Board affirms CEQA exemption and conditional‑use approval for AT&T site at 4216 California Street

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on July 30 voted to affirm the Planning Department’s categorical exemption from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and to uphold the Planning Commission’s conditional‑use authorization allowing AT&T to install antennas and related equipment at 4216 California Street. The board affirmed the CEQA exemption 10‑1 and then affirmed the Planning Commission’s conditional‑use authorization 10‑1.

The decision followed a consolidated public hearing that drew several dozen neighbors, technical experts and representatives of AT&T. Appellants and residents urged the board to require CEQA review and to deny the conditional use, arguing the project posed unusual safety and environmental risks tied to the building’s seismic vulnerability and to prior flooding of the structure’s first floor.

Appellant counsel Doug Lauringer told the board the site is “by far the most egregious example I have seen of city agencies bending over backwards to accommodate a wireless carrier by permitting it to operate a wireless facility on a building where it simply does not belong,” citing a 1976 soft‑story wood‑frame building, a 2006 flood that inundated the ground floor and battery placement that…