New bike lane on Fell Street

San Francisco Citizen

FROM: 

Mary Miles (SB #230395) 

Attorney at Law for 

Coalition for Adequate Review

TO: 

Angela Calvillo, Clerk, and 

San Francisco Board of Supervisors 

City Hall, Room 244 

San Francisco, CA 94102 

DATE: August 14, 2020 

BY E-MAIL TO: bos.legislation@sfgov.org 

NOTICE OF APPEAL OF CEQA EXEMPTION OF "PANHANDLE SOCIAL DISTANCING AND SAFETY PROJECT" 

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that Coalition for Adequate Review hereby appeals to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors the environmental determination of the San Francisco Planning Department of the "Panhandle Social Distancing and Safety Project," aka "D5 Safe and Slow Streets Project," referred to here as "the Project," and the implementation of the Project by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency ("MTA") with no CEQA review or public approval proceedings. 

The Planning Department's Statutory Exemption No. 2020-006678ENV dated July 16, 2020 is attached as EXHIBIT A. 

Although MTA implemented the Project on July 15, 2020, no public approval proceedings have been conducted and no approval document has been provided after numerous Public Records Act/Sunshine Ordinance requests. The Exemption document claims the Project was approved "under the authority delegated by the City Traffic Engineer." (Exh. A, p. 1.) 

After four Public Records Act/Sunshine Ordinance requests, the Planning Department and MTA have refused to provide any records of that "approval." 

Grounds for this Appeal lie in the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") (Pub. Res. Code §§21000 et seq., and in rules, regulations, and case law. Appellant will submit briefing and other documents after a hearing is scheduled by the Board. 

MTA implemented its "Panhandle Social Distancing and Safety Project," claiming it was "approved" under "authority delegated by the City Traffic Engineer" on July 15, 2020. 

On July 16, 2020, the Planning Department issued a statutory exemption under Guidelines §15269(c) ["Emergency Project"] and posted it on July 17, 2020. (Exh. A, p. 2 [starting the "appeal period"].) Nothing in any City or State Code grants such authority to the City Traffic Engineer, and the Project is not exempt under CEQA. 

Further, CEQA requires that an environmental determination must be made before a project is approved. MTA's July 15, 2020 implementation of the Project violates the fundamental requirements of CEQA to first provide public notice and the opportunity for meaningful participation in public proceedings. 

The Project received NO public approval process and gave no notice or opportunity for input from the public. 

The Project removes the left traffic lane and 12 parking spaces on a major one-way westbound street in San Francisco to install a "parking protected" bicycle lane. Fell Street is not only a "neighborhood" street but is also a heavily-trafficked arterial carrying commuters and other travelers to Golden Gate Park and the west side of the City. 

The San Francisco Fire Department stated in a letter to MTA and other City agencies on May 20, 2020: "The SFFD has reviewed the plans for the Emergency parking Protected bikeway on Fell St. between Baker and Shrader and does not approve of them." (EXHIBIT B [emphasis in Fire Dept. letter].) 

The exemption document claims the "Panhandle Social Distancing and Safety Project is to facilitate members of the public maintaining six feet social distance while bicycling or walking in the Panhandle in order to prevent and mitigate a public health emergency." (Exh. A, p. 1.) That is not an emergency under CEQA, and recreational bicycling is not essential. 

The "Panhandle Social Distancing and Safety Project" does not meet CEQA's definition of an emergency, which must be "a sudden, unexpected occurrence, involving a clear and imminent danger, demanding immediate action to prevent or mitigate loss of, or damage to, life, health, property, or essential public services," and "such occurrences as fire, flood, earthquake, or other soil or geologic movements . . . riot, accident, or sabotage." (Pub. Res. Code §21060.3 ["Emergency"].) 

MTA claims these changes "are temporary and will expire 120 days after the retraction of the City's proclamation of the COVID-19 local emergency (dated February 25, 2020)." (Exh. A, p. 1.) During the six months since the February proclamation, the mayor has issued 25 (twenty-five) "supplements" to that fiat. 

Like other Slow Streets projects, no end date is provided for the Project. MTA now indicates it intends to make this Project permanent after the alleged "emergency need" expires. 

Since it does not meet the requirements for the claimed exemption, this Board must reverse the Planning Department's exemption and MTA's implementation of the Project, eliminate the "parking protected" bicycle lane on Fell Street, and restore Fell Street to its previous condition before this illegally implemented Project, including restoring the traffic lane and all parking spaces. 

DATE: August 14, 2020 

Mary Miles 

ATTACHMENTS/EXHIBITS: 

A.  Planning Department's Statutory Exemption No. 2020-006678ENV, July 16, 2020 

B.  Letter from Fire Department to MTA, May 20, 2020.

See also The Fell Street bike lane lie.