SECTION 17 RECREATION

Transcription

1 SECTION 17 RECREATION This section presents the potential effects of the Water Authority s Proposed Project on local and regional recreational resources. These potential effects include any influence or restriction of recreational opportunities within the Water Authority s service area from construction or operation of the Water Authority s Proposed Project facilities. This section begins with a description of the regional recreational setting, followed by a discussion of the relevant Federal, State and local regulations. An analysis of potential recreation-related effects associated with the Proposed Project facilities is provided in Section Mitigation measures to avoid, eliminate or reduce effects to a less than significant level are also provided, where appropriate. Finally, Section 17.4 identifies recreation-related effects found not to be significant REGULATORY SETTING There are numerous parks, recreation facilities, and designated open space areas within the service area. These recreational resources are managed by numerous Federal, State and local jurisdictions that often have their own unique planning goals and objectives, depending on the permitted recreational uses and sensitive resources that may be present. Following is a discussion of the regulatory setting for these resources, organized by level of government. There are no Federal or State parks or recreation facilities that would be affected by the Proposed Project. As a result, there are no Federal or State recreation-related management plans, policies, or regulations that would apply to any of the Proposed Project facilities. There are 18 cities and numerous unincorporated communities in the Water Authority service area that own and manage parks, recreation facilities, and designated open space areas in the region. Each of these cities and the County has established their own management policies for recreational resources within their jurisdiction. In general, critical infrastructure projects, including regional and local water supply projects, are permitted within designated parks and open space areas, provided recreational use of those lands and sensitive resources present are not significantly impacted. Typically, water resources projects would be permitted within city and county parks and open space areas following coordination with the local community as to project design and mitigation measures that would be implemented REGIONAL SETTING The service area is located in San Diego County which is famous for its recreational resources including beaches, parks, trails, mountains, and deserts. There are numerous types of public lands and facilities available for recreation in San Diego County. Some of these lands are managed by Federal land management agencies, some are managed by the State of California, and others are managed by the local cities and San Diego County. Following is a description of the regional setting for recreational resources. Regional Water Facilities Master Plan Final Program EIR 17-1 November 2003

2 At the Federal level, the National Park Service operates the Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma in the City of San Diego. This monument offers both scenic views of San Diego Bay and the Pacific Ocean and features a museum, a lighthouse, and other historic interests related to the early settlement of San Diego. The USFS manages the Cleveland National Forest in the mountains in central San Diego County. The forest offers a variety of developed and dispersed recreational opportunities, and includes the Laguna Mountain Recreation Area, and the Agua Tibia, Pine Creek, and Hauser Wilderness Areas. The BLM manages large parcels of Federal land used for recreation in San Diego County, including the Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve, and the Otay Mountain, Carrizo Gorge, and Sawtooth Mountains Wilderness Areas. With the exception of the Cabrillo National Monument and Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve, these Federal recreational resources lie primarily outside of the service area, but are important to service area residents as they offer a wide range of recreational opportunities and are reasonably accessible. Figure 17-1 provides a map showing the location of designated parks, beaches, open space areas, and other recreational resources in the project area. There are numerous State parks and State beaches in San Diego County within the service area. In total, there are eight State beaches from San Onofre State Beach south to Silver Strand State Beach. These beaches are used by millions of local and non-local visitors annually. State parks in San Diego County include Border Field State Park, Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, and Torrey Pines State Reserve. To the east of the service area, there are several additional State parks, including the massive Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Palomar Mountain State Park, Cuyamuca Rancho State Park, Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area, and the San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park (CDPR 2003). At the local level, cities within the service area and San Diego County operate numerous small neighborhood parks, larger community parks and recreation centers, and even larger regional parks. In addition to the State beaches mentioned previously, cities within San Diego County operate several municipal beaches used extensively for recreation. The cities also operate numerous neighborhood parks and community recreation centers that provide amenities, such as ball fields, tennis and basketball courts, playgrounds, picnic areas, gymnasiums, and swimming pools. Numerous public and privately-owned golf courses are also available in San Diego County for the recreational enjoyment of local residents and area visitors. The City of San Diego operates four regional parks, including Balboa Park, Mission Bay Park, Presidio Park, and Chollas Park. Balboa Park, located in the heart of the City, comprises 1,173 acres and is home to 15 museums, various arts and international culture associations, and the world famous San Diego Zoo. Open space within the City of San Diego is defined as areas generally free from development or developed with low intensity uses that respect natural environmental characteristics. There are over 35,000 acres of city-owned open space. Some of the City s open space is managed as designated open space parks, while other open space parcels remain in an undisturbed natural state serving as wildlife habitat, preserving steep slopes and other sensitive areas, and providing buffers between developed urban areas. Examples of large designated open space parks include MTRP, Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, Marian Bear Memorial Park, Tecolote Canyon Natural Park, Rose Canyon Open Space Park, and Sunset Cliffs Natural Park. These designated Regional Water Facilities Master Plan Final Program EIR 17-2 November 2003

3 Oran g San D e iego y unt Co nty u Co Riverside County San Diego County 15c FIR 5 Oceanside Municipal 15b CR OS SO 78 Carlsbad 17 Generalized Location for Desalinated Water 18b Conveyance Facilities 76 NO. COUNTY DISTRIBUTION Vista Oceanside 79 VALLEY CENTER CT UCT UED D AQ 18a U ED AQU ST N SEC O Fallbrook 15d TR I-AG EN CY Maerkle Reservoir Henshaw 1 VE R Wohlford Dixon 6 San Marcos McClellen-Palomar 14a Sutherland 14b Escondido 18d 10 PARK LOCATIONS 1 Mission Trails Regional Park 2 Balboa Park 3 Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve Encinitas 4 Border Field State Park 5 Tecolate Canyon Open Space ~ 6 Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve Solana Beach 7 Marion Bear Memorial Park 8 Sycamore Canyon County Open Space 9 Torrey Pines State Reserve Del Mar 10 San Pasqual Battlefield State Park 11 Pabmar Mountain State Park Hodges 15a Ramona 13 RAMONA 16 Poway Miramar Marine Corps Air Station 52 Miramar Jennings Murray La 8 Mesa 8 15 Miles Sweetwater Reservoir National City Chula Vista San Diego County Water Authority Source: Park data provided by SANDAG Park Jurisdiction City System Pipeline Aqueduct /Reservoir Municipal Area 94 TES UNITED STA MEXICO e Bureau of Land Management State Route Lower Otay Reservoir Brown Field Municipal Airport Interstate El Cajon 94 State Beach County Boundary 6 5 Gillespie Field Legend Site Locations El Capitan Reservoir Santee 125 San Diego Lemon Grove SITE LOCATION Hubbard Hill Flow Regulatory Structure 2 Slaughterhouse Terminal Reservoir 3 North County Distribution Pipeline Flow Regulatory Structure 4 Mission Trails Flow Regulatory Structure II 5 Restore Untreated Water Delivery in La MesaSweetwater Extention 6 Second Crossover Pipeline San Diego 7 San Diego 24/25/26 Flow Control Facility International 2 8 San Diego 12 Flow Control Facility Expansion 9 Lower Otay Pump Station Convert Pipeline 3 to Untreated Water From Crossover to Miramar 11 Padre Dam Pump Station Expansion 12 Pipeline from Otay Flow Control Facility 14 Coronado to Regulatory Reservior Cabrillo 13 Poway Pump Station and Treated Water Connection National 14a Escondido-Vista Pipeline Conversion Monument 14b Escondido-Vista Pump Station 14c Escondido-Dixon Pipeline 15a Olivenhain Water Treatment Plant - 50 mgd Expansion 15b Weese Water Treatment Plant - 50 mgd Expansion 18c 15c Red Mountain Water Treatment Plant - new 50 mgd Plant 15d Diversion Structure Water Treatment Plant - new 100 mgd Plant Imperial 16 Additional San Vicente Dam Raise Beyond ESP Beach 17 Seawater Desalination Project: at Encina 18a Seawater Desalination Site Option for Phases II & III: at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station 18b Seawater Desalination Site Option for Phases II & III: at Encina Power Station 18c Seawater Desalination Site Option for Phases II & III: at South Bay Power Plant 18d Seawater Desalination Site Option for Phases II & III: at Encina Water Pollution Control Facility 18e Seawater Desalination Site Option for Phases II & III: at South Bay Ocean Outfall Site 3 San Vicente Reservoir Pacific Ocean 14c County SAN DIEGO COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY MASTER PLAN PEIR Other Special District State FIGURE 17-1 RECREATIONAL RESOURCES Water District US Fish & Wildlife US Forest Service ANALYSIS AREA: SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Date: 07/22/03 Prepared By: JG File: RECREATION.MXD

4 Regional Water Facilities Master Plan Final Program EIR 17-4 November 2003

5 open space parks generally offer basic amenities, such as trails for walking, jogging, hiking, parking, and restroom facilities. An exception is MTRP which offers a wide variety of recreational amenities, including a nature center, a campground, picnic areas, an extensive trail network, and drinking water and restroom facilities (City of San Diego 2003). Other cities within the service area and San Diego County also have designated open space areas that are available for recreational uses. There are 21 lakes and reservoirs within the service area which offer recreational opportunities, such as fishing and boating. Many of the lakes and reservoirs are used for domestic drinking water sources and, therefore, do not permit bodily contact with water (i.e., swimming or wading). Two exceptions exist within the service area, San Vicente and El Capitan Reservoirs (County of San Diego 1993) IMPACTS AND MITIGATION Standards of Significance The significance of potential recreation impacts were determined based on CEQA guidelines (CCR , Appendix G) and other relevant considerations. These guidelines identify certain thresholds that may be considered to determine whether an impact is significant. Using these thresholds, the Proposed Project would have significant adverse impacts on recreational resources if it were to result in: Direct disturbance or displacement of established recreation facilities; or The construction or expansion of recreational facilities that might have an adverse physical effect on the environment Impacts and Mitigation Measures This section identifies the potentially significant adverse program-level impacts and required mitigation measures for the Proposed Project. Table 17-1 presented at the end of this section identifies the potential program-level impacts of each of the Proposed Project facilities. This program-level analysis is not intended to describe or address the impacts in detail; detailed evaluations of the impacts of specific projects will be conducted as part of a site-specific CEQA review. Unless otherwise noted, all identified impacts are considered to be potentially significant adverse impacts. Corresponding mitigation measures, unless otherwise noted, are expected to be sufficient to reduce impacts to a less than significant level. Recreation Impact 1: The Proposed Project could result in direct disturbance or displacement of established recreation facilities. In general, Proposed Project facilities would be built adjacent to existing water supply facilities, such as WTPs, and existing pipeline routes. These projects would typically avoid recreational areas open to the public. However, in some cases, Proposed Project facilities would require the disturbance, displacement, and/or inundation of established recreational facilities or features. Regional Water Facilities Master Plan Final Program EIR 17-5 November 2003

6 The potentially significant effects could be mitigated to less than significant through implementation of the following mitigation. Recreation Mitigation Measure 1: a) Designation of alternate trail routes around the Proposed Project facilities or facility construction areas. This will provide uninterrupted use of the trails for recreational users; b) Restoration and/or reopening of recreational facilities temporarily affected by Proposed Project facilities, such as parking areas, picnic grounds, trails, and other closed facilities after completion of project construction; c) Relocation or replacement of recreational facilities permanently displaced or inundated by Proposed Project facilities, such as boat ramps, picnic grounds, beaches, concession stands, parking areas, restroom facilities, etc. Recreation Impact 2: During construction of the Proposed Project facilities, construction activities could result in the disruption of existing recreational activities. The temporary loss of existing recreational uses could affect recreational activities such as boating, fishing, water skiing, hiking, picnicking and the recreation-related concession. Disruptions could last longer than one year; this loss would result in a significant but mitigable recreational impact. The potential increase in recreational activities at other recreational parks could result in temporary significant but mitigable impacts if those parks do not have sufficient capacity. Recreation Mitigation Measure 2: Affected public agencies will be compensated for possible loss of business revenue from disruption of recreational activities during construction. Recreation Impact 3: Operation of the Proposed Project facilities could result in the reduction of recreation quality. Recreation Mitigation Measure 3: A few of the Proposed Project facilities will be located within parks and designated open space areas. For these projects, the Water Authority will coordinate with the applicable local planning department or management agency to develop a project design that minimizes impacts to users of the recreation area EFFECTS FOUND NOT TO BE SIGNIFICANT Construction-related ground disturbance and traffic could restrict or delay access to established recreational resources. In some cases, the Proposed Project could necessitate the closure or partial closure of roads used to access parks, lakes and reservoirs, and designated open space areas used for recreation. Regional Water Facilities Master Plan Final Program EIR 17-6 November 2003

7 Similarly, truck traffic could increase traffic congestion and/or degrade road conditions to recreation sites and delay access to those resources. Following the completion of construction, roads would be restored to their previous condition, and no permanent access-related impacts to these recreation resources would occur. Since these access-related impacts would be short-term in nature and would cease following the end of construction, these impacts would be less than significant. Construction-related dust and noise associated with the Proposed Project could adversely impact recreational use of various parks and open space areas in the service area. The construction of various components of the Proposed Project could generate dust and noise that would constitute a temporary nuisance to some recreational users of nearby parks and open space areas in the service area. Since these impacts to recreational uses would be temporary in nature and dust and noise impacts would be mitigated to the extent practical, temporary construction impacts to recreation would be less than significant. Mitigation measures related to dust control are described in more detail in Section 9, Air Quality. Mitigation measures related to construction noise are described in Section 8, Noise. Construction or operation of Proposed Project facilities could result in increased use of existing neighborhood and regional parks such that substantial physical deterioration of the facility could occur or be accelerated. None of the Proposed Project facilities would directly increase the use of existing neighborhood or regional parks. Since the Proposed Project calls for the improvement of regional water supply infrastructure and would not result in an increase in population, the use of service area lakes and reservoirs is not expected to increase as a result of the Proposed Project. Accordingly, the Proposed Project would not result in substantial deterioration of existing neighborhood parks. Regional Water Facilities Master Plan Final Program EIR 17-7 November 2003

8 Table 17-1 Potential Program-Level Recreation Impacts of Proposed Project Facilities Impact # Project 1 a 2 b 3 c Expand Internal System Capacity Flow Regulatory Storage 1 Hubbard Hill FRS 2 Slaughterhouse Terminal Reservoir 3 North County Distribution Pipeline FRS 4 Mission Trails FRS II X X Mission Trails Tunnel Pipeline and Vent Demolition X Projects to Increase Regional Untreated Water Conveyance Capacity 5 Restore Untreated Water Delivery in La Mesa-Sweetwater Extension 6 Second Crossover Pipeline 7 San Diego 24/25/26 FCF X 8 San Diego 12 FCF Expansion 9 Lower Otay Pump Station 10 Convert Pipeline 3 to Untreated Water from Crossover to Miramar Additional Water Treatment Capacity Projects to Supplement Treated-Water Aqueducts 11 Padre Dam Pump Station Expansion 12 Pipeline from Otay FCF 14 to Regulatory Reservoir 13 Poway Pump Station and Treated Water Connection 14 Escondido-Vista WTP Connection a) Escondido-Vista Pipeline Conversion b) Escondido-Vista Pump Station c) Escondido-Dixon Pipeline X Projects to Expand Regional Water Treatment Capacity Options for Expanding Regional Treatment Capacity 15a Olivenhain WTP 50 mgd Expansion 15b Weese WTP 50 mgd Expansion 15c Red Mountain WTP new 50 mgd plant 15d Diversion Structure WTP new 100 mgd plant Additional Seasonal/Carryover Storage 16 Additional San Vicente Dam Raise Beyond ESP X X X New Conveyance and Supply 17 Phase I Seawater Desalination: Project at Encina (50 mgd) Desalination Plant Desalinated Water Conveyance Facilities X 18 Expand Existing or Site New Seawater Desalination Plant* Phase II Seawater Desalination: Expand Capacity up to 100 mgd Phase III Seawater Desalination: Expand Capacity up to 150 mgd Seawater Desalination Site Options for Phases II and III: a) San Onofre at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station b) Carlsbad at Encina Power Station c) South Bay at South Bay Power Plant d) Encina Water Pollution Control Facility e) South Bay Ocean Outfall Site Regional Water Facilities Master Plan Final Program EIR 17-8 November 2003

9 Table 17-1 (continued) Potential Program-Level Recreation Impacts of Proposed Project Facilities * The ultimate level of seawater desalination development in the region would depend largely upon actual regional population growth, economics, availability of other high quality water sources, as well as an evaluation of the performance of the Encina seawater desalination facility, should it be a b c approved and constructed. The Proposed Project could result in direct disturbance or displacement of established recreation facilities. During construction of the Proposed Project facilities, construction activities could result in the disruption of existing recreational activities. Operation of the Proposed Project facilities could result in the reduction of recreation quality. Regional Water Facilities Master Plan Final Program EIR 17-9 November 2003