[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 11, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2796-2799]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-673]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Job Corps: Preliminary Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI)
for the New Job Corps Center on Treasure Island, in San Francisco Bay,
CA
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration.
ACTION: Preliminary Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the
new Job Corps Center on Treasure Island, in San Francisco Bay,
California.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations
(40 CFR Part 1500-08) implementing procedural provisions of the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Department of Labor,
Employment and Training Administration, Office of Job Corps, in
accordance with 29 CFR 11.11(d), gives notice that an Environmental
Assessment (EA) has been prepared and the proposed plans for the
establishment of a Job Corps Center on Treasure island in San Francisco
Bay, California, will have no significant environmental impact.
Pursuant to 29 CFR 11.11(d)(1), this Preliminary Finding of No
Significant Impact will be made available for public review and comment
for thirty (30) days.
DATES: Comments must be submitted by February 10, 1995.
ADDRESSES: Any comment(s) are to be submitted to Lynn Kotecki,
Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor, 200
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC, 20210, (202) 219-5468.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:Copies of the EA and additional
information are available to interested parties by contacting Marta
Aguilar-Dugan, Region IX (Nine), Office of Job Corps, 71 Stevenson
Street, Suite 1015, San Francisco, California, 94119, (415) 744-6658.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of the proposed action is to
create a new Job Corps Center in the San Francisco Bay Area that would
provide up to 850 enrollees with training and support services in a
residential environment. The Job Corps training and services include
basic education, vocational skills training, work
[[Page 2797]]
experience, counseling, health care, and related support services. The
program is intended to prepare participants to obtain and hold gainful
employment, pursue further education or training, or satisfy entrance
requirements for service in the Armed Forces.
The Proposed Job Corps Center will be developed on land and in
buildings now occupied by the United States Navy. The Job Corps would
occupy about 35.5 acres of the 403-acre Treasure island. Treasure
Island is located adjacent to Yerba Buena Island and the San Francisco-
Oakland Bay Bridge in San Francisco Bay. Naval Station Treasure Island
will be closed by the Department of Defense on September 30, 1997. The
Job Corps Center has been proposed as one of the first non-military
uses of the base, and is planned for implementation before the base
closure is fully complete.
The Job Corps Center would be planned for an optimum capacity of
720 single residents and 130 non-resident students. It is estimated
that many of the non-residents would be single parents with up to 60
children that would use child care services available to the Job Corps
on Treasure island. Therefore, a total of 910 people would be served at
the Center.
The Job Corps would take possession of a total of 470,347 gross
square feet of floor space in twelve existing buildings. The streets,
sidewalks, parking lots, and utility systems serving the buildings are
in place and mature landscaping is found around many of the structures.
Job Corps' estimates of the rehabilitation work that would be
necessary to adapt these buildings to meet the needs of their programs
indicates that 3 of the buildings would need no rehabilitation work, 2
would require major renovation and the remaining 7 would require minor
to moderate modifications. The buildings that would require no work
include the following: Building 363, which houses an existing Job Corps
sponsored Culinary Arts school (with about 120 students); Building 368,
the cafeteria; and Building 364, which would be reserved for future
upgrading by Job Corps' vocational training students. Minor
rehabilitation, such as upgrading of fire doors, HVAC, electrical and
plumbing systems and interior space conversions to meet Job Corps
needs, would be undertaken in Buildings 369, 450, 487, 488, and 489.
Building 365 would require moderate rehabilitation work to reconfigure
the existing space into storage. Loading docks and a freight elevator
would be added. An area on the second floor of Building 442, the 3-year
old medical/dental building would be reconfigured to provide medical
wards.
The buildings slated for major rehabilitation are Buildings 366 and
367. Building 366 would be reconfigured from open bay dormitories to
vocational shops. The bathrooms would have to be converted to male/
female facilities and an interior elevator would be added. Building 367
would be reconfigured from an open bay dormitory to classroom space.
The bathrooms would also have to be reconfigured and an elevator
installed.
The only new building anticipated at this time would be a building
to house recreational facilities for the students on the ``campus''.
The size and configuration of the building has not been defined,
although it is expected that it would be located on what is now a 1.5-
acre grassy playing field/landscaped area near Buildings 369, 488 and
489, which would be dormitories.
Treasure Island, the site of the proposed project, is a manmade
island of about 403 acres. It was built on Yerba Buena Shoals and a
sand spit extending north from Yerba Buena Island between 1936 and 1939
as the site for the Golden Gate International Exposition. The island
was constructed from sediments dredged from San Francisco Bay. The
Exposition or ``World's Fair'' opened on the island in February 1939
and had a second run in 1940.
A few months after the Fair closed, the Navy leased Treasure Island
from San Francisco and the Yerba Buena-based Naval activities spread
out to cover both islands. The island became a major naval facility
during World War II, and has operated as a Naval Base continuously
since. After the war, the City of San Francisco agreed to trade the
deed to Treasure Island in exchange for Government owned land south of
San Francisco where the San Francisco International Airport was
eventually built.
Exiting buildings on Treasure Island, today, includes three Naval
training center facilities, 907 family-housing units, 1,000 bachelor
quarters, medical/dental clinics, a brig, 5 active piers, recreational
facilities, a school and a child-care center, a commissary, a sewage
treatment plant, fire station, Naval Public Works department and a
variety of other facilities. The Treasure Island Museum is located in
the Headquarters building, which is one of only three remaining
structures built for the 1939 Exposition.
Treasure Island is considered an urban setting and is located
within the boundaries of the City and County of San Francisco. As a
federal/military enclave within the City, the Island has not been
subject to local planning and zoning regulations; San Francisco is
currently beginning work on a reuse plan for conversion of the Island
from military to civilian use.
The project will help offset the substantial population and
employment loses that are occurring in the Bay Area from the Navy's
base closure actions affecting Treasure Island and other nearby
facilities. The Job Corps will replace more than 10% of the Navy's
current Treasure Island population, which will decline to zero by late
1997.
The Job Corps Center will also provide employment opportunities for
teachers and support staff, and will purchase goods and services from
the surrounding communities. This will offset a small proportion of the
economic losses to the region from the base closure actions. The
ability of the Job Corps to begin functioning on the site before the
Navy leaves Treasure Island in 1997 is considered a benefit, as it will
help smooth the transition from military to civilian employment on the
site.
The San Francisco Bay Area is considered one of the most
earthquake-prone areas of the United States. Treasure Island lies
approximately 11 miles east of the San Andreas Fault and 10 miles west
of the Hayward Fault, both major faults. It is estimated that there is
a 90 percent probability that one or more large earthquakes (magnitude
7 or greater) will occur in the San Francisco Bay region during the 30-
year period between 1990 and 2020.
Since there are no active or buried faults located beneath Treasure
Island, the risk of ground rupture due to fault displacement is very
low. However, the island is potentially subject to violent to extremely
violent ground shaking and there is a high potential for liquefaction
in the event of major earthquake. Previous Navy studies of buildings on
Treasure Island have determined that only Building 2 and 3 are likely
to sustain more than 25 percent damage should a significant earthquake
event occur. The Job Corps would have no activities in Buildings 1 or
2. However, the Job Corps will consider seismic forces and risks to
buildings occupants when retrofiting the existing Navy buildings to
meet Job Corps requirements.
The potential for major seismic activity around the Pacific Rim
places Treasure Island at risk to damage from Tsunamis. Tsunamis having
a wave height or runup of 8 feed at Treasure Island can be expected to
occur once every 200 years. The possibility of a Tsunamis is considered
to be a low risk, particularly since the Job Corps Center
[[Page 2798]]
would be protected behind the Island's perimeter dike, the top of which
is more than 8 feet above sea level. The emergency preparedness and
response plan for this facility will consider warning and response
protocols for this risk.
The proposed Job Corps Center will not have any significant impacts
on natural systems or resources. Implementation of the existing
Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan for Treasure Island will reduce
the risks of stormwater pollution of San Francisco Bay as a result of
activities on the Island. The project will not introduce any
significant new sources of potential pollution to the Island.
Treasure Island, including the area where the Job Corps activities
would be centered is not considered a valuable, unique or sensitive
natural area. The Job Corps would utilize existing buildings and urban
spaces for the same, or similar uses that have been continuing for
decades. The Project is not expected to have any adverse effects on
vegetation and wildlife including rare, threatened or endangered
species of plants or animals.
It is not expected that the Job Corps programs will introduce any
new stationary sources of air pollutant emissions; however, if any
future vocational training programs involve the use of equipment
requiring permits to operate from the BAAQMD, such permits will be
sought and the conditions met. The majority of the Job Corps students
at Treasure Island will be residential students and will contribute
proportionately fewer vehicle miles, hence fewer air pollutants, than
most residents of the Bay Area. No adverse impacts on air quality are
projected.
No long-term adverse noise impacts are expected. The Job Corps site
is outside the traffic noise impact zone of the Bay Bridge, and no
significant impacts from local traffic noise is expected. The site may
currently be within the 60 dBA CNEL zone of flights from Alameda Naval
Air Station. However, since Alameda Naval Air Station is being closed
concurrently with Treasure Island, this potential impact will be
temporary and no special mitigation is deemed necessary.
Construction work necessary for the modification and upgrading of
some of the existing buildings would result in short-term noise
impacts, although most noisy work would occur inside the building
shells. Air compressors, trucks, lifts, concrete pumpers, and other
equipment would be operated around the buildings undergoing remodeling
and could result in short-term noise impacts at surrounding locations.
To mitigate these potential impacts, construction activities will be
limited to the hours of 7AM to 6PM, and sound control devices and
muffled exhausts will be required on noise-generating equipment.
The existing streetlighting and security lighting systems are
expected to remain in place. The addition of the Job Corps Center to
Treasure Island will not affect existing views of nighttime lights on
Treasure Island from off-site locations. No impacts are expected.
Treasure Island contains no archeological or prehistoric resources
as it was constructed with materials dredged form the bottom of San
Francisco Bay.
The only buildings on the Island found to have historical
importance are Buildings 1, 2 and 3. None of these buildings are within
the area that would be used by the Job Corps. It is concluded that the
project would not have any impacts on historic or archeological
resources.
No electricity, natural gas, telephone or cable telephone services
would have to be extended nor would the capacity of any supply lines
have to be increased to serve the project.
The Jobs Corps will be dependent upon the central steam heating
system on Treasure Island for space heating. It is now known who will
be responsible for this utility service after the Navy leaves. The Job
Corps will work with the Navy and City of San Francisco during the Base
Closure and Realignment process to ensure that this utility service
will remain operational or that a substitute is implemented prior to
base closure.
Water supply for domestic use and firefighting is adequate to meet
the project's needs.
The existing sewage treatment plant has ample capacity to
adequately treat and dispose of the sewage generated by the proposed
project. Because some of the buildings will be changed from residential
to instructional facilities, the Job Corps will generate less sewage
from the same complex of buildings than the Navy has in the past.
Solid waste disposal will continue to be provided by private
contractors.
The project's impact upon daily peak hour traffic on the Bay Bridge
by Job Corps personnel will be an addition of fewer than 150 round
trips, which is less than 20 percent of the traffic generated by the
Naval Station in recent years. This traffic will have little or no
effect on the Bay Bridge traffic, and is not considered a significant
impact.
Job Corps personnel will experience difficulty merging onto the Bay
Bridge during peak traffic periods, just as Navy personnel do today and
have in the past. It is not known if San Francisco's reuse plan for
Treasure Island will consider improvements to these sub-standard access
ramps. Nor is it known if such improvements are physically feasible at
a reasonable cost. The Job Corps will work with the City of San
Francisco during the reuse planning process to ensure that access
improvements for Treasure Island are carefully considered and
evaluated.
Medical services will be available to Job Corps personnel from the
medical/dental clinic which the Job Corps will acquire from the Navy.
Treasure Island is within the jurisdiction of the San Francisco
Police Department. Police services will be provided by the City and
County of San Francisco with support from military police as long as
the Navy remains on the base. Subsequently, the San Francisco Police
Department will be responsible for all calls for service from the
Island. The proposed Job Corps Center's potential need for police
services is not expected to have a significant impact on the City and
County of San Francisco.
Fire services will be provided by the Navy until base closure. At
that time the operation of the Fire Station will be the responsibility
of the City and County of San Francisco. San Francisco is also expected
to address the fire services in the Reuse Plan.
Preliminary screening has indicated that radon gas is not a
significant concern at Treasure Island. No impacts are expected.
Asbestos may have been used in the building materials for seven or
eight of the twelve structures to be acquired by the Job Corps. The Job
Corps will survey the buildings for asbestos-containing materials and
abate them as necessary in conjunction with the other rehabilitation
efforts required to adapt the buildings to Job Corps uses. Any
asbestos-containing materials removed from the buildings will be
disposed of at licensed, off-site facilities in accordance with Federal
and State regulations. Completion of the abatement program will
eliminate any potential health hazards from asbestos.
Compliance with the Federal Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard
Reduction Act of 1992 by the Navy and/or the Department of Labor is
expected to adequately address any potential lead-based paint hazards
at the facility.
Water supplied to Treasure Island is well within the Federal
drinking water quality standards for lead. No adverse impacts upon the
water supply are expected.
[[Page 2799]]
There are twenty Installation Restoration sites on Treasure Island
containing hazardous wastes cataloged by the Navy. None of these are
located within the confines of the area that would be transferred to
the Department of Labor for the proposed Job Corps facility. Two of the
seventy-five Underground Storage Tanks (USTs) on the base are within
the boundaries of the Job Corps site. These underground storage tanks
have been removed. One of the sites requires further remediation work,
consisting of the removal and treatment of soil with petroleum
hydrocarbon contamination and, possibly, the treatment of contaminated
groundwater. Groundwater beneath Treasure Island is not withdrawn for
any domestic or irrigation use. Remediation of this UST site will be
completed by the Navy before base closure is complete. The Navy intends
to conduct all remediation work with proper site safety protocols; no
adverse impacts are projected.
PCB-containing transformers have been removed from Treasure Island.
One of the identified Installation Restoration sites, which will be
cleaned, has PCB contamination. This site, however, is far from the
buildings that will be utilized by the Job Corps. No impacts from PCB
contamination are projected.
Naval Station Treasure Island is a regulated hazardous waste
generator. The sources of hazardous wastes generated on the Island are
primarily in the military training and industrial activities on the
site, which are concentrated on the eastern and southern sides of the
Island. Activities resulting in the generation of hazardous waste do
not occur in the residential and administrative buildings that would be
used by the Job Corps. The medical/dental building generates small
quantities of medical wastes, which are disposed of in accordance with
appropriate regulations. It is presumed that these practices will be
continued by the Department of Labor, as required by law, upon transfer
of the medical building. No adverse impacts to Job Corps personnel is
expected as a result of on-site chemical use.
On February 3, 1994 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Select
Committee on Base Closure conducted a Public Hearing on the proposed
location of a Job Corps Center at Treasure Island. The Public Hearing
was attended by approximately 37 people, of which 18 offered comments
and testimony. Every piece of testimony offered was in support of the
project; no testimony was submitted, in person or in writing, that
questioned or opposed a Job Corps Center at Treasure Island.
The Alternatives considered in the preparation of the EA were: (1)
The ``No Build'' Alternative, (2) the ``Alternative Sites''
Alternative, and (3) the ``Continued as Proposed'' alternative. The
``No Build'' Alternative would mean that the Department of Labor would
not proceed with plans for development of the proposed Job Corps Center
on Treasure Island, and a unique opportunity for the youth of the area
to educationally benefit from a Job Corps would be forgone. Although
choosing the ``No Build'' would result in no environmental impact upon
the area, the opportunity to obtain land and buildings that can be
adapted to meet Job Corps need would also be lost. The benefits to the
City of San Francisco and to the region from the location of an
expanded Job Corps presence on Treasure Island would also be foregone.
The Job Corps has investigated alternative locations in the Bay
Area for the proposed center. However, the alternative sites were
rejected in favor of Treasure Island because none of these sites have
the potential to be adapted to Job Corps functions as quickly or as
cost effectively as the Treasure Island site. In addition, two of the
sites were within or adjacent to residential areas and the proposed
Presidio, much of which will be redeveloped as a Park. The other site
was considered significantly constrained due to soil contamination.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Select Committee on Base
closure conducted a Public Hearing on February 3, 1994, regarding the
proposed location of a Job Corps Center at Treasure Island. The Public
Hearing was attended by approximately 37 people. The results of the
hearing confirmed that there was unanimous support from all
participants at the hearing for a Job Corps Center at Treasure Island.
Based on the information gathered during the preparation of the EA
for the Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration,
the Office of Job Corps finds that the development of the Treasure
Island Job Corps Center will not cause any significant impact on the
environment and, therefore, recommends that the project continue as
proposed. This proposed action is not considered to be highly
controversial.
Dated at Washington, DC, this 23rd day of December 1994.
Peter E. Rell,
Director of Job Corps.
[FR Doc. 95-673 Filed 1-10-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-M