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There are environmental risks associated with the Lane Field project which present potential problems for residents, workers, or marine life. The project will impact workers’ health and safety, coastal resources, air quality, water supply, fire and police services, and traffic, among other things. Approximately 200 hotel workers at the Holiday Inn San Diego on the Bay, which is immediately adjacent to the Lane Field site, will be particularly affected by the development.
Some of the Lane Field project’s likely impacts have not been adequately studied or mitigated. Unfortunately, instead of preparing a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report specifically for the Lane Field Project, the Port of San Diego is relying on an outdated Master EIR from 2000 plus inadequate additional study.
By thus far opting not to produce a Supplemental EIR specifically for the Lane Field project or to deal adequately with the project’s likely negative impacts, the Port has created uncertainty regarding the following environmental and coastal access issues, among others:
- - According p. 41 of the limited recent Initial Study & Addendum for Lane Field, “Contaminated soils have been encountered at the site and are anticipated to be encountered during excavation.” This could impact the health of both construction workers and hotel workers if the contamination is not properly and fully remediated.
- – If contaminated soils are not properly and fully remediated, sensitive coastal resources, including marine life, could be impacted by the discharge of those contaminated soils into San Diego Bay. Recreational uses of the Bay could also be impacted.
- – The City of San Diego has been suffering from serious financial problems that are affecting its ability to provide adequate public services, including adequate fire and police protection services, and Lane Field will generate additional need for such services. The Port should ensure that there will be adequate fire and police protection for workers and hotel visitors in the event of an emergency at the Lane Field hotels. Ensuring adequate first responders is particularly important given the project’s proximity to military facilities, and new assessments of terrorism risk since 2001.
- – The Lane Field project alone will generate over 9,000 new daily car trips, on average, in an area that is already congested. Other projects slated for development in the North Embarcadero area will further compound traffic related problems.
- – The proposed underground parking garage will mean a lot of dust and diesel emissions at the Lane Field construction site – more than originally contemplated. In addition, new air quality standards and regulations are in place and there is new information available about air quality-related health risks which should be considered and mitigated for the project.
- – San Diego's water supply is rapidly dwindling. On November 21, 2007, the California Department of Water Resources issued a notice stating that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California would receive only 25% of the water it requested for 2008. State legislation enacted in 2001, after the 2000 MEIR was certified, requires lead agencies verify that adequate long-term water supplies exist for large development projects. Without a water supply assessment as required by state law, Lane Field’s impacts to the region’s water supply cannot be properly mitigated.
- – Page 40 of the Initial Study and Addendum states that the Project will be built on soils with a high liquefaction potential. This could be dangerous for both workers and hotel occupants in the event of an earthquake if adequate mitigation is not put in place.
- – Development of Lane Field will increase the emission of greenhouse gases. The Port should do its part to comply with AB 32, signed in 2006 by the Governor, by providing full environmental disclosure of the Project’s effects on greenhouse gas emissions, and by adopting serious and real energy-saving measures and other mitigation measures – such as LEED-certification and provision of additional public transportation opportunities – to reduce the project’s carbon footprint.
- – The development of Lane Field as a high-cost luxury hotel complex is inconsistent with the Coastal Act’s policies requiring an adequate of supply affordable uses in coastal zones. This would be yet another development project in downtown San Diego that is not accessible to ordinary working people.
Bottom line, the Port should conduct more thorough environmental review to consider and adopt plans to reduce impacts before allowing the Lane Field project to move forward – in order to protect the environment and the health of San Diego residents, including our current members and future hotel workers.
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