DEIR ready for proposed commercial complex at I-5 and Knighton Road

A proposed 92-acre commercial development at the northeast corner of Interstate 5 and Knighton Road now has a completed Draft Environment Impact Report to its name, Shasta County announced.

The proposal’s Draft EIR comprises the projected impacts of the completed project on issues including traffic, air quality, drainage and land use. Available for perusal as of Oct. 30, comments from the public or agencies regarding the Draft EIR will be incorporated into the proposal’s Final EIR. The Draft EIR comment period lasts 60 days, until 5 p.m. Dec. 28, 2009.

The proposal, dubbed Knighton & Churn Creek Commons Retail Center by Idaho-based applicant Hawkins Companies Development, is projected to include 740,000 square feet of commercial retail development. Commercial development to be phased-in over three to four years may entail retail shops, restaurants, lodging, recreation activities and equipment, or traveler’s services, according to a county notice.

An 18-acre open space buffer was planned at the site’s northern edge.

The proposed development would occupy much of the same area as the auto mall proposal rejected by county supervisors in 2007.

Impacts of the proposal that the county found to be significant and unavoidable include a change to the visual character of the site and its surroundings, a direct and indirect loss of prime farmland to a non-agricultural use, “ a conflict with existing zoning for agricultural use, air quality, land-use conflicts created by pressure to convert additional land to commercial uses, potential contribution to urban decay, impacts to the City of Redding, impacts to roadway intersections and segments, impacts to I-5, and global climate change.”

The Draft EIR is available online at www.co.shasta.ca.us in the Resource Management section. The Draft EIR is also available at the Shasta County libraries at both Anderson and Redding locations and at the Shasta County Department of Resource Management, 1855 Placer St. in Redding. The Draft EIR is available for purchase on disc or paper at Pages Copy Center, 1698 Market St. in Redding.

To contribute a comment to the creation of the Final EIR, submit written comments by Dec. 28 to Shasta County Department of Resource Management, Planning Division, 1855 Placer St., Suite 103, Redding, Calif. 96001. For more information, call the department at 246-9178.