Medical Helipad Project

Environmental Review Process

Summary of Environmental Review

The 1970 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) resulted from growing awareness that environmental impacts must be carefully considered in order to avoid unanticipated environmental problems with development or planning efforts. As such, CEQA environmental review provides decision-makers and the general public with an objective analysis of the immediate and long-range specific and cumulative impacts of a proposed project on its surrounding physical environment. The California process is two-fold in purpose: to disclose the impacts of a project and to ensure public participation.

For all departments and agencies of the City and County of San Francisco environmental review under CEQA is administered by the Major Environmental Analysis (MEA) division of the Planning Department. Projects subject to CEQA are those actions that have the potential for resulting in a physical change of some magnitude in the environment and that require a discretionary decision. A discretionary project is one that requires the exercise of judgment or deliberation when the public agency or body decides to approve or disapprove a particular activity. Discretionary projects may include public works construction and related activities, development requiring a building permit (in San Francisco), use permits, activities supported by assistance from public agencies, enactment and amendment of zoning ordinances, and adoption or amendment of the Master Plan or elements thereof. No action to issue permits, allocate funds, or otherwise implement a discretionary project may be taken until environmental review is complete.

Projects requiring Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) are generally complex major public or private development proposals or plans that could potentially have a significant impact on the physical environment. Of all environmental review applications filed in San Francisco, about 5 to 10 percent require analysis in an EIR.

Basic Steps in the SFGH Helipad Environmental Impact Review

• File Environmental Evaluation Application with Planning Department
• Assign EIR Coordinator staff from Planning Department Major Environmental Analysis Section
• Prepare and publish Notice of Preparation and Notice of formal Public Scoping Meeting
• Hold Public Scoping Meeting
• Prepare and publish Initial Study
• Carry out technical background studies (note: partly overlaps with preparation and publication of Initial Study)
• Publish Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for 45-day public review and comment period, provide public notice of public hearing on Draft EIR
• Hold public hearing on Draft EIR before Planning Commission (at least 30 days after Draft EIR is published)
• Prepare written responses to comments received on environmental issues during public review period
• Present Comments and Responses document, plus revisions to Draft EIR, to Planning Commission for consideration of certification of EIR
• San Francisco Health Commission and any other decision makers use information in the certified Final EIR in their public hearings and deliberations on proposed project

SF Planning Department EIR Coordinator

Effective March 2005, the assigned planner for this project is Carol Roos, Planner in the Major Environmental Analysis Section for the San Francisco Planning Department. All concerns related to the environmental review process are to be directed to Ms. Carol Roos. She can be reached at (415) 558-5981. Written comments can also be submitted to her as follows:

Ms. Carol Roos, Planner
San Francisco Planning Department
30 Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor
San Francisco, California 94102

Ms. Lisa Gibson, Senior Planner, originally assigned to this project has been reassigned within the Department and will no longer have primary responsibilities for this project. However, Ms. Gibson will remain as the supervising planner for the SFGH medical helipad project.

Key Players in the Process

In January 2005, the Department of Public Health selected Turnstone Consulting, through a competitive bid process in response to a Request for Qualifications, to conduct a detailed environmental analysis of the effect of having a helipad at SFGH. While Turnstone Consulting will prepare all the technical documents required for the Environmental Analysis and is under contract with the Department of Public Health, it is, in fact, the San Francisco Planning Department, as the agency designated by the State of California, who will direct all the technical work. For this reason, SFGH is referred to as the “Sponsor” of the EIR project, the Planning Department as the “Lead Agency” and Turnstone Consulting as the “EIR Consultant”.

Notice of Preparation and Public Scoping Meeting

This is the third step noted in the summary above. A public scoping meeting offers an opportunity for early public consultation. The Notice of Preparation for the SFGH Helipad Project (see complete text on preceding link) was mailed on August 11, 2004, along with an announcement of a Public Scoping Meeting. The meeting was held on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 at 6:00 P.M. in the 2nd Floor Conference Room , Community Health Network (CHN) Building, 2789 25th Street, San Francisco (The CHN Building is located two blocks south of the SFGH campus.) The Scoping Meeting was led by Ms. Lisa Gibson. The proceedings were recorded by a court reporter.

Environmental Evaluation Application

An Environmental Evaluation Application was submitted to the Major Environmental Analysis (MEA) division of the San Francisco Planning Department. This document included a project description and preliminary studies conducted as part of the Needs and Feasibility Study (Safety Analysis, Noise Study, and Structural Report).