Board advances appeal over 445 Wawona exemption, directs limited further review on traffic safety

The Board of Supervisors held a lengthy public hearing on Sept. 25 over an appeal of the Planning Department's categorical exemption for a proposed infill project at 445 Wawona Street, a portion of the Arden Wood residential care facility property.

Residents and appellants urged the board to require an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), arguing five separate grounds: overwhelmed storm and sewer infrastructure and recurrent flooding in the neighborhood; potential changes to groundwater flow from construction on filled creek beds; possible impact on protected bird species (including Cooper's hawks); traffic-safety risks on narrow Fifteenth Avenue; and irreversible impacts to an area described as part of a historic landscape connected to Arden Wood.

Planning Department staff and the project sponsor, developer Mark Nelson, said the project met the criteria for CEQA Class 32 (infill) exemptions, citing geotechnical studies, biological surveys, and civil engineering analyses that concluded the site could be developed without significant environmental impacts. Planning's presentation noted that soils borings reached 40 and 61 feet in depth and that a geotechnical engineer concluded slab-on-grade foundations were feasible; the Department of Public Works and other agencies were not recorded as raising a capacity failure for storm drains in their reviews as summarized by planning.

After public testimony from numerous neighbors and a detailed presentation by the appellant and the planning department, District Supervisor (district representative) acknowledged that historical concerns existed but said requiring an EIR for all remodels west of West Portal would create an overly broad precedent. He said the main unresolved technical concern was traffic safety at the narrow, sloping and curving stretch of Fifteenth Avenue where the project would put multiple driveways.

Supervisor Elsberg moved to advance the appeal measures that would disapprove the planning exemption (items 33 and 34), table the item that would affirm the exemption (item 32), and direct Planning to undertake additional review focused only on traffic safety associated with driveway access on Fifteenth Avenue. The board approved that procedural motion by roll call.

The transcript shows the board's action will bring disapproval motions and a direction to prepare findings before the board, while preserving a targeted technical review by Planning on the traffic issues identified by neighbors and by the district supervisor. The transcript does not include a final decision to reject the exemption; instead the board advanced the disapproval measures and ordered planning to produce additional analysis on traffic safety before the board acts on the merits of the appeal.