Stoneview Nature Center
Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (LACDPW) proposed to demolish existing on-site school structures, and construct a new 4,000-square-foot one-story nature center with parking spaces and connection to a nature trail within a residential neighborhood in Culver City. The project site is within an Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zone and adjoins the Inglewood Oil Field. UltraSystems completed (1) a phase I environmental site assessment to assess potential impacts from high pressure pipelines and on-site hazardous materials, (2) air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and noise technical studies, and (3) a traffic impact analysis using a subcontractor. Based on the findings, UltraSystems prepared a comprehensive Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and propose mitigation measures to reduce potentially significant impacts (1) from active faults, abandoned oil wells, and high-pressure gasoline pipelines, (2) to air quality, biological resources and cultural resources during construction, and (3) from challenging traffic impacts during construction and operation within the residential neighborhood. Each potentially significant impact was reduced to a less than significant level by adopting the proposed mitigation measures. UltraSystems presented the IS/MND findings and proposed Mitigation and Monitoring Program (MMRP) at a neighborhood meeting, and successfully addressed community comments and concerns. The IS/MND and MMRP were approved by LACDPW.