SU0015801 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

4 Environmental Analysis 4.2 Agriculture and Forestry Resources Importance. As such, conversion of the Project site for battery energy storage is not a significant adverse impact on agricultural resources. This conclusion is buttressed by a LESA model, a tool recommended to be used by lead agencies in Appendix G of the CEQA Guidelines to determine the significance of the conversion of agricultural land. In this case, the Project-specific LESA prepared for this Project concludes that "the Project will not have a significant impact on agricultural land use within the Project area or Zone of Influence" (Appendix B). Therefore, no impact would occur, and no mitigation would be required because there is no evidence that the Project would result in a significant impact due to conversion of unirrigated, Grazing Land, Farmland of Local Importance, Other Land, or Urban Built-up Land to a renewable energy use. Mitigation: None required. IMPACT 4.2-2: Would the project conflict with existing zoning foragricultural use, ora Williamson Act contract? (Less Than Significant Impact with Mitigation Incorporated) As discussed above in Section 4.2.1, Existing Conditions, the battery energy storage portion of the Project site located in San Joaquin County is zoned Agricultural General-160. According to Division 14, Section 9-605.2, of the San Joaquin County Municipal Ordinance Code, any Major Utility use, including such things as transmission lines, substations, wind farms and related facilities, such as a BESS, as described County Code Division 6, Section 9-605.2, is permitted on Agricultural General zoned land through a Site Approval application. Prior to approving an application for a Site Approval, the Review Authority shall make findings pursuant to Section 9- 818.6 of the San Joaquin County Code. Accordingly, the Project would not conflict with the existing zoning for agricultural use in San Joaquin County. Further, the gen-tie line portion of the Project site, located in Alameda County, is zoned Agricultural (A). Public utility uses, excepting buildings and service yards or storage yards, are permitted in any zoning district pursuant to Section 17.52.020 of the Alameda County Municipal Code. Therefore, the gen-tie line portion of the Project, and specifically the portion of the gen-tie line to be constructed by the Applicant from the battery energy storage facility to the point of change of ownership (POCO or tie-in), would not conflict with the existing zoning for agricultural use in Alameda County. The portion of the gen-tie line from the POCO to the PG&E Tesla Substation would be constructed by PG&E and is discussed in Section 4.2.6 below. However, this portion of the gen-tie line would similarly not conflict with the existing zoning. The San Joaquin County portion of the Project site is included in a Williamson Act contract. The Applicant, in partnership with the property owners, has filed a Petition for Cancellation of Contract for the Williamson Act contract, seeking a finding from the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors that cancellation is either consistent with the purposes of the act or is in the public interest (see Government Code § 51282(a) through (c). The Alameda County portion of the Project site is not included in a Williamson Act contract. Petitions for cancellation of the contracts were submitted to the County pursuant to Government Code § 51282(a)(1), seeking cancellation under the "public interest' cancellation provisions (Government Code § 51282(a)). To determine that the cancellation is in the public interest, the County must find (1) that other public concerns substantially outweigh the objectives of the Williamson Act, and (2) that there is no proximate noncontracted land that is both available and suitable for the proposed use or that development of the contracted land would provide more contiguous patterns of urban development (Government Code § 51282(c)). Griffith Battery Energy Storage Project 4.2-10 Tetra Tech/SCH 2022120675 Draft Environmental Impact Report August 2023