Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
Streamlining CEQA
November 11, 2011
Urban Land Institute--San Francisco District Council
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•Charles A. Long
•Charles A. Long Properties, LLC
•Oakland, CA • Developer specializing mixed use development in California, US
• Consultant on real estate development, redevelopment, capital finance and economic development
• Instructor for ULI Real Estate School on development process, public-private partnerships and sustainable development
• Former city manager of Fairfield, CA and interim manager in Mammoth Lakes, Pinole, and Hercules, California.
• Author of “Finance for Real Estate Development” published April 2011 and contributing author to ULI Retail Handbook.
• Served on 14 ULI advisory panels, chairing panels in Salem OR, Boise, ID and Dallas, TX
• Masters in Public Policy, UC Berkeley; platoon sergeant, US Army
Site Selection and Due Diligence2
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Development today is transformative
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East 14th St., San Leandro, CA
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
"Transformation from a car-dominated tangle of offices, malls and auto dealers into a livable city."
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Development is more complicated physically and economically
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
• More urban and mixed use• Public benefits more important• More complicated economics• More conversions from old uses• Less leverage and no “value add” financing• Density confusion
Appleton Mills, Lowell, MA
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Lakeside Steel Plant, Chicago
West End Commons, Oakland, CA
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
Community acceptance
Entitlement risk
Parking costs and layout
Resizing the infrastructure
Financing challenges
Conflicts among uses
Getting the density right for the community and the economics
Mixed use is hard to do
Silver Spring Town Center
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Entitlement process now is more challenging
• More public involvement
• More review steps• Skepticism about
density.• Development impacts
must be funded• Pre-development risk
results in missed opportunities.
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
Alameda NAS, Alameda, CA
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Development today is inherently public private
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
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Uptown, Oakland, CA
• 665 rental units; 25 percent affordable
• New, one half acre park• $160 million private
cost• $50 million public
investment
Development is…
a separate self financing enterprise that goes from small to large.
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
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80% to 90% of project value is created in the pre-development phase
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
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Acquisition, design, entitlement, financing, risk management
Project Value
Community planning reduces entitlement risk
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
Principles•Include all stakeholders•Base the plan on the market•Analyze all the impacts•Develop implementation tools•Identify public infrastructure needs•Imbed flexibility•Develop knowledge/skill in real estate•Use the RFQ
Walnut Creek, CA downtown plan
Livermore, CA downtown specific plan
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High quality, consistent standards are less risky and produce high value
" Simplify the process for developers. By streamlining permitting and construction processes, getting departments to work together to promote infill, and ensuring requirements are consistent, cities can smooth the way for good development."
--Bay Area Greenbelt AllianceBackground material\Smartinfill executive summary.pdf
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
• Developers prefer to compete on value, not cost.
• Policies may cost more but make the community more valuable.
• First, create a great place to live: education, parks, transportation and the long term value will pay for the costs.
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Should cities be able to exempt sustainable projects from CEQA and to implement projects that are
consistent with a specific or area-wide plan without additional CEQA review?
Strategies to implement AB32 and SB375
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87%55%
SB375: Connects transportation funding to land use plan = reduces VMT
• GHG emission reduction targets 2020 and 2035 under AB32.
• 18 MPOs prepare Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) linked to Transportation Plan & Housing Allocations.
• Projects consistent with SCS exempt CEQA review
• Projects inconsistent with SCS denied funding.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Residential Commercial Industrial Transportation
Mill
ions
of to
nnes
per
yea
r Car
bon
equi
vale
nt
Through Electricity
Natural Gas
Petroleum
Coal
LDVs
Trucks Buses
Air
•34%
•27%
•19%•21%
•U.S. CO2 emissions = 1.51 billion tons/year (CE)
•Source: Precourt Institute
How CEQA Actually Works
• A tool for opponents of infill– A way to impose time, cost and complexity.
• Focus tends to be on service delivery issues– Mitigation measures usually do not relate to environmental issues but on infrastructure and service
deficiencies such as traffic, noise, and school service shortages.
• Piecemeal application– Encourages incremental, project-by-project analysis and fails to address regional impacts of
individual project decisions.
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
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CEQA Streamlining Work Group—May 2011
EXEMPTIONS
• Projects consistent with SB375 Sustainable Community Strategy are exempt.
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
TIERING
• Projects consistent with previous specific or community plans require no additional CEQA analysis
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CEQA Streamlining Work Group—May 20115 issues
1. Broaden criteria for projects qualifying for an exemption either as a Transit Priority Project (TPP) or a residential infill project with prior CEQA analysis .
2. Broaden and clarify authority to exempt a project with prior CEQA analysis
3. Clarify authority to exempt a project already analyzed in a Regional Transportation Plan, Sustainable Community Strategy, or Alternative Planning Strategy
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
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CEQA Streamlining Work Group—May 20115 issues
4. Enhance ability to exempt infill projects within specially designated infill development opportunity areas (such as priority development areas in the Bay Area, or smart growth centers in the San Diego Area)
5. Enhance ability for projects to qualifying for tiering or exemptions in wetlands, hazardous waste, building code compliance, toxic exposure and seismic safety fails through incorporation of design elements that address these concerns.
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
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Legislation signed in 2011—Three Bills
1. AB 900: Leadership Projects:
1.Minimum investment $100 million
2.LEED certified
3.10& trip reduction
4.Infill
5.Consistent with SCS
6.High job production
7.No new GHG
8.Accelerated appeal directly to Court of Appeal
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
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Legislation signed in 2011—Three Bills
2. SB 292: Los Angeles football stadium
1. Litigation goes directly to Court of Appeals
2. Streamlined CEQA process with time frames and dispute resolution
3. Focus of litigation only on disputed mitigation measures
4. Limits on comments.
Urban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
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Legislation signed in 2011—Three Bills
3. SB 226: Streamlining for solar and infill
1. Limited exemption for solar energy systems
2. Allows concurrent regional CEQA and land use scoping meetings
3. Preserves exemptions for projects with GHG emissions.
4. Enhances tiering authority for “urban infill” and limits further review solely to: 1. Site specific issues
2. New informationUrban Land Institute CEQA Streamlining
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