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Pittsburg Technology Park Specific Plan
PUBLIC SCOPING MEETING AND COMMENT SUBMITTAL
An online (Zoom) scoping meeting will be held:
Date: Thursday, March 14, 2024
Time: 11:00 A.M.
Zoom Link: Click Here
Meeting ID: 875 2380 8494
Passcode: 744913
An in-person scoping meeting will be held:
Date: Thursday, March 14, 2024
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Location: Pittsburg City Hall, 3rd Floor Council Chambers
65 Civic Avenue, Pittsburg, California 94565
The purpose of the EIR is to provide information about potential significant environmental impacts of the Pittsburg Technology Park Specific Plan project, to identify possible ways to minimize those significant impacts, and to describe and analyze possible alternatives to the proposed project if potential significant impacts are identified. Preparation of an NOP or EIR does not indicate a decision by the City to approve or disapprove the project. However, prior to making any such decision, the City Council must review and consider the information contained in the EIR.
Written comments on the scope of the EIR during the 30-day review period are encouraged. Please submit comments by 5:00 PM on Friday, April 4, 2024. Written comments should be sent to Alison Hodgkin, Associate Planner, at 65 Civic Avenue, Pittsburg, California 94565, or via email at ahodgkin@pittsburgca.gov, or via fax at (925) 252-4814. The NOP is also available on-line at Public Environmental Reviews | City of Pittsburg (pittsburgca.gov).
Questions concerning the environmental review of the proposed project should be directed to Alison Hodgkin at ahodgkin@pittsburgca.gov. To be considered during preparation of the EIR, comments must be received in writing by the deadline identified above.
PROJECT LOCATION AND SETTING
The Specific Plan project area (Plan Area) is located in the City of Pittsburg, approximately 45 miles southwest of Sacramento and 33 miles northeast of the San Francisco Bay Area, in Contra Costa County. The Plan Area generally encompasses the eastern half of the former municipal Delta View Golf Course, south of West Leland Road, located at 2232 Golf Club Road The Plan Area consists of three individual parcels totaling approximately 76.38 acres.
The Contra Costa Canal runs east-west through the Plan Area, separating the site into two major project areas. The parcel north of the canal is approximately 22.05 acres and the two parcels south of the canal total approximately 54.33 acres. The Plan Area is predominantly undeveloped and includes remnant features of the defunct golf course including sand pits, paved roads, and parking areas. Vegetation onsite primarily consists of annual grasses and large trees with some wetlands occurring in larger drainage swales.
The Plan Area has a 2020 General Plan land use designation of “Park,” consistent with the former golf course use. The Notice of Preparation for the 2040 General Plan Update, circulated in April 2022, anticipates the Plan Area to be redesignated from “Park” to “Employment Center Industrial (ECI),” consistent with City Council direction provided in 2018. To achieve internal consistency between the proposed 2040 General Plan Update and the City’s zoning ordinance, as required by Government Code 65860, the city also anticipates proposing a series of associated zoning map and text amendments. One of the proposed zoning map amendments would include a rezone of the Plan Area from “Open Space (OS)” District to “Limited Industrial with an Overlay (IL-O)” District to allow for employment-generating and light manufacturing uses with specific development regulations. Both of these actions are anticipated to occur prior to release of the EIR for the proposed project.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The proposed Pittsburg Technology Park Specific Plan (Specific Plan) would serve as the overarching planning document for the Plan Area, providing policy guidance, implementation measures, development standards and design guidelines for future development of the Plan Area as a technology-focused business park. The proposed Specific Plan would also include sections addressing circulation and mobility, and utilities and infrastructure for the Plan Area.
Specific Plan Uses
As described in the 2040 General Plan, allowable uses for properties with the “ECI” land use
designation include those that accommodate technology, advanced manufacturing, logistics, and other sectors that generate substantial employment opportunities. For instance, administrative, financial, business, professional, medical and public offices, business incubators, research and development, custom and light manufacturing, limited assembly, warehousing and distribution, data centers, technology and innovation, energy, services, light and heavy automobile services, and supporting commercial uses.
Allowable uses within the Plan Area would be subject to development standards and design guidelines, and land use entitlement procedures and actions outlined in the Specific Plan.
Project Phases
The proposed Specific Plan is based on a concept for development of the Plan Area in three
phases. Phase I would include the development of a data center and corresponding substation on the 22.05-acre portion of the Plan Area north of the Contra Costa Canal. Phase I development would allow up to 347,740 square feet of estimated development. The Phase I data center CEQA compliance documentation would be completed by the California Energy Commission, as it has regulatory authority over data centers with over 49 megawatts (MW) or greater capacity.
Future Phases II and III, on the 54.33-acre portion of the Plan Area south of the canal, would be designed to accommodate up to 761,118 square feet of development. Phases II and III would allow for the development of a wide range of employment opportunities generated from allowable ECI uses based on market conditions.
The Conceptual Site Plan for the Plan Area illustrates the potential building envelopes for each phase of development, planned infrastructure, and circulation throughout the Plan Area.
REQUIRED APPROVALS
The proposed Specific Plan would be accompanied by a Tentative Map to subdivide the parcels into lots for future development phases.
Note: The proposed Specific Plan will establish the standards and guidelines for development within the Plan Area and therefore does not provide project-level analysis. Future project proposals within the Plan Area will be evaluated for consistency with the objectives and provisions of the Specific Plan through individual permit applications, as determined by the Zoning Administrator.
POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15063, the city is preparing an EIR to determine if the
proposed Specific Plan may have a significant impact on the environment. The purpose of the
EIR is to provide the public with information on potential environmental effects that could result from implementation of the proposed Specific Plan. The city anticipates that the EIR will address the following topic areas:
• Aesthetics
• Air Quality
• Biological Resources
• Cultural Resources
• Energy
• Geology and Soils
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Hazards and Hazardous Materials
• Hydrology and Water Quality
• Land Use and Planning
• Noise
• Population and Housing
• Public Services
• Recreation
• Transportation and Traffic
• Tribal Cultural Resources
• Utilities and Service Systems
• Wildfire
Based on a preliminary analysis, the city has determined that impacts to the following topics
would be less than significant.
• Agricultural and Forestry Resources • Mineral Resources
Full documentation of the factual basis for this determination will be provided in the EIR. Unless specific comments are received during the NOP public comment period that indicate a potential for the proposed Specific Plan to result in significant impacts, these topics will not be analyzed further in the EIR.
STATUTORILY REQUIRED SECTIONS
The Statutorily Required Sections chapter of the EIR will summarize potentially significant, unavoidable, significant irreversible, growth-inducing, and cumulative impacts. CEQA Guidelines, Section 15130 requires that an EIR discuss the cumulative and long-term effects of the proposed project that would adversely affect the environment. “Cumulative impacts” are defined as “two or more individual effects which, when considered together, are considerable or which compound or increase other environmental impacts” (CEQA Guidelines, Section 15355). “Individual effects may be changes resulting from a single project or a number of separate projects” (CEQA Guidelines, Section 15355, subd. [a]). “The cumulative impact from several projects is the change in the environment which results from the incremental impact of the project when added to other closely related past, present, and reasonably foreseeable probable future projects. Cumulative impacts can result from individually minor but collectively significant projects taking place over a period of time” (CEQA Guidelines, Section 15355, subd. [b]).
ALTERNATIVES TO THE PROPOSED PROJECT
In accordance with CEQA Guidelines Section 15126(a), the EIR will include an Alternatives Analysis. The Alternatives chapter will evaluate, at a minimum, three alternatives, including the no-project-alternative option. Alternatives will be selected when more information related to the proposed project’s impacts is available so the alternatives can be designed to reduce significant project impacts. Additional alternatives might be developed during preparation of the EIR to respond to identified significant impacts. The Alternatives chapter will describe the alternatives and identify the environmentally superior alternative. The alternatives will be analyzed at a level of detail less than that of the proposed project; however, the analysis will include sufficient detail to allow a meaningful comparison of the impacts. The Alternatives chapter will also include a section of alternatives considered but dismissed. A matrix comparing the impacts of the proposed project to the three alternatives will also be included.