Board affirms America’s Cup EIR after weeklong hearing; event authority agrees to drop in-water jumbotron

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Jan. 24 voted to affirm the Planning Commission's certification of the final environmental impact report for the America's Cup and the James R. Herman Cruise Terminal projects, following a daylong consolidated appeal hearing and extended public comment.

The vote affirmed the EIR as adequate for the decisions before the board and included a written amendment emphasizing that any future, specific long-term development proposals connected to the project will require separate environmental review, which may include supplemental EIRs. The board also agreed to table two procedural motions related to the appeal record for one week.

Why it matters: The EIR ruling clears a key regulatory step that the city and the Port of San Francisco said was necessary for the city to host AC34 races in 2012 and 2013 and to proceed with development of Pier 27 as a cruise terminal. Opponents and environmental groups said the document left open important questions about air quality mitigation, the possibility of disturbing contaminated sediments, the adequacy of monitoring and the certainty of funding for mitigation. The board's amendment and subsequent discussion were intended to put those questions squarely before the city as specific development proposals and transactional approvals proceed.

What the hearing covered and outcomes - Scope and legal form of the EIR: Appellants led by attorney Tom Lippe (representing San Francisco Tomorrow, Golden Gate Audubon, Waterfront Watch, Telegraph Hill Dwellers and the Sierra Club) argued the EIR failed to choose a legally appropriate level of analysis for future, long-term development rights on waterfront parcels and that the document therefore left future decisions vulnerable to legal challenge. Planning staff, the Port and the event authority said the EIR analyzed the immediate projects (the races and the cruise terminal) at the project level and analyzed long-term development rights at a conceptual programmatic level; all parties acknowledged future proposals will require additional environmental review.

- Air quality mitigation: The Bay Area Air Quality Management District urged a fee-in-lieu or an offset fund to pay for replacement of older diesel…