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6 CUMULATIVE IMPACTS 6.1 INTRODUCTION This draft environmental impact report(Draft EIR)provides an analysis of overall cumulative impacts of the proposed project taken together with other past,present,and probable future projects producing related impacts, as required by Section 15130 of the California Environmental Quality Act(CEQA)Guidelines.The goal of such an exercise is twofold: first,to determine whether the overall long-term impacts of all such projects would be cumulatively significant; and second,to determine whether the College Park project itself would cause a "cumulatively considerable"(and thus significant)incremental contribution to any such cumulatively significant " impacts. (See State CEQA Guidelines Sections 15130[a]-[b], 15355[b], 15064[h],and 15065[c]; Communities for a Better Environment v. California Resources Agency [2002] 103 Cal.App.4th 98, 120.)In other words,the required analysis intends first to create a broad context in which to assess the project's incremental contribution to anticipated cumulative impacts,viewed on a geographic scale well beyond the project site itself,and then to determine whether the project's incremental contribution to any significant cumulative impacts from all projects is itself significant (i.e., "cumulatively considerable"in CEQA parlance). Cumulative impacts are defined in State CEQA Guidelines Section 15355 as"two or more individual effects which,when considered together, are considerable or which compound or increase other environmental impacts." A cumulative impact occurs from"the change in the environment which results from the incremental impact of .. the project when added to other closely related past,present,and reasonably foreseeable probable future projects. Cumulative impacts can result from individually minor but collectively significant projects taking place over a period of time"(State CEQA Guidelines Section 15355[b]). Consistent with State CEQA Guidelines Section 15130(a),the discussion of cumulative impacts in this Draft EIR focuses on significant and potentially significant cumulative impacts. State CEQA Guidelines Section 15130(b), _ in part,provides the following: The discussion of cumulative impacts shall refect the severity of the impacts and their likelihood Of occurrence, but the discussion need not provide as great detail as is provided for the effects attributable to the project alone. The discussion should be guided by the standards ofpracticality and reasonableness, and should focus on the cumulative impact to which the identified other projects contribute rather than the attributes of other projects which do not contribute to the cumulative impact. 6.2 CUMULATIVE IMPACT FRAMEWORK — The State CEQA Guidelines identify two basic methods for establishing the cumulative environment in which the project is to be considered:the use of a list of past,present,and probable future projects or the use of adopted ., projections from a general pian, other regional planning document,or a certified EIR for such a planning document. For this Draft EIR,both the list and the plan approach have been combined to generate the most reliable future projections possible.A list approach is used to define the local project environment and includes projects within .. San Joaquin County.Because the proposed project is large and directly influences,and is influenced by,regional development activities,the plan approach is also used,to allow a cumulative analysis on this regional scale. 6.2.1 PAST PROJECTS Past projects or actions have been completed in the project study area,all of which contribute to the existing setting and upon which the present and reasonably foreseeable future projects can be added.Collectively,they make up the future cumulative condition.Many of the past projects have also addressed the potential for cumulative impacts College Park at Mountain House Specific Plan III Draft EIR EDAW San Joaquin County 6-1 Cumulative Impacts