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impact analysis for each Specific Plan; and at that time, additional traffic studies will be prepared for cumulative traffic impacts with an expanded time frame. The County finds that the County Planning Department and the independent consultant retained to prepare the Initial Study each concluded that there was no new information that makes the 1994 Master EIR unavailable for use in reviewing the 1994 Master EIR. The County finds that these conclusions constitute substantial evidence and it is reasonable for the County to rely upon the professional conclusions of its independent Planning Department and the independent consultant in making all of the findings concerning the Neighborhood F Project. In making this finding the County uses the term"new information"as that term is used in CEQA Guideline Section 15162(a)(3). According to the Planning Department, the independent consultant, and the Initial Study, there is no new information showing that there are: (a) significant environmental impacts that were not addressed in the 1994 Master EIR; (b) significant effects addressed in the 1994 Master EIR that are substantially more severe than shown in the 1994 Master EIR; (c) mitigation measures or alternatives previously found not to be feasible in the 1994 Master EIR that are in fact feasible and would substantially reduce one or more significant environmental impacts; or(d) mitigation measures or alternatives that are considerably different than those addressed in the 1994 Master EIR that would substantially reduce significant environmental effects. The initial study prepared for the Neighborhood F Project identified no new significant effects that were not already discussed in the MSIR. The initial study conducted for the Neighborhood F Project evaluated the information, impacts and mitigation measures contained in the MEIR. The Initial Study identified three areas where there was new information, geology and cumulative growth. Studies were prepared for noise and traffic thereby generating new information for these areas. The new information identified below does not result in the need to prepare a subsequent or supplemental EIR. When the 1994 Master EIR was prepared, it was not known that there was the Great Valley Fault Zone one mile west of the project site beneath the east foothills of the Diablo Range. The rupture surface of the nearest segment of the Great Valley Fault Zone, a system of northwest-trending concealed ("blind") thrust faults, lies at depth and does not usually extend to the ground surface. This fault system has only recently been recognized as a potential source of earthquakes. Nevertheless, the mitigation measures identified to reduce ground shaking and to minimize seismic risks, as identified in the 1994 Master EIR, would still apply to the project. Seismic risks are not significantly greater based on this new information. The updated traffic study prepared as a part of the Initial Study incorporated newly generated information on cumulative growth related to residential buildout and employment for the 2010 analysis year of the MEIR. The new cumulative growth information was prepared in May, 2000 by the Community Development Department to address recent, updated San Joaquin Council of Government (SJCOG) housing and 20