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Item No. 2 PC: 4-9-92 GP-89-11 Page 14 asked that additional field studies be performed to determine the level of any use on the site prior to approval of the Specific Plan. Final scoping of this additional work has just been reviewed by federal and state agencies and should get underway this month. If any further evidence of kit fox presence or foraging use is found, appropriate on-or off-site mitigation measures will need to be imposed before the Specific Plan is approved. BIOLOGICAL MITIGATION MEASURES: • At a minimum, a 1:1 ratio of replacement habitat must be provided for the loss of Swainson Hawk habitat, per State Fish and Game guidelines. This replacement habitat can be provided at a ratio of 90 percent conservation easement and 10 percent outright purchase. Thus, approximately 4,270 acres of replacement habitat must be obtained prior to approval of the Specific Plan. The EIR recommends the retention of the 1500 acres north of Byron Road in agriculture as the preferred alternative to off-site mitigation. However, the proponent would still need to provide an additional 2770 acres off the site. • Additional kit fox surveys must be completed and appropriate mitigation determined and implemented prior to approval of the Specific Plan. OTHER SIGNIFICANT ISSUES VISUAL QUALITY: The project site is located at a major visual gateway to San Joaquin County along portions of 1-205 and the County's western border. Long-distance views across fields are available from a variety of local roads and levees in the area. The new community, if developed as proposed, would replace the large expanse of open lands with an urban development pattern that would block views and view corridors. Mitigation measures in the Final EIR require the provision of a significant (2000-foot minimum) open space setback that could be retained in some sort of agricultural production. This mitigation measure would also address the problem of high noise levels generated from 1-205. The proponent has instead recommended an alternative land use mix for this area that includes a significant landscape treatment adjacent to 1-205 and a redistribution of light industrial and freeway commercial uses that would parallel 1-205. These uses are not noise sensitive and would, in fact, help to muffle noise from 1-205 from the residential uses behind. Staff believes that this will effectively mitigate the noise impact. Although the rural visual quality will be lost, an attractive, if urban, visual quality can be achieved. AIR QUALITY: Because of the significant transportation impacts which will result from this project, some of which have been discussed, a significant increase in mobile source emissions is projected. These emissions, along with area-source emissions associated with residential and industrial uses in excess of threshold levels, would add to the regional emission burdens within the San Joaquin Valley air basin and the adjacent San Francisco Bay Area air basin. These emissions could delay or prevent the eventual attainment of air quality standards for ozone and suspended particulate matter. The implementation of recommended mitigation measures, under the 'Transportation' section of this staff report, has the potential of reducing project impacts on regional air quality, but the impact would probably remain significant and adverse after implementation of all measures. Further reductions can only be reasonably expected through indirect