| Draft Environmental Impact Statement Shorts School Road Am Antenna Structures 43 Table A.4 (below) gives a summary of the visual impact analysis. This analysis was done according to the methodology previously described, which is modified from WSDOT�s Visual Impact Rating system. Color figures displaying the visual simulations of the proposed alternatives and the Visual Quality Assessment Rating Sheet (Table A.5) may be found at the end of this chapter. For purposes of this methodology, a significant adverse impact was defined as a viewpoint judged to have a high (greater than 4.66 on a scale from 0 to 7) visual quality rating prior to project development, and a low (less than 2.33 on a scale from 0 to 7) visual quality following project implementation, based on photo-realistic computer simulations. It should be noted that the viewpoints chosen for simulation are those that present the most open and clear vantage points of the antennas from public locations and are representative of a worstcase scenario. Findings of Significance Of the 19 viewpoints that were simulated, based on visibility of the proposed alternatives, significant unavoidable impacts were identified at two viewpoints under the Preferred Alternative (Viewpoints 14 and 15), and one viewpoint under Alternative II (Viewpoint 14). These viewpoints generally represent views from suburban homes in the Kenwanda neighborhood that look directly at the proposed project site from a close, elevated position. The actual viewpoints simulated are in the public right-of-way adjacent those residences. In general, the degree of visual change and the visual impacts throughout the project area were found to have not greater than moderate impact, i.e. to be not significant, based on the computer simulations for the proposed alternatives. Given the nature of the topography and vegetation patterns in the study area, and the sensitivity of differences between viewpoints, the potential for significant visual impacts is limited in terms of the number and type of viewers affected. |