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Administrative Draft Environmental Impact Report Gill Medical Center Project 6.0 ALTERNATIVES TO THE PROPOSED PROJECT 6.1 Introduction The CEQA Guidelines specify that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) must describe a reasonable range of alternatives to the project, or to the location of the project, which could feasibly attain most of the basic project objectives (Guidelines §15126.6(a)). The alternatives analysis must focus on alternatives that are capable of eliminating or substantially reducing the significant adverse impacts caused by the project (Guidelines §15126.6(c)), and alternatives to the "whole of the project" rather than the project's component parts. An EIR must include an alternatives analysis even if the EIR concludes that the project would not cause any significant adverse impacts. The "no project" alternative, which considers impacts that would occur if existing conditions continue, must be considered (Guidelines §15126.6(e)), and the EIR must also identify the environmentally superior alternative. If the environmentally superior alternative is the "no project" alternative, the EIR shall also identify an environmentally superior alternative among the other alternatives.The EIR should not consider alternatives "whose effect cannot be reasonably ascertained and whose implementation is remote and speculative." An EIR need not evaluate an alternative that is considered speculative, theoretical, or unreasonable. Not every potentially feasible alternative need be considered; rather, the relevant test is whether a "reasonable range" of feasible alternatives is considered for that particular project (Guidelines §1 5126.6(a)). As discussed in Section 3.3, the primary Project purpose is to bring much needed hospital services to the currently underserved north Stockton area of San Joaquin County.The Project is not intended to replace any existing health care services in the area, but rather to supplement what already exists with increased availability and quality of services— including general hospital services. The Project's service area would include the cities of Stockton and Lodi and the surrounding rural communities.According to the Economic Assessment of Demand and Urban Decay in the Stockton Area for Proposed Gill Medical Center Report (King 2020.), the Project's service area population is medically underserved both in comparison to the State overall and national benchmarks for health. Furthermore, the service area also includes populations with extremely low community health markers, which may be improved by increased access to high-quality medical care.Therefore, the Project is intended to relieve some of the stresses felt by existing medical facilities in San Joaquin County and, in particular, the Project service area.The reader is referred to Draft EIR Appendix I for further discussion of Project need. The purpose of Phase 1 development is to provide an OSPHD 1 full-service hospital for labor and delivery services including Alternative Birthing Services (ABC), which currently do not exist in San Joaquin County. In addition to these services, Phase 1 would have an in- and outpatient surgery center, emergent care services, radiology center, lab, pharmacy and nursery. The purpose of Phase 2 development is to add to the hospital campus by incorporating an additional OSPHD 1 100-bed hospital and medical office building. Based on the CEQA Guidelines, several factors need to be considered in determining the range of alternatives analyzed in an EIR and the level of analytical detail that should be provided for each Alternatives 6-1 October 2021