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Council approves Town Center Specific Plan after environmental group asks for SEIR recirculation
Summary
After an attorney for SAFER urged the council to recirculate the Town Center supplemental EIR over alleged air‑quality and indoor‑air shortcomings, city staff said consultants responded to each point; the council approved the Town Center Specific Plan (item 8.5) by a 4‑0 vote with one absence.
An environmental advocate asked the City Council to withhold certification of the Town Center supplemental environmental impact report and to require recirculation, but city staff and consultants said the comments had been reviewed and answered and recommended the council proceed with adoption.
Victoria Yang, speaking for the Supporters' Alliance for Environmental Responsibility (SAFER), told the council the final SEIR included “substantial changes” to its air quality conclusions after public review and that the SEIR failed to analyze and mitigate certain indoor air quality and health risks. Yang argued the SEIR’s air quality analysis was “fundamentally inadequate,” asserted construction NOx emissions could increase 15–70% and that construction emissions were underestimated by roughly 50%, and urged the council not to certify the SEIR.
City staff said the SAFER letter arrived in the days before the meeting, the city’s environmental consultant reviewed it, and written responses were distributed on the dais and posted for the public. Staff said the consultant concluded the points raised did not require recirculation of the SEIR and recommended the council move forward. The council voted to approve item 8.5 by a 4‑0 roll call with Mayor Pro Tem Low absent.
The action places the Town Center Specific Plan into effect 30 days after adoption unless further legal action or administrative review intervenes. The council did not make substantive changes to the SEIR at the meeting; SAFER’s requested recirculation was not granted.
