The City of Glendale (City), in its role as Lead Agency, has completed a 2022 Final Environmental Impact Report (2022 FEIR) for the Grayson Repowering Project described below. City Council will consider certification of the 2022 FEIR during a public hearing on Feb. 8, 2022.

Notice Of Public Hearing: City Council will consider certification of the 2022 FEIR during a public hearing at 6 p.m. on Feb. 8, 2022. To help slow the transmission of COVID-19, and protect the health and safety of the community, City Council, as well as Board & Commission meetings, will continue to be closed to the public for in-person attendance. The public is encouraged to watch and participate from the safety of their homes to practice social distancing. Meetings are broadcast live on Glendale TV, viewable on Spectrum Cable, channel 6, and AT&T U-verse, channel 99. Meetings are also streamed live in high definition (HD) on the city’s webpage, glendaleca.gov/live, on YouTube.com/myglendale and on Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire devices using a free app called Screenweave and choosing “Glendale TV” from the menu. For public comments and questions during the meeting, call (818) 937-8100. Public comments on a specific agenda item will be taken when the agenda item is discussed.

Document Availability: The 2022 FEIR will be available for public review on and after Jan. 20, 2022 on the City of Glendale Community Development’s website at http:graysonrepowering.com and at the Glendale Central Library located at 222 E. Harvard St., Glendale. Copies of the 2022 FEIR will also be available for public review at the Community Development Department of the City of Glendale, 633 East Broadway, Room 103, Glendale on an appointment basis [contact Erik Krause at (818) 937-8156 to make an appointment], as well as at the Glendale Water & Power Administration Office, 141 N. Glendale Ave., 4^th Floor, Glendale [contact Catalina Lee at (828) 548-2107 to make an appointment].

Environmental Review Findings: The 2022 FEIR has been prepared pursuant to the requirements of the state guidelines for the implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The 2022 FEIR includes the 2018 Draft and Final EIR (2018 EIR) and the 2021 Partially Recirculated Draft EIR (PR-DEIR). The Project would result in less than significant impacts to all resource categories required to be analyzed by CEQA with the exception of cultural resources. The Project would result in a significant and unavoidable impact to cultural resources due to the demolition of the Boiler Building, which the City has elected to consider a discretionary historical resource.

Demolition of the Boiler Building would also be required for Alternatives 2 (Energy Storage Project Alternative), 4 (150 MW Project Alternative), 5 (200 MW Project Alternative), 7 (Tesla/Wartsila Repowering Project Alternative), and 8 (Unit 8 Refurbishment Project Alternative). Alternatives 1 (No Project) and 3 (Alternative Energy Project Alternative) do not involve re-development at Grayson Power Plant and the Boiler Building would not be demolished. Therefore, only Alternatives 1 (No Project) and 3 (Alternative Energy Project Alternative) would avoid the significant and unavoidable cultural resources impact associated with the proposed Project and five other alternatives evaluated. A statement of overriding considerations will be required should the City elect to certify the 2022 FEIR.

Project Location And Description: The City is proposing to repower the existing Grayson Power Plant. The Project site is located at 800 Air Way, Glendale northeast of the Interstate 5 Freeway and Highway 134 interchange. A majority of the equipment and facilities at the Grayson Power Plant were completed between 1941 and 1977, and are proposed to be replaced with more reliable, efficient, flexible, and cleaner units. With the exception of the 2003 simple cycle peaking plant (Unit 9), the City is proposing to replace the existing generation equipment and related facilities with a combination of new combined cycle and simple cycle gas turbine generation units. The generating capacity would increase from 267 megawatts (MW) net to 310 MW net (an increase of 43 MW net).

The Project is designed to provide reliable generating capacity, avoid electrical capacity shortages, facilitate the use of more renewable energy by freeing up transmission line capacity to bring more renewable-based electricity to the City, and to provide flexibility to operate efficiently over the wide range of electrical loads placed on the City’s electric system. The Project will allow the City to maintain reliable service, keep electrical rates affordable and facilitate compliance with state regulations regarding renewable energy supplies mandated through the Renewable Portfolio Standards without the need for new transmission lines. The Project will also allow the City to meet its existing and future electrical demands even if the City is separated from existing interconnections with the electric grid, it will minimize the City’s reliance on importing power from remote generation locations across a congested transmission grid, and it will support water conservation efforts by eliminating the use of potable water for generation purposes.