Draft EIS/EIR for the San Luis Reservoir SRA Resource ...

5. Environmental Analysis
Quinto Solar PV Project The Quinto Solar PV Project (Section 3.3.15.2) would
construct approximately 306,720 solar PV panels, an electrical substation and
switchyard, overhead and underground utility lines, a 5,000 square-foot
operations and maintenance building, unpaved access roads, security fencing, and
a temporary staging area within approximately 528 acres of the 1,012-acre
proposed project site. The March 2012 Draft EIR (Merced County Planning and
Community Development Department 2012) identifies significant and potentially
significant biological impacts during project construction and/or operation to
American badger, burrowing owl, San Joaquin kit fox, Swainson’s hawk, western
spadefoot, loggerhead shrike, grasshopper sparrow, and nesting migratory birds
and raptors. Mitigation includes standard measures such as worker training,
preconstruction surveys, imposition of buffer zones around nest sites, work
windows to avoid the nesting season, and entrapment avoidance for San Joaquin
kit fox. The Quinto Solar PV Project Draft EIR also provides for habitat and
protective measures to promote San Joaquin kit fox movement corridor
connectivity north of Santa Nella, including the creation of a new mitigation
easement over a 110-acre grassland area to the north of the project site.
Conclusion The EIRs for the Villages of Laguna San Luis Community Plan,
Santa Nella Community Specific Plan, and Quinto Solar PV Project provide
mitigation that would reduce project-related impacts to San Joaquin kit fox to
less-than-significant levels. The proposed San Luis Reservoir RMP/GP has the
potential to result in minor adverse effects to San Joaquin kit fox habitat, as
described in Section 5.4.3.3, and includes measures such as those described in
Section 5.4.3.4 to avoid or minimize those effects. Combined, the projects would
not result in cumulatively considerable or significant effects to San Joaquin kit
fox.
Although San Luis Reservoir RMP/GP Alternatives 2, 3, and 4 may increase
recreational use and result in potential impacts to biological resources other than
San Joaquin kit fox, they include a framework in which to better manage these
resources and any potential cumulative impacts. However, under Alternative 1,
the existing framework to manage biological resources would not be sufficient to
properly manage increased pressure on those resources from population growth
and development in the area. Therefore, minor cumulative impacts would be
associated with Alternative 1, but not with Alternatives 2, 3, and 4.
5.9.4 Scenic/Aesthetics
As described in Section 5.4.5.4, San Luis Reservoir RMP/GP Alternatives 2, 3,
and 4 would have minor impacts to scenic vistas, scenic resources, and light and
glare that could be minimized or avoided through implementation of Goals RES-
S1 through RES-S5 and their associated guidelines (Section 4.2.1.1). In addition,
specific mitigation measures will be developed and implemented on a project-byproject
basis, if mitigation is necessary.
Implementation of the Santa Nella Community Specific Plan (Section 3.3.2),
Villages of Laguna San Luis Community Plan (Section 3.3.4), and Fox Hills
Community Specific Plan (Section 3.3.5) would convert agricultural and open
San Luis Reservoir SRA 5-79
Draft RMP/GP and Draft EIS/EIR