If the radical State Senator Scott Weiner (legalize all drugs, pornography etc.) had his way, San Fran would be allowed to be rational in its building of housing. But, the other 57 counties can go to hell. He only wants San Fran to get rid of outrageous, stupid, irrational environmental rules—the rest of the State can continue its collapse.
“Senate Bill 1227, authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), would specifically exempt from the requirements of CEQA development projects meeting certain requirements occurring within most areas in the City and County of San Francisco until January 2035. The bill would require the prime contractor and subcontractors on the development project to provide an affidavit under the penalty of perjury regarding the use of skilled and trained workforce on the development project.
In addition, SB 1227 would provide, for lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2025, that property is within that welfare exemption and is entitled to a partial exemption equal to the percentage of the value of the property that is equal to the percentage that the number of units serving moderate-income households represents of the total number of residential units, if the property is used exclusively for rental housing and related facilities, is owned and operated by specified entities, and certain conditions are met.
If he was serious about saving California, not just San Fran, this bill would cover the whole State. Why does Wiener and Progressives hate California but love the doom loop San Fran?
Sen. Wiener Wants to Ditch State Environmental Review for San Francisco Building Projects
‘This Senator Wiener guy needs to know that there is more to California than San Francisco’
By Evan Symon, California Globe, 2/17/24 https://californiaglobe.com/fl/sen-wiener-wants-to-ditch-state-environmental-review-for-san-francisco-building-projects/
A bill to exempt all San Francisco building projects within a certain area of the city from the California Environmental Quality Act for ten years was introduced in the Senate on Friday. CEQA is a law that requires significant environmental study, review, and approval before major building projects are approved.
Senate Bill 1227, authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), would specifically exempt from the requirements of CEQA development projects meeting certain requirements occurring within most areas in the City and County of San Francisco until January 2035. The bill would require the prime contractor and subcontractors on the development project to provide an affidavit under the penalty of perjury regarding the use of skilled and trained workforce on the development project.
In addition, SB 1227 would provide, for lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2025, that property is within that welfare exemption and is entitled to a partial exemption equal to the percentage of the value of the property that is equal to the percentage that the number of units serving moderate-income households represents of the total number of residential units, if the property is used exclusively for rental housing and related facilities, is owned and operated by specified entities, and certain conditions are met.
SB 1227 also identified the boundaries of the “Downtown revitalization zone” in San Francisco to include Downtown, the North Financial District, Union Square, Transbay and Moscone Center areas, South of Market, Mid-Market and Civic Center, and the Tenderloin all being exempt. However, many areas and buildings, including waterfront districts and hotels, would not fall under the exemptions, because of the difficulties with city laws surrounding them.
Finally, the law would not allow a building that has housed tenants in the past 10 years to be demolished, a registered historic landmark to be demolished, or for a project to occupy an unmitigated hazardous waste site.
For the last several years, the number of vacant office buildings in San Francisco has skyrocketed, with many businesses leaving the city because of homeless, crime and drug abuse keeping people away. Downtown recovery projects attempted by the city and county have largely failed, with cleanup effort, such as those made during the APEC summit in November, only lasting around a week before things returned to normal.
Wanting more sweeping change from the state level, needing a way to more easily convert vacant office buildings, and wanting to get around CEQA red tape, Wiener introduced SB 1227 on Friday.
“Downtown San Francisco matters to our city’s future, and it’s struggling — to bring people back, we need to make big changes and have open minds,” said Senator Wiener in a statement. “That starts with remodeling, converting, or even replacing buildings that may have become outdated and that simply aren’t going to succeed going forward. By providing a temporary, targeted exemption from CEQA, SB 1227 will save downtown projects years of review and litigation while leaving local control firmly intact. To bring middle-class housing downtown, SB 1227 also expands an existing property tax exemption to include housing affordable to more middle class families.”
San Francisco lawmakers and organizations backed the bill on Friday, with Mayor London Breed saying, “San Francisco thrives when Downtown thrives, but the reality is that we need to evolve beyond the traditional 9 to 5 neighborhood it has been for decades. At the local level, we’ve improved public safety, streamlined rules for conversions and small businesses, delivered tax incentives, and focused on strengthening the arts, entertainment and public spaces. But there is much more work to do. This important and impactful proposal authored by Senator Wiener will build on this work to encourage new investments in housing, educational institutions, and a wide range of other developments downtown.”
However, critics blasted the bill shortly after it was introduced, with many saying that CEQA was important for many projects for safety reasons, that the bill unfairly targeted only San Francisco for exemptions, and that, even if the bill did pass, there are numerous other laws in the way of many projects.
“A lot of cities need help with downtown areas right now, and to just give San Francisco exemptions is, well, a joke,” explained Luis Rodriguez, a building contractor organizer in Southern California, to the Globe on Friday. “Parts of LA and San Diego would really benefit and need this. Oakland would. San Francisco may be in the worst spot, but this Senator Wiener guy needs to know that there is more to California than San Francisco. Either everyone gets them or no one. Everyone is hurting.”
Helen Freelander, a city planner, added, “CEQA is actually important. Some developers don’t like it because it can delay projects, but it looks at all the issues and gives the city time to review everything. Say San Francisco approves a huge new apartment complex. There are underground parking issues, foot traffic issues, green space issues, utility issues, vehicle traffic issues, and so much more that need to be looked in to. If you want changes to CEQA to make it more local oriented, fine, then change that instead. You want CEQA to have a quicker turnaround time. Fine, make changes to the law.”
“A lot of people have blamed CEQA for stopping projects, or delaying them, for recent initiatives to place more housing near transit stations. A lot of lawmakers are upset at CEQA for essentially neutering most projects like that because cities or developers don’t want more of these complexes going up near transit stations. There are ways to encourage it. This bill is not the way to do this. I mean, my God.”
