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Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report Page IV.A-19 Forward Inc.Landfill 2014 Expansion Project present a bird hazard to aircraft.i' The project applicant implemented a program to survey gull populations in the vicinity of the landfill and implemented a permanent gull control program on September 27, 2010 to prevent the potential for bird strikes and deter gulls from flying, landing or feeding at or near the landfill. As discussed under Airport Land Use Plan and Airport Issues/County General Plan, above, the 1992 County General Plan(Aviation) land use guidelines for "Areas under Horizontal and Conical Surfaces" allow "Most uses provided they do not present hazard to pilot", and Section IV at page 153 of Volume I(Policies/Implementation) of the 1992 General Plan states: "Only compatible land uses shall be permitted near airports. Airport operations shall be protected from: Projections of structures into navigable airspace, light and glare,emissions affecting visibility, interference from communications, bird hazards, such as from ponds or landfills." The Stockton Metropolitan Airport began operations in the 1940s. The Forward Landfill, including the former Austin Road Landfill, has been in operation since the 1950s. Thus, the landfill and the airport have co-existed for several years. Previous project approvals and existing mitigation measures demonstrate the compatibility of continued landfill operations with existing and surrounding land uses. Existing portions of the landfill are closer to the Stockton Metropolitan Airport than the proposed expansion areas, as shown on Figures III.0-5 and III.0-6. Also, there has been an established practice by Forward Landfill to prevent and eliminate any hazard to aircraft caused by the attraction of gulls. However,the 2014 Expansion project could be determined incompatible with the land use guidelines for airport zones in Table II.0-13, and Section IV at page 153 of Volume I (Policies/ Implementation), of the 1992 County General Plan, and with the policies on page 23 of the 1993 Airport Land Use Plan. The inconsistency with the Airport Land Use Plan and General Plan aviation policies due to the potential of the project to create a bird strike hazard is a potentially significant impact. Mitigation Measure A.1 (Implement Annual Gull Control Program) (Revises 2013 EIR Mitigation A.1): The project sponsor shall implement an annual gull control program as described in Rolph A. Davis, Ph.D. LGL Limited environmental research associates, Demonstration of the Continued Effectiveness of the Bird Control Program at the Forward Landfill,Manteca, California—2012-2013,30 December 2013. The gull control program shall include monitoring of gulls feeding at or using the landfill, as described below. • Monitoring shall be conducted by an independent third-party firm or individual with experience in the field of bird hazards to aircraft safety. • The third party monitoring shall consist of a minimum of six site visits, each lasting four hours, every month from October through May. To the extent possible, the site visits shall be announced in advance. During each month: o two of the visits shall begin at dawn, o two shall occur during mid-day, 0 one shall occur late in the afternoon covering the period after the falconer has finished for the day, and 0 one shall occur on Sunday when the landfill is closed to insure that gulls are not accessing the site when staff are absent. 1 s Ibid.,page 23.