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7 OTHER CEQA-REQUIRED SECTIONS 7.1 GROWTH-INDUCING IMPACTS 7.1.1 INTRODUCTION TO GROWTH-INDUCING ANALYSIS Section 15126.2(d) of the State California Environmental Quality Act(CEQA) Guidelines requires that an �- environmental impact report(EIR)discuss the growth-inducing impacts of a proposed project. Specifically,the guidelines state: Discuss the ways in which the proposed project could foster economic or population growth, or the construction of additional housing, either directly or indirectly, in the surrounding environment. Included in this are projects which would remove obstacles to population growth (a major expansion of a waste water treatment plant might,for example, allow for more construction in service areas). Increases in the population may tax existing community service facilities, requiring construction of newfacilities that could cause significant environmental Leffects. Also discuss the characteristic of some projects which may encourage and facilitate other activities that could significantly affect the environment, either individually or cumulatively. It must not be assumed that growth in any area is necessarily beneficial, detrimental, or of little significance to the environment. _ Growth-inducing impacts can result from development that directly or indirectly induces additional growth. I Examples of growth inducement include: redesignation of property from agricultural to urban uses,thus increasing the potential for adjacent farmland to also be redesignated to urban uses; the development of new housing or job-generating uses that would be sufficient in quantity to create a substantial demand for new jobs and housing,respectively; L the development of new schools as part of a proposed project with excess capacity to serve adjacent currently undeveloped areas; the extension of roads and utilities to an area not currently served by such infrastructure; and 1 the oversizing of new utility lines to a project site that may have additional capacity to serve currently undeveloped areas nearby. I Growth inducement itself is not an environmental effect,but it may lead to environmental effects. Such ` environmental effects could include increased demand on other community and public services and infrastructure, increased traffic and noise,degradation of air or water quality, degradation or loss of plant or animal habitats,or conversion of agricultural and open-space land to urban uses. 4 7.1.2 ANALYSIS OF GROWTH-INDUCING IMPACTS The College Park project, like the balance of the Mountain House community, as been planned with a mix of land ` uses to be a"self-contained"community, and, thus,to minimize growth-inducing impacts (San Joaquin County F 2004a).However, over time, development in this agricultural area could expand beyond the boundaries of the project site as a result of both economic and environmental factors,thus resulting in the growth-inducing impacts discussed below. College Park at Mountain House Specific Plan III Draft EIR EDAW San Joaquin County 7-1 Other CEQA-Required Sections