Written by by Evan Symon at californiaglobe.com
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.