Don Dahvee Creek Trailhead Improvements

2025120990

City of Monterey

NOE - Notice of Exemption

12/22/2025

12/22/2025

Christy Sabdo

City of Monterey

Principal Planner

Lead/Public Agency / Project Applicant

580 Pacific Street
Monterey, CA 93940

(831) 646-3758

sabdo@monterey.org

93940

Don Dahvee near the intersection of Munras Avenue and Cass Street

Categorical Exemption

Article 19, Section 15301, Class 1

The City of Monterey Planning Office determined the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines (Article 19, Section 15301, Class 1) because the project consists of the demolition and construction of concrete curb, gutter, light-duty concrete pavement trail, signage and striping, and hot mix asphalt pavement. The project does not involve expansion of the existing use. Furthermore, the project does not qualify for any of the exceptions to the categorical exemptions found at CEQA Guidelines Section 15300.2. Exception a - Location. Classes 3, 4, 5, 6, and 11 are qualified by consideration of where the project is to be located - a project that is ordinarily insignificant in its impact on the environment may in a particularly sensitive environment be significant. Therefore, these classes are considered to apply in all instances, except where the project may have an impact on an environmental resource of hazardous or critical concern where designated, precisely mapped, and officially adopted pursuant to law by federal, state, or local agencies. Exception a - Location - does not apply to projects which are exempt under Class 1. Exception b - Cumulative Impact. All exemptions for these classes are inapplicable when the cumulative impact of successive projects of the same type in the same place, over time is significant. There would be no cumulative impact because the project would involve repair of existing facilities. The proposed project would not make a cumulative contribution to any environmental impact. Exception c - Significant Effect. A categorical exemption shall not be used for an activity where there is a reasonable possibility that the activity will have a significant effect on the environment due to unusual circumstances. No unusual circumstances are anticipated due to improvements' limited scope and distinct locations. Exception d - Scenic Highways. A categorical exemption shall not be used for a project which may result in damage to scenic resources, including but not limited to, trees, historic buildings, rock outcroppings, or similar resources, within a highway officially designated as a state scenic highway. This does not apply to improvements which are required as mitigation by an adopted negative declaration or certified Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The project would not be visible from a scenic highway. Exception e - Hazardous Waste Sites. A categorical exemption shall not be used for a project located on a site which is included on any list compiled pursuant to Section 65962.5 of the Government Code. No impact to sites included on any list compiled pursuant to Section 65962.5 of the Government code would occur. Exception f - Historical Resources. A categorical exemption shall not be used for a project which may cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of a historical resource. The project is located in a sensitive archeological area as shown on the General Plan EIR Figure 8. An Archeological Resources Assessment dated November 5, 2019 was prepared for the project area by Basin Research Associates. Based on the recommendations of the report, the project will include the following: construction personnel awareness of potential buried prehistoric and historic archeological materials, protocol in the event unexpected discovery of cultural materials during construction, and protocol for the treatment of human remains if exposed during construction. Therefore, there would be no impacts to historic or archeological resources.