Public comments on the CalTrain San Francisco downtown extension project draft environmental impact statement/draft environmental impact report

394 Pages·1997·25.1 MB·English

by  Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board

DOCUMENTS
DEPARTMENT
m
5,s
DOCUMENT* DEPT.
SAN FRANCISCO
PUBLIC LIBRARY
REFERENCE
BOOK
Not to be takenfrom the Library

Digitized by the Internet Archive
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PUBLIC COMMENTS ON THE
CALTRAIN SAN FRANCISCO DOWNTOWN EXTENSION PROJECT
DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
/
ONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT
SAN FRANCISCO
PUBLIC LIBRARY
REFERENCE
BOOK
Not to be taken from the Library
DOCUMENTS DEPT.
OCT 9 1997
SAN FRANCISCO
PUBLIC LIBRARY

SAMFRANCISCOPUBL
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY 3 1223 04631 3798
SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT, CORPS OF ENGINEERS
333 MARKET STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94105-2197
APR
7 1937
REPLYTO
ATTENTIONOf
Regulatory Branch 9/997
SUBJECT: File No. 2276IS
Ms. Marie Pang
Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board
1250 San Carlos Avenue
P.O.Box 3006
San Carlos, California 94070-1306
Dear Ms. Pang:
Your request for comments on the subject document entitled, CalTrain San Francisco
Downtown Extension Project And Draft Environmental Impact Report Sch# 95063004
was received on 26 March, 1997, by your notice dated 5 March, 1997.
Your proposed work is not within our jurisdiction and a permit is not required. If you
have any questions, please call John Hendricks, South Section Chief at telephone 415-977-
8464 or Candy Ma at telephone [phone]. Please address correspondence to Regulatory
Branch, South Section, and refer to the file number at the head of this letter.
Sincerely,
Calvin C. Fong
Chief, Regulator}' Branch
388.472 P96
REF
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CalTram san
1997
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3 1223 04631 3798
S.F. iu:3UC LSBriARY
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
REGION IX
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA 94105-3901
KAV 1 ? 193?
Leslie T. Rogers, Region IX Administrator
Federal Transit Administration
201 Mission Street, suite 2210
San Francisco, CA 94104
Dear Ms. Rogers:
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reviewed
the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Calt.rain
San Francisco Downtown Extension Project, San Francisco County,
California. We provide our comments pursuant to the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Section 309 of the Clean Air Act
,
and the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) Regulations for
Implementing NEPA.
The project sponsors propose to extend the Peninsula Commute
Service (Caltrain) from the current station at Fourth and
Townsend streets to an underground site at the Transbay Terminal
in San Francisco. The DEIS discusses a no action alternative,
and one location alternative with several options for placement
of an underground tunnel to the Transbay Terminal station, along
with replacement options for the Transbay Terminal bus service.
We believe that FTA should continue to examine opportunities to
develop the Transbay Terminal above ground site for income
generation purposes that will benefit the Transit operators at
either the Transbay Terminal site or the Maih/Beale site.
We have rated the DEIS and all of the alternatives as
Environmental Concerns-Insufficient Information (EC-2) However,
.
we would rate the DEIS and the alternatives as LO, Lack of
Objections, (See enclosed "Summary of Rating Definitions and
Fellow -up Action") if FTA did net propose the following actions;
additional parking at 13 suburban stations, and new parking at a
reconstructed Transbay terminal facility. We believe that FTA
should propose greater efforts to improve intermodal transit
trips at the locations where additional parking is suggested.
Caltrain has the opportunity to be the major transit hub for all
Peninsula traffic, and we encourage FTA and the Joint Powers
Board (JPB) to enact programs and partnerships to enhance that
status. Also, FTA should further refine a parking analysis to
determine if there are a number of vehicles in the displaced
Transbay Terminal parking spaces that would be eliminated should
Caltrain extend to downtown San Francisco. FTA should address
these issues in the Final EIS. We do not have any serious
concerns regarding the impacts analysis contained in the DEIS.
We commend the project sponsors on a well written
document that considered many environmental issues in very good
detail. We strongly support FTA's proposal for full system
electrification. We also support the selection of the 7th Street
site for the storage yard. The 16th Street storage yard site has
the greater potential for pollutant runoff impacts to the bay due
to it's close proximity. We have attached additional information
regarding Pollution Prevention practices that we recommend the
JPB and FTA consider as part of the project's construction and
operation phases. We appreciate the opportunity to review and
provide comments on this DEIS. Please send two copies of the
Final EIS to this office at the same time it is officially filed
with our Washington, D.C. office. If you have any questions,
please feel free to contact me at [phone], or have your
staff contact David J. Carlson of my staff at [phone].
Sincerely,
David Farrel, Chief
Office of Federal Activities
Enclosures: 1
cc: Marie L. Pang, JPB