Marin Voice: County needs CEQA to continue to be strong

Those of us who live or work in Marin see the benefits of strong environmental laws every day: well-planned communities; clean air and water; and wide open spaces for everyone to enjoy.

Don’t take these laws for granted. Developers and polluting industries are mounting a full-scale attack against California’s cornerstone environmental and planning law: the California Environmental Quality Act. For example, state Sen. Scott Wiener recently called for most development projects in downtown San Francisco to be exempted from environmental review. Other legislation proposed this year would radically undermine the law.

These efforts to weaken CEQA are shortsighted. Developers and industry lobbyists already have the ear of local decision-makers. CEQA gives ordinary people the same right to weigh in on projects that affect the health, safety and integrity of their communities.

CEQA requires a hard look at fairness and justice issues and provides a vital tool for impacted neighborhoods to express their concerns. It helps preserve the beauty of our natural environment: the hills and forests, streams and bays, wildflowers and wildlife that make Marin special.

Now is not the time to cut back on these protections. Anti-CEQA forces claim the law delays needed development and infrastructure. But CEQA has been streamlined in recent years to make it easier to build affordable infill housing, public transit and other green projects. As Californians face serious problems like drought, wildfires, climate change and loss of open space, we need CEQA more than ever.

CEQA has benefitted Marin in countless ways and continues to do so. For example, CEQA helped ensure the protection of endangered coho salmon in the San Geronimo Valley. In 2014, an appellate court held that CEQA compelled county officials to adopt specific, enforceable measures to protect the last salmon populations from new development in the Lagunitas Creek watershed.  As a result of CEQA, and many years of public efforts to enforce it, Marin County finally passed a science-based stream conservation ordinance in July 2022 to protect the salmon and its streamside habitat.

CEQA also helped ensure that a new commercial/senior housing development for BioMarin in downtown San Rafael would go forward with protections in place for its integrated senior housing project with Vivalon. Prior to the CEQA document, a $16 million environmental cleanup of the former manufactured gas plant site was required. The CEQA document required strong air quality controls during construction, noise limits on heavy equipment and protection of groundwater.

Under CEQA, BioMarin was also required to implement a program to reduce car trips and to fund neighborhood safety measures such as pedestrian improvements and bike lanes along the heavily traveled corridors of Second and Third streets.

CEQA is not designed to stop projects, but to improve them. Right now, for example, Marin transportation officials and Caltrans are proposing a new freeway connector in east San Rafael to allow northbound Highway 101 drivers to merge directly onto Interstate 580 toward the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

The CEQA review process will require Caltrans to answer critical questions like: What routes are being considered and how will they impact commutes, local traffic and road safety? Will the different alternatives increase — or decrease — air pollution and noise for neighboring communities? Will homes and businesses be demolished? Will children at schools or day care facilities be harmed? Will the project include benefits like new bike lanes and sidewalks?

CEQA gives communities the right to ask these questions and demand this vital information. And, under CEQA, the government must answer the public’s questions and adopt real, concrete measures to reduce environmental harm.  CEQA thus ensures that government approvals are open and transparent.

In short, CEQA gives all local residents the right to advocate for changes that will make projects better before they are approved. This law is the most powerful tool we have to protect Marin, today and in the future. CEQA has worked for decades to protect our environment and we must urge our legislators in Sacramento to keep CEQA strong.

Dottie Breiner is a former member of the San Rafael City Council. Susan Stompe is a former member of the Novato City Council.