Services Provided
  • CRHR Eligibility Determination
  • Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration delivered in 2.5 weeks
  • CEQA Documentation and Complaince

Civic Demolition often brings together multiple disciplines as far as permitting and planning are concerned. The County of Orange’s Civic Center Facilities Master Plan and Building 16 demolition was no exception:

In an effort to optimize use of County-owned property to better serve the community, the County of Orange proposed a phased implementation of its Civic Center Facilities Master Plan. As part of the effort to improve the campus functionality, six buildings were proposed for demolition, including the asbestos-laden, decrepit, long unoccupied Building 16 located at 601 N. Ross St in Santa Ana. The County’s goal was to demolish Building 16 and replace it with a six story, 251,000 square-foot facility designed to consolidate offices for Public Works, Waste & Recycling, and the Treasurer-Tax Collector.

Pursuant to Section 5024.1(g) of CEQA, Chambers Group staff evaluated the significance of multiple buildings under the Civic Center Facilities Master Plan in order to determine any potential adverse changes that the project may have on historical resources. As a result of the thorough investigation, including an assessment of historic integrity per California Register of Historical Resources (CRHR) guidelines, Chambers Group staff determined that no properties were present within the project area of potential effect (APE) that were historically significant. This meant that the project was not expected to directly or indirectly affect any CRHR-eligible historical resources or cause a substantial adverse change to historical resources as defined by CEQA, thereby opening the door for the next phase of the project.

Knowing that the County was eager to move ahead with demolition in order to build out the new headquarters for so much of the civic government, Chambers Group was able to prepare and deliver a CEQA compliant IS/MND within two and a half weeks of the notice to proceed. Additionally, Chambers Group expedited project review with the preparation of staff reports. All told, the MND completed public review within two months of submittal and was adopted by the Board of Supervisors less than two weeks after that.