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City of Pleasanton—Merritt Property Project <br />Consistency Checklist 15183 Consistency Checklist <br /> <br /> <br />108 <br />While shallow excavation or grading is unlikely to uncover paleontological <br />resources, deeper excavation into older sediments may uncover significant <br />fossils. Therefore, any project involving earthmoving activity could potentially <br />result in inadvertent discovery and disturbance of paleontological resources <br />during grading and excavation work. As such, construction-related and <br />earth-disturbing actions from development consistent with the Housing <br />Element Update on sites underlain by older Quaternary deposits have the <br />potential to damage or destroy fossils resulting in significant impacts on <br />paleontological resources. <br />The Housing Element Update FEIR concluded that compliance with federal <br />and State laws that protect paleontological resources, including Section <br />5097 of the Public Resources Code, as well as implementation of MM GEO-6, <br />which requires a site-specific paleontological resources survey to determine <br />potential paleontological impacts for the rezoned housing sites, would <br />reduce potential impacts to paleontological resources to less than <br />significant. Should a site-specific paleontological resources survey determine <br />that a site is underlain by older Quaternary deposits or any other soil with the <br />potential to contain vertebrate fossils, MM GEO-6 requires paleontological <br />monitoring of all proposed excavations. As such, impacts related to <br />destruction of a paleontological resource or unique geologic feature would <br />be less than significant. <br />Proposed Project Analysis and Conclusion <br />The project site is mapped within Holocene-age surficial deposits composed <br />of alluvial gravel, sand, and clay from the valley areas.16 <br />A search of the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) <br />online locality database revealed that there are 46 invertebrate fossil <br />localities and four plant fossil localities within Holocene-age deposits in <br />Alameda County.17 <br />As stated above, the Housing Element Update FEIR concluded that <br />compliance with federal and State laws that protect paleontological <br />resources, including Section 5097 of the Public Resources Code, as well as <br />implementation of MM GEO-6, which requires a site-specific paleontological <br />resources survey for the rezoned housing sites, would reduce potential <br /> <br />16 Dibblee, T.W., and J.A. Minch (Dibblee and Minch). 2005. Geologic map of the Dublin quadrangle, Contra <br />Costa and Alameda Counties, California. Dibblee Foundation Map DF-164. Dibblee Geological Foundation. <br />Map. Scale 1:24:000. <br />17 University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP). 2023. UCMP Localities: Localities within Holocene-age <br />deposits in Alameda County. Website: https://ucmpdb.berkeley.edu/loc.html. Accessed November 7, 2023.