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The EIR for a 50-apartment project on Hwy 12. has just begun

The City of Sonoma has announced that the Notice of Preparation (NOP) of an Environmental Impact Report for the Montaldo Apartments Project has now begun.

A view of the interior of the site to be developed

There will be an NOP Scoping Meeting on August 1, 2024, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
at the City of Sonoma Emergency Operations Center located at 177 First Street West, Sonoma, CA.

The projects location is 19320 Sonoma Highway in the City of Sonoma, fronting Highway 12 roughly across the street from the entrance to Maxwell Village Shopping Center.

A depiction of the one of the six apartment buildings proposed for the site

Proposed Project: DeNova Homes proposes to construct the Montaldo Apartments project (the proposed project) which includes the demolition of the existing single-family home and the development of 50 apartment units in seven 2- and 3-story residential buildings, 94 on-site parking surface spaces (consisting of 68 garage stalls and 2 carports for residents; 20 standard and 4 compact spaces for visitors), common open space area, and multiple landscaped passive open space areas with connecting walkways. All apartment homes would have a minimum of two bedrooms and two baths. The project description, location maps, and preliminary identification of the potential environmental issues to be explored is available on the project webpage on the City’s website.

The existing single family home dates back to 1939

The portion of the project site fronting Sonoma Highway/SR 12 is developed with a single-family home, built in 1939, and a large valley oak tree (Figure 3). The 1939 house has been determined to be a historically significant resource for its representation of the Ranch-style with Spanish Colonial Revival influences. The house is clad in hand-troweled white stucco with a red mission- style clay tile roof, two chimneys, clay attic vents, and a covered porch with three arches that mirror the arched plate glass window of the front gable. Other windows are painted wood multi-lite casements.

An approximately 2-foot wall borders the site in front of the single-family home along Sonoma Highway/SR 12. A driveway from Sonoma Highway/SR 12 is located between the single-family home and the valley oak tree and provides for parking in a paved area at the rear of the residence. The rear parcel has a livestock corral, remnants of prior agricultural use, and trees but is otherwise undeveloped. There is a total of 93 trees on the project site.

It is anticipated that the EIR will include a focused assessment of impacts on historical resources and that alternatives to be considered for this project will include one or more alternatives that reduce the impacts on these resources. Other environmental topics are anticipated to be analyzed in the initial study, unless significant impacts are identified that cannot be mitigated to a less-than-
significant level, in which case, any such impacts will be included in the EIR.

Key environmental topics to be addressed through the CEQA process are described briefly below.

• Aesthetics: Describes the existing visual setting and describe visual changes resulting from the project.

• Air Quality: Describes the existing regional air quality conditions. The potential for the proposed project to result in local and regional air quality impacts will be evaluated in consideration of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) CEQA Guidelines.

• Biological Resources: Describes the impacts for potential impacts to sensitive plant and wildlife habitats resulting from the demolition and clearing of the existing single-family home and construction of the proposed project in accordance with State and federal law.

• Cultural and Tribal Cultural Resources: The potential to impact cultural resources will be described, including Tribal Cultural Resources. The analysis will address the potential historic significance of the existing single-family home on the site and determine if the project would have the potential to result in a significant impact to historic resources.

• Energy: Describes current electricity and natural gas utility providers and evaluate whether the proposed project would have any potentially significant effects related to energy demand, energy resources, transportation energy use, or compliance with energy standards.

• Geology, Soils, and Paleontological Resources: Evaluates whether the project could result in the exposure of people, structures, and/or property to seismic ground shaking, impacts related to soils constraints, or impacts to unique paleontological (fossil) resources.

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Net new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the project will contribute incrementally to climate change. The analysis will examine if the proposed project would be consistent with the BAAQMD performance criteria and with applicable plans and policies adopted by the City of Sonoma to reduce GHG emissions.

• Hydrology and Water Quality: Stormwater runoff from the site would be collected onsite in bioretention swales, then conveyed to underground stormwater pipes that would connect to the City’s drainage network. The analysis will examine the impacts from redeveloping the site with the proposed project on hydrology and water quality during construction and operational phases of the proposed project.

• Land Use and Planning: Describes the existing land uses within and/or adjacent to the proposed project site and evaluate consistency of the project with relevant policies and plans enacted to reduce adverse physical environmental effects.

• Noise and Vibration: Describes the anticipated noise level exposure and vibration during construction and operation of the proposed project.

• Public Services: Evaluates the potential for adverse physical environmental effects that could result from physical improvements needed to accommodate increased demand for police, fire, or school services attributable to the project.

• Transportation: Evaluates project traffic impacts using the vehicle-miles traveled (VMT). The EIR will examine if the proposed project would generate above the evaluate hazards due to a design feature or incompatible use; inadequate emergency access; and conflicts with adopted plans, policies, or programs regarding public transit, bicycle, or pedestrian facilities that could create a potentially significant adverse environmental effect.

• Utilities and Service Systems: Evaluates physical environmental impacts related to the expansion and extension of utility systems, such as those that are required for water supply, stormwater drainage, wastewater treatment, and solid waste disposal.

Other Environmental Topics: In addition to the key topics identified above, potential effects associated with the environmental topics listed below will also be analyzed:

• Agriculture and Forestry Resources
• Hazards and Hazardous Materials
• Mineral Resources
• Population and Housing
• Recreation
• Wildfire

As required by the CEQA Guidelines Section 15126.6(a), the CEQA analysis will evaluate a “range of reasonable alternatives to the project” which would “feasibly attain most of the basic objectives of the project but would avoid or substantially lessen any of the significant impacts of the project.”

 

 

 

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