Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) Adopts New Air Quality CEQA Compliance Guidelines for Construction.
On June 2, BAAQMD unanimously adopted “thresholds of significance”. These are numeric air pollution thresholds to be used in the land use review process by local government in deciding whether to require builders/project sponsors to conduct studies on ways to remove pollution. If construction projects exceed a certain threshold of emissions, ways to reduce or offset pollution would be to locate projects near bus, train and/or transit centers, create shuttles, and install energy saving devices such as solar panels. A major concern about the guidelines is increased burden in the permit process and creating obstacles for in-fill development mandated by SB 375. BAAQMD planning manager, Henry Hilken, said at a recent BPC membership briefing that the BAAQMD supports in-fill development and the guidelines will not prevent compliance with SB 375.
For more info, visit: http://www.baaqmd.gov/Division/Planning-and-Research/CEQA-GUIDELINES/Proposed-Guidelines.aspx.
