1 Prepared Statement, Roybal Camp us 2025 Master Plan DEIS Public Hearing 20 MAR 2014, 7:00 – 9:00 PM, Roybal B19 Auditorium George Chandler : Good evening and welcome to the Edward R. Roybal Campus, global headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention an Operating Division of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. I appreciate you all taking time from your busy schedules tonight to join us at the Public Comment Meeting for the 2015- 2025 Roybal Campus Master Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement – or DEIS for short.

My name is George Chandler, and I am a Senior Advisor at CDC, currently responsible for strategic facility pl anning and developing the 2015-2025 Roybal Plan and EIS.

First, a couple of housekeeping items: restrooms are located at the end of the corridor to my right outside the au ditorium. Because this is a secure Federal campus, please stay in the vicini ty of the auditorium. If you need to take a cell phone call please step out into the lobby or hallway. If you wish to make comments or off er information that you believe CDC should consider in the planning and EIS processes you may use the comment cards provided in the lobby, or you may make a verbal statement2 tonight, or you may submit electronic or mail-in comments to the address that will be shown on the final slid e of this present ation and which is also in your brochure. Please no te that DEIS comments must be postmarked by ( APRIL 10, 2014) . All comments received will become part of the public record for this EIS. The formal portion of the Public Comment Meeting tonight w ill be noted and transcrib ed by a Court Reporter and will be available as part of the Final EIS.

I hope that you found the poster boa rds, brief video presentation and general information provided at the inform al portion of tonight’s meeting helpful. In this portion of th e Public Meeting, we will
review the Master Plan alternativ es CDC considered, CDC’s “Preferred Alternative” Plan, the anticipated impa ct if the Preferred Alternative is implemented during the 2015 -2025 planning period, and the final EIS process in a bit more detail. The meeting will conclude with an opportunity for anyone in att endance tonight to make a verbal statement for the record.

If you wish to make a verbal statem ent and have not al ready signed up please hold up your hand and a CDC st aff member will assist you with registration [brief pause].

Commenters will be identified from their registration sheets in no particular3 order. Please stand when your name is called and a CDC representative will bring a microphone to you. When you receive the microphone, please clearly state your name and the organization you repre sent – or if you are speaking as a private citizen - for the Court Reporter. In order to give everyone a chance to speak, I ask that you please limit your comments to no more than three (3) minutes, and t hat your comments pertain to the issue at hand – the Roybal Campus 2015- 2025 Master Plan, the DEIS or an area of potential impact that we sh ould consider. If you are approaching the three (3) minute mark, I or another CDC staff member will verbally alert
you.

Why did CDC ask you here tonight? Some of you may have attended the EIS “Scoping Meeting” CDC conducted here on January 17, 2013, or offered comments electronically. “S coping” is an early, open process for determining the “scope” of issues to be addressed and f or identifying the significant issues that might resul t from implementing one of several potential future Roybal Campus Master Plan alternatives. It is an opportunity to actively engage in early public involvement in the planning process as we develop a range of alternatives and potentially significant impact areas. It is also an opportunity to get information directly from CDC as the process unfolds and how we are taking your comments and concerns into account in selecting a preferred alternative.4 At the Scoping Meeting, CDC indicated that we would be conducting a Public Comment Meeting on the Draft EI S – that is tonight – once we had gathered comments from Scoping and prep ared impact analyses that took Scoping comments into consideration while still meeting fundamental CDC mission objectives. CDC also indicated t hat it would present what is often referred to as an “Agency Preferred Alternative” that CDC believes will allow the Agency to continue to fulfill it s critical public he alth mission and respond to new and unknown threats and should minimize adverse impacts
to the natural and built environments as a result of implementing the Preferred Alternative. Please note that CDC and HHS approval of the 2015-2025 Master Plan and EIS, does not provide CDC with either the authorization or the funding to undertake major new construction or new program activities at Roybal – both authorization and funding must come through the Federal budget process in the future.

The Preferred Alternative ha s two main drivers: First , the previous 2000-2009 Master Plan has been implem ented at Roybal through the replacement and expansion of the 1950’s and 1960’s buildings originally occupying the site, so a new long-ran ge plan is needed to guide future development of the Campus. The objectives of the 2009 Plan were substantially different from thos e of the new 2025 Plan in that the previous Plan sought to address outdated, antiquat ed and overcrowded facilities, particularly biological labs, that were not suitabl e for long-term5 use – and, CDC was growing at that time. The 2009 Plan addressed these long-term facility needs throug h the provision of safe, modern, flexible lab, lab support and office buildings, upgraded and expanded utility systems and greatly improved physica l security at the Campus.

The second driver is, in contrast to the 2000-2009 Plan, the 2015-2025
Plan does not envision the wholesale replacement of facilities due to age or obsolescence. The Preferred Alte rnative envisions the need to add space based on new or changi ng mission requirements and the potential growth of CDC organizations already lo cated at Roybal rather than by large-scale relocation of non-Roy bal Campus groups to Roybal.

The Preferred Alternative’s ma jor components consist of construction of a new 350,000 to 450,000 gro ss square foot laboratory and a new 1,600 space parking deck with primary deck access off of Houston Mill Road. Construction of the lab and deck assumes an increase in maximum Campus Workstations from current 5,300 to approximatel y 6,800. The new lab and deck would both be constructed on existing s urface parking lots, so the net Campus total parking cap would be increased from current 3,300 spaces to 4,500 spaces. The par king deck would serve additional CDC growth as well as address current periodic parking deficits that result from visitors and staff attending meet ings and conferences at the Global Communications Center and from CDC deployments that occur at the Roybal Campus from time-to-tim e in response to domestic and6 international health crises. There are no new office buildings or land acquisition in the Preferred Alternative. I emphasize that new construction would largely be driven by potential growth at the Roybal Campus over a 10-year period, an d that growth and funding are very difficult to predict in the current environment. Eventual approval of the 2015-2025 Master Plan and EIS in the Summer of 2014, does not provide CDC with either the authorization or the funding to undertake major new construction or new program activities at Roybal – both authorization and funding must come through the Federal budget process in the future. Thank you for your attention and now Toby Kizner will take us through a more detailed look at the DEIS alternat ives process and potential impacts. Toby Kizner : Good evening and thank you for attending tonight’s public hearing on the Roybal Campus 2025 Master Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement, or Draft EIS. My name is Toby Kizner. I’m with Jacobs Engineering and am the consultant project manager for the EIS. New or increased agency mission req uirements and potential growth may require additional campus construc tion or reconfiguration. CDC has prepared this Draft EIS to assess the potential impacts associated with these future campus changes. The Draft EIS has been prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, commonly referr ed to as NEPA, which establishes national policy for the protection of the environment. NEPA provides for consideration of environmental is sues in federal agency planning and decision making, mandates public disclosure of impacts from Federal7 activities, and actively solicits public p articipation throughout the process. CDC is committed to ensuring that proper co nsideration of the quality of the human environment is made when undert aking this project. This meeting is one of several forums for you to comment on the draft EIS and voice any issues you believe should be addre ssed as CDC moves forward with its master planning activities. The NEPA process officially started with CDC’s publication of the Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Im pact Statement, as well as holding a public scoping meeting as was menti oned earlier, which took place last winter. Since that time, we have conducted many analyses pertaining to the campus as well as a one-mile per imeter study area, to identify if any significant adverse impacts would resul t from future growth at the Roybal campus. These analyses are included in the DEIS , and we will provide a brief summary of the results this evening. The DEIS is currently ava ilable to the public for review and comment. A Notice of Availability of the DEIS was published in the Federal Register as well as local newspapers and websites, which identified where the DEIS has been made available for public revi ew for the 45-day co mment period. The DEIS has also been distributed to federal, state, an d local reviewing agencies. The public comment period ends on April 10th, 2014 . After this comment period is over, CDC and the EIS team will review all comments, address any substantive issues rais ed, and identify a final preferred alternative in a revised document. Th is revised document will become our Final EIS. The Final EIS will also be made available for public review with a 30-day review period currently planned fo r late winter/spring of this year. At the end of the Final EIS review period, CDC will issue a Record of8 Decision. The Record of Decisi on concludes t he NEPA process and finalizes the federal decision in terms of the selected alternative that will be implemented and any mitigation proposed. A series of conceptual alternatives were considered as part of master plan development. Of these, two were advanced for analysis in the DEIS:
The No Action Alternative, which cons iders the future conditions on the Roybal campus with no new construction or change in uses. A small increase in campus population is assumed, but no major program expansion.
The Master Plan Preferred Alternative, which proposes construction of a new laboratory, a new parking deck, a nd several other campus physical improvements should projected growt h actually occur . If growth did occur, we are projecting a potential increase in campus population of roughly 1,500 employees. The study area for analysis of these alternatives comprises a one-mile perimeter around the campus, bounded ro ughly by La Vista Road to the north, Clairmont Road to the east, th e Dekalb County border to the west, and land south of Decatur Road to the south. The following impact categories were investigated for potential projectrelated impacts and are detailed in t he Draft EIS : socioeconomics, land use, zoning, public policy, communi ty facilities, air quality, noise, transportation, natural resources, ur ban design and visual resources, utilities, solid waste, and construction . As summarized in these slides, our analyses indicated that for most impact categories, such as socioeconomics, land use, and natura l resources, due to the contained9 nature of the campus, future growth associated with the Master Plan Preferred Alternative would result in mi nimal or no impacts to the project study area. One analysis th at indicated the potential for future conditions to experience impacts from the proposed al ternative is related to study area traffic conditions, which I will now go into greater detail about. A detailed traffic analysis was conducted as part of the Draft EIS. The analysis assessed existing traffic co nditions, as well as two future conditions under the propos ed project alternatives. These include future traffic conditions independent of any future campus im provements, known as the No-Build condition, as well as a Build condition, which assesses the future with the Master Plan Preferred Alternative campus improvements in place. For the purposes of this analys is, the No-Build condition serves as the baseline for which the Build condition is compared. A traffic screening assessment was conducted in order to determine the selection of roadways and intersection s that would potentially be impacted by the project. The screening cons idered a journey-to-work-survey which looked at how CDC employees trav el to and from work, the times employees typically arrive at and depa rt the Roybal campus, as well as other relevant information related to CDC employee travel habits. Current traffic conditions along routes frequen tly traveled by CDC campus users as well as adjacent intersections to the Ro ybal Campus were also considered. Twenty three intersections were chosen for detailed analysis and collectively identified as the traffi c study area. The traffic study area intersections are identified by the bla ck dots on the map. As you can see, the traffic study area was comprehens ive and included locations beyond the one-mile project study area. Ge orgia DOT, Dekalb County’s Traffic10 Division, and GRTA were consulted to confirm that the traffic study area was appropriate for th is analysis.

Traffic data was collected in 2012 f or typical weekday AM and PM peak hours. These time-periods reflected the hours with the greatest potential for traffic impacts as this was typi cally when background traffic was high and most project related travel would occur. The existing conditions analysis identified that 14 of the 23 intersections stud ied currently have failing movements, or vehicle move ments that experience excessive delays.

In order to determine traffic condition s under the No-Build condition, or traffic conditions in the year 2025 with out the project, we consulted various transportation agencies and local stak eholders including: GDOT, Dekalb County, GRTA, ARC, the VA, and Emory University to estimate future traffic growth. Depending on location within the traffic study area, we determined the standard growth to be between 0.5 to 1.5 percent annually taken from the Atlanta Regional Commission travel demand model, plus any growth related to specific develop ments within the study area. The traffic analysis under the No-Build condition estimated that 17 of the 23 intersections studied with in the traffic study ar ea would operate with failing movements by the year 2025. This represents close to 75 percent of the intersections in the study area that would experience traffic delays and congestion related to growth in the corridor even if the Master Plan Preferred Alternative is not implemented. In the absence of any future infrastructure improvements, worsened t raffic conditions will continue to be a critical issue for the Clifton Corridor.11 Utilizing the origin-destination survey discussed earlier, we then applied new vehicle trips associated with t he Master Plan Preferred Alternative to the traffic study area. We used the expected number of peak hour vehicle trips associated with a parking capa city increase of approximately 1200 vehicles. This alternative became the Build Condition, or the year 2025 with the proposed campus improvements in place. After applying projectrelated traffic to the network, traffic conditions worsened. With the overall growth in traffic, coupled with the lack of transportation improvements, most traffic study intersections in the Cli fton Corridor or servin g it, were projected to function poorly with long delays, no t too dissimilar to the future 2025 No Build Condition discussed earlier. Ne w vehicle trips generated in the Build condition would contribute to degradi ng intersections a nd roadways that were already operating un der congested traffic cond itions. The detailed traffic study identified 19 of the 23 intersections stud ied would contain failing vehicle movements or movem ents with excessively long delays. Potential traffic mitigation was identifi ed where feasible with the goal of reducing Build condition traffic conge stion to the No-Build condition. These recommended improvements included intersection signalization and optimization, lane restriping, and wi dening as well as enhancements to existing CDC transportation deman d management policies. Recommended improvements are identifie d in the DEIS for comment, and will continue to be studied. CDC will clarify which improvements it can make by itself and which improvem ents will require intergovernmental cooperation to achieve in the Final EIS and Record of Decision. Suggested locations for intersection improvements included the inters ection of Clifton Road at Briarcliff Road, Clifton Road at Old Briarcliff Road, the CDC Main12 Entrance located on Clifton Road, and North Decatur Road at Clifton Road. These intersections are frequently traveled by many CDC Campus employees and visitors as well as by t hru traffic for the various institutions within the Clifton Corridor. While these improvements would not solve the overall infrastructure capacity iss ues in and around the Clifton Corridor, they would minimize traffic related impacts caused by the proposed campus improvements. Other mitigation measures focused on policy initiatives, known as Transportation Demand Management (“TDM”), which would reduce the use of single occupancy vehicles, particul arly during the most congested times during the day. CDC is currently engaged in, or has previously attempted a variety of TDM strategies. The CDC continues to examine ways to enhance or improve upon existing TDM programs. Proposed TDM measures include: employee-based t ransportation programs, promoting car and van pooling, im proving pedestrian and bicyc le facilities including increasing bicycling parking capacity . Other policy initiatives that the CDC would either consider or has implem ented in the past in clude: Parking management programs that would charge for on-ca mpus parking, and transit reimbursement and commuter rewards programs. Thank you for attending our Public Comment Meeting tonight, and for your continued participation in the EIS proce ss. Now we will move to the public comment section of tonight’s meeting. If you wish to make comments or offer information you believe CDC sh ould consider in the EIS processes you may use the comment c ards provided in the lobby, or you may make a verbal statement tonight, or you may submit electronic or mail-in comments to the addresses shown on the slide, which is also in your brochure.13 Please note that DEIS comments must be postmarked by April 10, 2014

. All comments received will become part of the public record for this EIS. The formal portion of the meeting to night will be noted and transcribed by a Court Reporter and will be available as part of the Final EIS. If you wish to make a verbal stat ement and have not already signed up please hold up your hand and a CDC st aff member will assist you with registration. Commenters w ill be identified from their registration sheets in no particular order. Please stand wh en your name is called and a CDC representative will bring a microphone to you. When you receive the microphone, please clearly state yo ur name and the organization you represent, or if you are speaki ng as a private citizen, for the Reporter. In order to give everyone a chance to speak , I ask that you please limit your comments to no more than three ( 3) minutes, and that your comments pertain to the issue at hand – the Ro ybal Campus 2025 Master Plan, the EIS or an area of potential impact that we should consider. If you are approaching the three (3) minute mark, I or a CDC staff member will verbally alert you. Let’s begin with the public comments: