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(a) This Chapter adapts CEQA for use by the City. The emphasis of this Chapter is upon implementing procedures, which are expressly left for determination by local agencies, consistent with CEQA.
(b) The provisions of CEQA are not repeated here, but are expressly incorporated herein by reference as though fully set forth. This Chapter is supplementary to CEQA.
(Added by Ord. 40-01, File No. 001007, App. 3/16/2001)
(Former Sec. 31.03 added by Ord. 134-73, App. 4/11/73; repealed by Ord. 40-01, File No. 001007, App. 3/16/2001)
(a) The City and all its officials, boards, commissions, departments, bureaus and offices shall constitute a single "local agency," "public agency" or "lead agency" as those terms are used in CEQA.
(b) The administrative actions required by CEQA with respect to the preparation of environmental documents, giving of notice and other activities, as specified in this Chapter, shall be performed by the San Francisco Planning Department as provided herein, acting for the City. When CEQA requires posting of a notice by the county clerk of the county in which the project will be located, the Planning Department shall transmit the required notice to the applicable county clerk, and instruct the county clerk on the length of time the notice shall be posted and when the posting shall commence.
(c) For appeals to the Board of Supervisors under Section 31.16 of this Chapter, the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors shall perform any administrative functions necessary for resolution of the appeal.
(d) For proposed projects that may have an impact on historic or cultural resources, the Historic Preservation Commission has the authority pursuant to Charter Section 4.135 to review and comment on environmental documents and determinations under this Chapter 31.
(e) Where adoption of administrative regulations by resolution of the Planning Commission after public hearing is specified herein, there shall be notice by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the City at least 20 days prior to the hearing and by posting in the offices of the Planning Department, with copies of the proposed regulations sent to the Board of Supervisors and any other affected boards, commissions and departments of the City and to all organizations and individuals who have previously requested such notice in writing. The decision of the Commission in adopting administrative regulations shall be final.
(f) The City shall be responsible for conducting environmental review for projects undertaken by the City within the City's territorial limits and for projects undertaken by the City outside the territorial limits of the City.
(g) Notifications.
(1) Unless CEQA requires a mailed notice by the United States Postal Service in hard copy form, or an organization or individual requests notice in hard copy form, a City official may provide any mailed notice required by this Chapter using electronic mail transmission whenever an organization or individual provides an email address to the City official; provided that any notices required by this Chapter shall be provided by mail in hard copy form to any organizations or individuals who have requested such notice in writing prior to the effective date of this provision unless such organizations or individuals affirmatively request electronic notification as provided below.
(2) Electronic Notifications. The Environmental Review Officer shall implement an electronic notification system for the notification requirements in this Chapter 31. The Environmental Review Officer shall offer interested organizations and individuals the opportunity to subscribe to an automated electronic mail notification system. The system shall distribute all notifications required by this Chapter to subscribers. Subscribers shall have the option to receive electronic mail regarding all CEQA notifications or all CEQA notifications for: (i) a specific project; (ii) a specific neighborhood, as defined by the Planning Department for notification purposes; (iii) historic districts designated under Articles 10 or 11 of the Planning Code or listed on the National Register of Historic Places; (iv) exemption determinations; (v) negative declarations; and (vi) environmental impact reports. The Environmental Review Officer shall implement the electronic notification system within three months of the operative date of the ordinance enacting this provision of Chapter 31. In the event the system is not operable within such period, the Planning Department shall provide monthly status reports to the Board of Supervisors on the progress the Planning Department has made in implementing the electronic notification system.
(h) Definitions.
"Approval Action" means:
(1) For a private project seeking an entitlement from the City and determined to be exempt from CEQA:
(A) The first approval of the project in reliance on the exemption by the City Planning Commission following a noticed public hearing, including, without limitation, a discretionary review hearing as provided for in Planning Code Section 311 or Section 312, or, if no such hearing is required, either:
(B) The first approval of the project in reliance on the exemption by another City commission, board or official following a noticed public hearing granting an Entitlement of Use for the Whole of the Project; or
(C) The issuance of the Building Permit or other Entitlement of Use for the Whole of the Project in reliance on the exemption without a noticed public hearing.
(2) For all other projects determined to be exempt from CEQA:
(A) The first approval of the project in reliance on the exemption by a City decision-making body at a noticed public hearing; or
(B) If approved without a noticed public hearing, the decision by a City department or official in reliance on the exemption that commits the City to a definite course of action in regard to a project intended to be carried out by any person.
(3) For all projects determined to require the preparation of a negative declaration, the approval of the project by the first City decision-making body that adopts the negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration as provided for in Section 31.11(h) of this Chapter.
"Building Permit" means a permit issued by the Department of Building Inspection as provided by Building Code Section 106A, including, without limitation, a site permit as defined in Building Code Section 106A.3.4.2.
"Date of the Approval Action" means the date the City takes the action on the project that is defined as the "Approval Action," regardless of whether the Approval Action is subject to an administrative appeal.
"Entitlement of Use for the Whole of the Project" means an entitlement that authorizes the project applicant to carry out the project as described in the CEQA decision for the project. Incidental permits needed to complete a project, such as a tree removal permit or a street encroachment permit that alone do not authorize the use sought, would not be an Entitlement of Use for the Whole of the Project, unless such permit is the primary permit sought for the project.
(Added by Ord. 40-01, File No. 001007, App. 3/16/2001; amended by Ord. 186-02, File No. 021418, App. 9/6/2002; Ord. 218-02, File No. 021609, App. 11/1/2002; Ord. 168-07, File No. 061537, App. 7/20/2007; Ord. 161-13, File No. 121019, App. 7/26/2013, Eff. 8/25/2013, Oper. 9/25/2013 [see note at end of Article])
(Former Sec. 31.04 amended by Ord. 166-74, App. 4/11/74; repealed by Ord. 40-01, File No. 001007, App. 3/16/2001)
(a) An Office of Environmental Review is hereby created in the Planning Department, which shall be responsible, acting through the Director of Planning, for the administration of those actions in this Chapter 31 assigned to the Planning Department by Section 31.04.
(b) Said office shall be under the direction of an Environmental Review Officer, who shall supervise the staff members of the office and have charge of the collection of fees by the office. The Environmental Review Officer shall report to, and coordinate and consult with, the Director of Planning.
(c) In addition to the powers and duties conferred below, the Environmental Review Officer may, upon delegation by the Planning Commission as to specific projects, take testimony at supplemental public hearings on draft environmental impact reports, in addition to, and not in lieu of, the hearing held by the Planning Commission as set forth in section 31.14 of this Chapter, and shall report to, and make all such testimony available to, the Planning Commission at a public hearing.
(d) The Environmental Review Officer shall also take such measures, within his or her powers, as may be necessary to assure compliance with this Chapter 31 by persons, and officials, boards, commissions, departments or agencies outside the Planning Department, and shall periodically review the effectiveness and workability of the provisions of this Chapter 31 and recommend any refinements or changes that he or she may deem appropriate for improvement of such provisions.
(e) All projects shall be referred to the Environmental Review Officer except those exempt projects covered by a delegation agreement with the Environmental Review Officer as provided for in Section 31.08(d) of this Chapter. All other officials, boards, commissions, departments, bureaus and offices of the City shall cooperate with the Environmental Review Officer in the exercise of his/her responsibilities, and shall supply necessary information, consultations and comments.
(f) The Environmental Review Officer shall be responsible for assuring that the City is carrying out its responsibilities set forth in CEQA. In addition, when the City is to carry out or approve a project and some other public agency is the "lead agency," as defined by CEQA, and where projects are to be carried out or approved by the State and Federal governments, the Environmental Review Officer shall provide consultation and comments for the City to the other government agencies when appropriate.
(g) To the extent feasible, the Environmental Review Officer shall combine the evaluation of projects, preparation of environmental impact reports and conduct of hearings with other planning processes; and shall coordinate environmental review with the Capital Improvement Program, the San Francisco General Plan and the San Francisco Planning Code.
(h) Adoption and/or revision of administrative regulations to implement CEQA shall be by resolution of the Planning Commission after a public hearing. The Environmental Review Officer may adopt necessary forms, checklists and processing guidelines to implement CEQA and this Chapter 31 without a public hearing.
(i) Upon prior authorization by the Planning Commission, the Environmental Review Officer may attend hearings and testify on matters related to CEQA before governmental organizations and agencies other than governmental agencies of the City and County of San Francisco and may advocate on behalf of the City on matters related to CEQA.
(j) The Environmental Review Officer may provide information to other governmental or environmental organizations and members of the public.
(k) The Environmental Review Officer may delegate his or her responsibilities to an employee of the Office of Environmental Review. All references herein to the Environmental Review Officer shall be deemed to include the Environmental Review Officer's delegate.
(l) The Environmental Review Officer shall process applications for environmental review in accordance with the requirements for equal treatment of permit applicants, unless there is a written finding of a public policy basis for not doing so, as set forth in Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code Section 3.400 and the written guidelines adopted by the Planning Department as required by Section 3.400. For purposes of Section 3.400, this Section of Chapter 31 and any corresponding written guidelines of the Planning Department, the Board finds that expediting environmental review out of order, on a priority basis for the purpose of expediting permit processing shall qualify as a public policy basis for projects consisting of: (1) publicly funded affordable housing projects that provide new affordable housing in 100 percent of the on-site dwelling units (where such units are rented or sold at the economic levels defined in Planning Code Section 415); and (2) bicycle and pedestrian projects that are designed primarily to address public safety issues. When an application for environmental review for any project within one of the categories listed above is submitted to the Planning Department, the Environmental Review Officer shall, throughout all stages of the environmental review process, give precedence to all submittals associated with such project over other projects. The Planning Department also shall provide a written preliminary assessment of the eligibility of such projects for an exemption within 60 days of submittal of a complete Preliminary Project Assessment or equivalent application to the Planning Department. As part of the assessment, the Planning Department shall identify as feasible, based on the content of the submittal, the issues that may affect the type and schedule of the environmental review and the process for analysis of such issues.
(m) The Environmental Review Officer shall prepare an annual report to the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors on all appeals filed under any of the appeal provisions of this Chapter 31. The first annual report shall be filed approximately one year after the effective date of this provision of Chapter 31.
(Former Sec. 31.05 amended by Ord. 166-74, App. 4/11/74; repealed by Ord. 40-01, File No. 001007, App. 3/16/2001)
Editor's Note regarding Operative Date of Ord. 161-13:
Ordinance 161-13 amends sections of this Article, as shown in the history notes above. Section 6 of that ordinance provides as follows:
Operative Date. This ordinance shall become operative on the later date of September 1, 2013, or five business days after the Secretary of the Planning Commission provides a memorandum to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors advising that the Planning Commission has held a public hearing at which the Planning Department has demonstrated to the Planning Commission that it has updated its website to provide up-to-date information to the public about each CEQA exemption determination in a format searchable by location, such as through the "Active Permits In My Neighborhood" tool now used by the Planning Department and the Building Department.
At the direction of the Office of the City Attorney, the publisher incorporated the amendments made by Ord. 161-13 into this Code on September 25, 2013.
Coverage of State Law. | |
Listing of Non-Physical and Ministerial Projects. | |
Exemptions. |
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