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Commission backs resolution urging Board to support updated construction‑and‑demolition ordinance, citing illegal dumping and climate impacts
Summary
The commission voted to support a proposed update to the city's 2006 construction and demolition (C&D) recovery ordinance, endorsing a tiered fee‑based permit for haulers, a dedicated enforcement fund, and phased operative dates; commissioners said the change will help intercept illegal dumping and reduce embodied carbon.
The San Francisco Commission on the Environment voted to advance a resolution urging the Board of Supervisors to support an update to the city's 2006 construction and demolition debris recovery ordinance, a measure staff said is intended to reduce illegal dumping, strengthen enforcement of haulers and facilities, and cut embodied carbon from building waste.
"Every year we're averaging about a million and a half tons of construction and demolition discards," James Slattery, the department's zero‑waste C&D coordinator, told commissioners, describing the volume of material produced by tens of thousands of permitted activities and noting that roughly 150,000 tons still arrive at regional landfills despite a 2006 ban on direct haul.
Staff proposed expanding an existing fee‑based permit system (now nested in the Department of Public Works for debris boxes) to cover trucks and other hauling vessels, with progressive tiers tied to vehicle capacity. Fees would fund a multi‑agency enforcement effort led by the Department of the Environment and staffed by Public Works and the sheriff's department to "intercept activity as it happens," Slattery said.
Key amendments since the policy committee included moving the ordinance's operative date to Jan. 1, 2022 (with the smallest tier phased in July 1, 2022), and creating a dedicated fund managed by the Department of the Environment to allocate work orders and finance enforcement. Facilities would be required to verify that arriving haulers hold the proper permit; if not, facilities must accept the load but notify the department and provide the hauler a 30‑day period to correct the violation.
"If we can't prevent a construction project from going forward unpermitted, then the next best option is to intercept it as it's happening illegally," Slattery said, describing the rationale for emphasis on transporters and real‑time compliance checks.
Commissioner Sullivan moved to forward the resolution; Commissioner Wald seconded and a roll call vote recorded commissioners voting "Aye," advancing the item toward the Board's Land Use committee.
Next steps: Staff said the ordinance will proceed to the Board's Land Use Committee and will be subject to further hearings; the dedicated fund and phased implementation are intended to provide resources for the field enforcement model described by staff.
