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5 – Effects Found Not To Be Significant Draft Environmental Impact Report February 2021 14800 W. Schulte Road Logistics Center 5-2 Visual Character Per California Public Resources Code Section 21071, the Project site is located in a non-urbanized area because the site is located in an unincorporated part of the County that is not completely surrounded by one or more incorporated cities. The nearest incorporated city to the Project site is the City of Tracy, which has a population of 95,931 as of January 2020 (DOF 2020). Therefore, this analysis considers whether the Project would degrade the existing visual character or quality of public views of the site and surrounding area. The Project site is located in an unincorporated area of the County that primarily consists of mixed agricultural and industrial uses, interspersed rural residential and public uses, and undeveloped areas. The Project site is bound by Schulte Road and agricultural uses to the north, Quality Road and agricultural uses to the east, and industrial uses to the west and south. The Project would involve the development of three single -story industrial buildings, and would include improvements along the Project’s street frontage, including landscape, sidewalk, and parkway improvements. The Project site is currently vacant, consisting of disturbed, uneven soils and ruderal vegetation, and does not contain elements that would be perceived as visual resources or of valued visual quality or character. Development of the Project would result in conversion of the Project site from a vacant lot to a developed and maintained industrial site featuring three warehouse buildings and associated parking, loading docks, drive aisles, and landscaping. Proposed buildings would be one story in height and would not conflict with the existing mass and scale of buildings in the Project area. Building facades would feature a complementary neutral color palette and a variety of building materials, similar to other industrial development located throughout the region. The overall intensity of use on site would increase, and activities on site would include ingressing and egressing of passenger vehicles and trucks; loading and unloading of trucks within designated truck courts/loading areas; and the internal and external movement of materials around the Project site via forklifts, pallet jacks, yard hostlers, and similar equipment. However, buildings would be oriented such that all loading areas would face the interior of the site and would not be visible from adjacent public streets. Building elevations would include vertical and horizontal elements that would break up the overall massing of the buildings, and appropriately sited landscaping elements, including a variety of trees, shrubs, plants, and land covers, would provide additional screening and soften the appearance of the industrial site. In an effort to ensure that current and future development within the Project area is designed and construc ted to conform to existing visual character and quality of the surrounding built environment, the County of San Joaquin Ordinance Code (Title 9, Development Code) includes design standards related to building size, height, floor area ratio, and setbacks, as well as landscaping, signage, and other development standards that have an effect on visual considerations. These design standards help adjacent land uses to be visually consistent with one another and their surroundings, and reduce the potential for aesthetic conflict. The design specifications of all development proposals submitted to the County are reviewed for compliance with all applicable provisions set forth by the Development Code. As part of the County’s development review process, the Project’s architectural plans are reviewed by County staff to determine whether the Project design conforms to the Development Code and promotes the visual character and quality of the surrounding area. Since industrial uses are common in the Project area, the Project would not conflict with the industrial character of the immediately surrounding area. Further, more distant views of open grasslands, agricultural uses, foothills, and mountains would remain intact. Therefore, the Project would have a less-than-significant impact associated with the existing visual quality or character of the site and its surroundings.