To: Interested Parties From: March Joint Powers Authority Meridian Parkway, Suite 140 Riverside, CA 92518

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1 NOTICE OF PREPARATION / NOTICE OF SCOPING MEETING FOR A DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR THE K4 AND CACTUS CHANNEL IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT MARCH JOINT POWERS AUTHORITY, RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA Date: November 24, 2018 To: Interested Parties From: March Joint Powers Authority Meridian Parkway, Suite 140 Riverside, CA Subject: Notice of Preparation (NOP) / Notice of Scoping Meeting for a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the K4 and Cactus Channel Improvement Project Notice is hereby given that the March Joint Powers Authority (MJPA) will be the lead agency and will prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the K4 and Cactus Channel Improvements Project (Project). The DEIR will address the Project s potential physical environmental effects on each of the environmental topics outlined in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The MJPA is requesting comments on the scope and content of this EIR. PROJECT LOCATION AND EXISTING CONDITIONS: The K4 and Cactus Channel Improvements Project site (referred to as K4) is an approximately 35.4-acre project site and is located on the south side of Cactus Avenue and extends from where Veterans Way terminates at Cactus Avenue on the west to where Frederick Street terminates at Cactus Avenue on the east. The Project site is located within the March Joint Powers Authority (JPA) jurisdiction, which is within unincorporated Riverside County, California (Figure 1, Project Location Map and Aerial). The Interstate 215 Freeway (I-215) is located approximately 0.8 mile east of the Project site. The Project site is comprised of five parcels designated as Assessor s Parcel Numbers (APNs) , , , , and The latitude and longitude of the approximate center of the site is North and West. The Project site sits on Township 3 South, Range 4 West, including Sections 13 and 14 within the Riverside East 7.5-minute quadrangle, as mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey. According to the March JPA General Plan (GP) Land Use Plan, the site s land use designation is Business Park (BP), General Plan Land Use Designations. The site has not previously been given a zoning designation per the official March JPA Zoning Map, as shown in, Zoning. Additionally, the Project would include improvements to the Cactus Channel drainage ditch that runs along the south side of Cactus Avenue, commencing just east of Elsworth Street, then along the Project frontage, and further to the east ending at the Heacock Channel. The current drainage ditch is proposed to be undergrounded in a box culvert that would run approximately 7,900 linear feet and would vary in width from an 11-foot wide box to a 9-foot wide double box (approximately 19 feet in width). This portion of the Project is being discussed with Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District and the other agencies and landowners that control the land necessary to implement the length of the improvement. The box culvert would be jointly constructed with the Riverside County Flood Control District Notice of Preparation K4 and Cactus Channel Improvement Project 1

2 and Water Conservation District and it would function as part of the District s Master Plan and may require compliance with the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP). PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The proposed Project involves the development of the five (5) parcels on approximately 35.4-acre site with 718,000 square foot building conservatively assumed to be occupied by e-commerce/fulfillment center use, as shown in, Site Plan. The maximum exterior building height would be 46 feet at the parapet. A total of 289 automobile parking stalls and 317 truck trailer parking stalls would be provided. The building would include a total of 105 loading dock positions for trucks. Vehicles would access the Project site via Cactus Avenue, a designated truck route, and new driveways aligned with the termination of Veterans Way on the west end of the Project site and the terminus of Frederick Street towards the eastern end of the Project site. Once constructed, the e-commerce/fulfillment center use occupying the Project site could potentially be used up to 7 days per week and 24 hours per day. Project construction would occur over a 12-month period, commencing in Quarter 1 of 2020 and completing in Quarter 1 of Generally, Project construction would include site grading, utility relocation/installation, and building construction. Rough grading and utility installation would last approximately 25 days, and building construction, including pad/site-specific grading activities, would occur over approximately 11 months. Heavy equipment to be used on site during construction include flat beds, dozers, scrapers, graders, track hoes, dump trucks, forklifts, cranes, cement trucks, pavers, rollers, water trucks, rolling container trucks, and bobcats. Heavy equipment will be delivered and removed from the site throughout the construction phase. As most heavy equipment is typically not authorized to be driven on a public roadway, most of the equipment will be delivered and removed from the site via large flatbed trucks. It is anticipated that delivery of heavy equipment would not occur daily, but rather periodically throughout the construction phase based on need. During summer months, concrete pours could begin as early as 3 a.m.; during the remainder of the year, concrete pours would occur after 4 a.m. All other deliveries would occur at any time during the day. Any early morning concrete pours would comply with existing noise limitations identified in March JPA Development Code Sections and The delivery and removal of heavy equipment would occur outside of the morning and evening peak hours (7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) to minimize impacts to traffic and circulation near the vicinity of the Project. The installation of the box culvert would require trenching through the existing swale behind the Cactus right-of-way. Currently it is anticipated that there would be some utility relocations for existing crossings in record plans as well as removal of some existing roadway culverts and extending existing storm drain connections to the earth swale. The following entitlements and approvals would be required by the MJPA for the K4 Project: Certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report General Plan Amendment Notice of Preparation K4 and Cactus Channel Improvement Project 2

3 Zone Designation Plot Plan Tentative Parcel Map (a lot merger may substitute the need to file a map to combine five existing parcels into one parcel). An Initial Study has not been prepared for the proposed project, however, the forthcoming K4 DEIR will analyze whether the proposed project would have significant environmental impacts in the following areas: Aesthetics Agricultural or Forestry Resources Air Quality Biological Resources Cultural Resources Geology / Soils Greenhouse Gas Emissions Hazards and Hazardous Materials Hydrology / Water Quality Land Use / Planning Mineral Resources Noise Population / Housing Public Services Recreation Transportation and Traffic Utilities / Service Systems A copy of the NOP can be reviewed at the March Joint Powers Authority, Meridian Parkway, Suite 140, Riverside, CA and online at Comments on the NOP are due no later than the close of the NOP review period, 5:00 pm, Thursday, January 3, The MJPA, however, would appreciate your response at the earliest possible date. Please send your written comments to Mathew Evans, Planning Director, March Joint Powers Authority, Meridian Parkway, Suite 140, Riverside, CA 92518, or evans@marchjpa.com, with K4 and Cactus Channel Improvements Project - EIR in the subject heading. Public agencies providing comments are asked to include a contact person for their agency. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Evans at (951) A public scoping meeting will be held on Monday, December 3, 2018, at 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the March Joint Powers Authority Conference Room, located at Meridian Parkway, Ste. 140, Riverside, CA The scoping meeting is part of the EIR scoping process and the MJPA seeks input from the public and other agencies on specific topics they believe should be addressed in the environmental analysis. The focus of the scoping meeting will be the content to be studied in the EIR. Notice of Preparation K4 and Cactus Channel Improvement Project 3

4 Figure 1 Project Location (Map) Notice of Preparation K4 and Cactus Channel Improvement Project 4

5 Figure 1 Project Location (Aerial) Notice of Preparation K4 and Cactus Channel Improvement Project 5