SU0014674 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MOUNTAIN HOUSE NEIGHBORHOOD' 'PROJECT INITIAL STUDY Community. The adopted Master Plan includes an Implementation Statement addressing Agricultural Mitigation Fees stating that if a Countywide agricultural mitigation fee were established, an agricultural mitigation fee, based on each agricultural acre converted to urban use, shall be paid by the developer to the County as specified in the ordinance. Any lands that have a recorded Final Map(not including "Preliminary Maps")prior to the adoption of an agricultural mitigation fee shall not be subject to the fee. At the time of preparation of this Initial Study, the County had not adopted such a fee. h) Conflict with existing zoning for agricultural use, or a Williamson Act contract? No Williamson Act contracts exist within the project site, and no conflicts with agricultural zoning would occur. No lands within the project site are zoned for agricultural use. c) Involve other changes in the existing environment which, due to their location or nature, could result in conversion of Farmland to non-agricultural use? The Master Plan states the following objective: "To size public services and facilities to maintain the community's boundaries by serving only the Master Plan area." Thus, any potential rezonings for adjoining lands would depend upon the availability of water and wastewater services to serve such lands and would require environmental review at the time of rezoning requests. In addition, the Master Plan includes policies to protect agricultural uses within the boundaries of the Mountain House New Community as the community is built out. Master Plan Policy 3.2.4 (g)states: To the extent feasible,phasing of development within neighborhoods shall allow continuation of adjacent agricultural operations. The eastern portion of the project site would abut agricultural lands, but would be separated from these lands by the existing Mountain House Parkway. The adopted Master Plan has clear policies about the community east edge at Patterson Pass(now Mountain House Parkway)which covers issues such as the development of a multi-lane, divided arterial for Mountain House Parkway, a minimum setback of 32 feet from the west edge of the roadway to the nearest building, fencing and landscaping with multiple rows of trees. The Roadway Landscape Plan(October 1999) shows a continuous band of Lombardy poplars (Populus Italica 'nigra')planted on the east and west sides of Mountain House Parkway and additional tree plantings in the center median(see Figure 4). Refer to the discussion on air quality mitigation measures found in Section V.G of this Initial Study. The northern, southern, and western edges of the project site would abut lands that are zoned for residential and other non-agricultural uses. On the eastern side of the project site, agricultural lands abutting Mountain House are currently zoned for agricultural use and are not under the ownership of the project applicant. These landowners could request rezonings due to their proximity to the Mountain House development. As a deterrent to such potential rezoning requests, the public services such as water and wastewater from the Mountain House Community Services District(CSD)would be sized to only accommodate the buildout of Mountain House. In addition, the boundaries of the Mountain House CSD are the same as the boundaries of the proposed new community. As discussed above, the applicant has proposed to maintain a 100-foot minimum buffer between agricultural operations and areas under development. This buffer shall include plantings such as alfalfa or other cover crop that do not require ongoing harvesting or application of pesticides or herbicides. C1J0BSVSICgNMAL=YTrNAL1Nr1UL=Y-PARTI.D0C(7!10/00) 38 V.B. AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES