2.
Response
to
Comments
2.9
Individual
Responses
to
Comments
from
Organizations
conceptual
development
scenarios
presented
in
the
Draft
EIR
Project
Description.
No
site-specific
development
projects
are
proposed
at
this
time.
Thus,
the
evaluation
of
biological
resources
presented
in
the
Draft
EIR
captures
impacts
at
a
level
of
detail
commensurate
with
the
detail
currently
available
for
proposed
development.
As
noted
above,
no
site-specific
development
projects,
including
wind
energy
project,
have
been
proposed.
Thus,
Mitigation
Measure
4.C-1e
on
Draft
EIR
page
4.C-45
was
developed
in
recognition
that
yet-to-be-designed
future
wind
energy
projects
could
impact
the
area’s
biological
resources
and
establishes
the
requirement
that
micrositing
studies
must
incorporate
the
study
of
special
status
avian
and
bat
species
and
that
their
flight
patterns
be
considered
and
incorporated
into
designs
of
the
proposed
turbine
layout.
This
measure
is
included
in
the
Draft
EIR
to
authorize
the
Lead
Agency
with
a
CEQA
mechanism
to
verify
that
biological
resources
have
been
protected,
even
if
knowledge
and
technology
is
still
very
new
and
success
criteria
have
yet
to
be
defined
by
State
and
Federal
agencies
required
to
protect
biological
resources
under
Federal
or
State
mandates.
Including
the
CEQA
performance
standard
is
a
means
of
proactively
ensuring
the
design
of
any
future
wind
turbine
projects
using
as
of
yet
unspecified
technology
will
prevent
impacts
to
migratory
birds
and
locally-
occurring
bats
from
becoming
caught
up
in
turbines,
or
experiencing
challenges
with
flight
and
navigation
as
a
result
of
light
and
glare
of
solar
panels
from
yet
to
be
designed
future
development
of
energy
production
technologies
at
the
Baylands.
The
Draft
EIR
concludes
that
impacts
to
these
species
will
be
significant,
and
acknowledges
that
due
to
lack
of
existing
data
to
confirm
the
effectiveness
of
micrositing,
even
with
the
mitigation
measure
applied,
the
impacts
to
birds
and
bats
will
be
significant.
The
Draft
EIR
stipulates
that
at
the
time
a
site-specific
development
project
is
proposed,
should
a
wind
energy
project
be
included,
additional
studies
will
be
performed
to
capture
site-specific
conditions
at
the
site
in
real-time,
rather
than
relying
on
an
EIR
that
was
prepared
as
much
as
20
years
prior.
This
makes
it
possible
to
identify
site-specific
issues
when
more
detail
is
known
about
the
type
of
energy
project
and
when
a
larger
data
set
and
possibly
additional
technologies
to
address
birds
and
bats.
To
clarify
its
intent,
Mitigation
Measure
4.C-1e
is
revised
to
read
as
follows.
Mitigation
Measure
4.C-1e:
Prior
to
Concurrent
with
applications
for
construction
of
any
wind
turbines
within
the
Project
Site,
the
applicant
for
such
wind
turbines
shall
prepare
provide
a
site-specific
micrositing
report
in
addressing
designing
the
proposed
turbine
layout
that
incorporates
modeling
of
raptor
species’
flight
patterns,
hovering
or
kiting
patterns,
bat
roosting
habitat
areas
and
foraging
areas.
The
report
shall
provide
micrositing
recommendations
to
reduce
avian
collision
and
Brisbane
Baylands
Final
EIR
2.9.9-2
May
2015