Estep Environmental Consulting), to evaluate the project site and determine whether the pond and nearby areas could serve as viable, high-quality breeding sites. Both biologists agreed that the habitat on the Project site is considered marginal and is not considered significant breeding habitat for the tricolored blackbird. In addition, the existing baseline condition of human activity on the site and disturbances, such as mowing, lawn and grounds maintenance, pond maintenance, recreation on the dock and in the pond, and human and pet presence on the site, even before the project, minimized the habitat value of the project site. The Draft EIR thus concluded that the impacts on the tricolored blackbird were less-than-significant.
Because the impacts to the tricolored blackbird are less-than-significant, the mitigation measures related to the species implemented from the Revised MND will be removed from the conditions of approval and mitigation monitoring and reporting plan (Attachment C contains the proposed amended conditions). This is because an MND is much more conservative in identifying potential impacts: even if the weight of the evidence points toward a less-than-significant impact, an MND must find a significant impact if there is even just a fair argument, supported by substantial evidence, that an impact could occur. An EIR, however, requires a full evaluation of the evidence, and in this instance the weight of the evidence does not support a finding of a significant impact. As a result, CEQA no longer supports imposition of the mitigation measures related to the tricolored blackbird.
A Notice of Availability (NOA) was issued and published on August 15, 2019, which identified release of the Draft EIR for a 45-day public comment period from August 23, 2019, through October 7, 2019. The County received nine comment letters during circulation of the Draft EIR. These written comments are reproduced in the Final EIR, which includes responses to the comments (Attachment B). It should be noted that multiple comments received during the Draft EIR public review period addressed issues that were outside the scope of the EIR, which, as noted above, was limited to address only the potential impacts of the project on the tricolored blackbird, VELB, and golden eagle.
Revisions to the EIR, resulting from responses to comments received during the public review period for the Draft EIR, are included in Chapter 3.0 of the Final EIR (Attachment B). These revisions were minor in nature and did not result in new significant environmental impacts, did not constitute significant new information, and did not alter the conclusions of the environmental analysis. Specifically, mitigation for the VELB (see Mitigation Measure 3-1 in Attachment B) was enhanced to identify limitations and uses allowed in a riparian buffer by implementation of General Plan Policy CO-2.22 that requires maintaining a minimum 100-foot no-development setback from the upper bank of Chickahominy Slough. Other revisions include adding General Plan Conservation policies to Chapter 3.0 of the Draft EIR that recognize and support the protection and enhancement of habitat, and seek to avoid adverse impacts to wildlife movement. However, as indicated above, these revisions did not warrant recirculation of the Draft EIR.
Staff recommends adoption of the Final EIR and updated MMRP, and amending the conditions of approval for the Field & Pond Use Permit for the reasons set forth herein. The recommended changes are reflected in the final proposed documents which are included in Attachments B and C.
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