Drakes Bay Oyster Company Special Use Permit Environmental Impact Statement Public Scoping Comments

Public scoping is the process by which the National Park Service (NPS) solicits public input on the scope of issues and alternatives to be addressed in a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) document, such as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). It is a process open to the general public that is conducted early in the NEPA planning process. Public scoping can include meetings and mailings to educate the public on the project and on the planning process guiding the preparation of an EIS. It also instructs the public on how to provide their comments on the project. After the public scoping period ends, the NPS uses an established protocol to analyze and summarize the public comments received during the scoping period. This summary is used by the NPS—in addition to other relevant law, policy, planning documents, and scientific literature—to determine the scope of the EIS.

Point Reyes National Seashore held a public scoping period for the Drakes Bay Oyster Company Special Use Permit EIS from October 8, 2010 to November 26, 2010. During this time, three public scoping open house meetings were held at different locations in the vicinity of the park. The public was encouraged to submit comments through the NPS's Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) web site. Comments were also accepted at the meetings, by postal mail, and in person at the park. Over 4,000 pieces of correspondence were received during the public scoping period for this EIS. This report describes the public scoping process for this document and presents the analysis and summary of public comments received.

Public Comment Analysis Report - including Appendices A, B & C (1,857 KB PDF)

Public Comment Analysis Report - without Appendices (695 KB PDF)

Appendices A, B, and C provide cross-reference lists of the unique tracking numbers assigned to each piece of correspondence and the corresponding commenter name, organizational affiliation, and topics addressed, respectively. A comprehensive list of all correspondence received is attached as printed directly from NPS's Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) web site and is separated into Appendix D because of the large size of the document.

Appendix A: Correspondence ID by Author Report (741 KB PDF)
This report provides a cross-reference list of the unique tracking number assigned to each piece of correspondence and the corresponding commenter name.

Appendix B: Index by Organization Type Report (430 KB PDF)
This report provides a listing of all groups that submitted comments, arranged and grouped by the following organization types (and in this order): government agency, business, non-profit, university, and unaffiliated individuals. The commenters or authors are listed alphabetically, along with their correspondence number and the codes that their comments fell under, organized by the various organization types.

Appendix C: Index by Code Report (68 KB PDF)
This report lists which commenters or authors (identified by organization type if they were commenting in an official capacity) commented on which topics, as identified by the codes used in this analysis. The report is listed by code, and under each code is a list of the authors who submitted comments that fell under that code (if an official organization correspondence) and their correspondence numbers.

Appendix D: Correspondence List (16 KB PDF)
This a comprehensive list of all pieces of correspondence received during the public scoping process. These items are listed by Correspondence ID (abbreviated as CorrID). Comments submitted in hard copy form have been inserted into the appropriate places because formatting is not retained when these items are entered into PEPC. The photographs of the flip charts from the public meetings also are included.

Please note that all 4,142 pieces of correspondence are included in the printed hardcopy Public Comment Analysis Report. Due to the immense size of this number of correspondence, they have been extracted from the online version and may be downloaded in bundles of 100 below.

Please also note that 435 pieces of correspondence entered into PEPC were left blank in the correspondence field. The NPS contacted individuals with blank correspondence fields by email, if an email address was provided, indicating their correspondence field was blank and provided instructions on how to correctly leave a comment. Additionally, home addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers were redacted from all pieces of correspondence with a gray box to protect personal privacy.

How Do I Find My Correspondence?
If you would like to find your individual correspondence, follow the steps below:

  1. Use the Correspondence ID by Author Report in Appendix A to look up the Correspondence ID for a particular author. This report is organized by the author's last name.
  2. Use the Correspondence ID to find the full correspondence in Appendix D. The Correspondence List is organized by Correspondence ID.

How Was My Correspondence Coded?
If an author would like to see how their correspondence was coded, follow the steps below:

  1. As above, use the Correspondence ID by Author Report (Appendix A) to look up the Correspondence ID for a particular author. This report is organized by the author’s last name.
  2. Use the Correspondence ID to find the matching ID number in the Index by Organization Report (Appendix B). This list is categorized by organizations, however, if an author was not submitting a comment in an official capacity, the Correspondence ID can be found in the "Unaffiliated Individual" category.

Comments recorded on flip charts during Public Scoping Meetings:

A total of 343 people attended the three meetings (206 people attended the meeting at Point Reyes Station, 73 attended the meeting in Sausalito, and 64 attended the meeting in Berkeley). Some people attended more than one meeting.

Attendees at the three public meetings were able to provide verbal comments. Flip charts were set up at each venue to record these comments. Each flip chart was entered into PEPC as a single piece of correspondence. In other words, there are five pieces of correspondence from the first public meeting in Point Reyes Station that correspond to each of the flip charts that were distributed through the room. Three pieces of correspondence were associated with the three flip charts provided at each of the second two meetings in Sausalito and Berkeley, respectively. Images of the flip chart comments may be downloaded by clicking on the links below.

Dance Palace - Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Bay Model - Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Berkeley REI - Thursday, October 28, 2010


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