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Administrative Draft Environmental Impact Report Gill Medical Center Project 5.0 OTHER CEQA ANALYSIS This section discusses additional topics statutorily required by CEQA, including growth inducement and irreversible changes. 5.1 Growth-Inducing Impacts The CEQA Guidelines Section 15126.2(d) require that an EIR "discuss the ways in which the Proposed Project could foster economic or population growth, or the construction of additional housing, either directly or indirectly, in the surrounding environment." Growth-inducing impacts can occur in a variety of ways, including the construction of new homes and businesses, and the extension of urban services, such as utilities and improved roads, to previously undeveloped areas. A project can have direct and/or indirect growth inducement potential. Direct growth inducement would result if a project, for example, involved construction of new housing.A project would have indirect growth inducement potential if it established substantial new permanent employment opportunities (e.g., commercial, industrial, or governmental enterprises) or if it would involve a construction effort with substantial short-term employment opportunities that would indirectly stimulate the need for additional housing and services to support the new employment demand. Similarly, a project would indirectly induce growth if it would remove an obstacle to additional growth and development, such as a project providing the extension of water supply lines to an in an area where the lack of water service historically limited the growth in the area. CEQA Guidelines further explain that the environmental effects of induced growth are considered indirect impacts of the proposed project.These indirect impacts or secondary effects of growth may result in significant, adverse environmental impacts. Potential secondary effects of growth include increased demand on other community and public services and infrastructure, increased traffic and noise, and adverse environmental impacts such as degradation of air and water quality, degradation or loss of plant and animal habitat, and conversion of agricultural and open space land to developed uses. CEQA Guidelines Section 15126.2[d]) states that it is not assumed that growth in an area is necessarily beneficial, detrimental, or of little significance to the environment. However, growth inducement may constitute an adverse impact if the growth is not consistent with or accommodated by the land use plans and growth management plans and policies for the area affected. Local land use plans provide for land use development patterns and growth policies that allow for the orderly expansion of urban development supported by adequate urban public services, such as water supply, roadway infrastructure, sewer service, and solid waste service. A project that would induce "disorderly" growth (growth that conflicts with local land use plans) could indirectly cause additional adverse environmental impacts and other public services impacts.Thus, to assess whether a growth-inducing project would result in adverse secondary effects, it is important to assess the degree to which the growth accommodated by a project would or would not be consistent with applicable land use plans. The proposed Project would construct a medical center with two hospitals and a medical office building. The Project does not propose extension of existing water, sewer or stormwater facilities as these utility Other CEQA Analysis 5-1 October 2021