Planning Commission Certifies Final EIR for Southeast Sewage Plant Digester, Neighbors Urge Stronger Traffic and Air Protections

The San Francisco Planning Commission on March 8 certified the final environmental impact report for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant biosolids digester project, a major plant upgrade that staff said will modernize solids handling, raise treatment from Class B to Class A and produce up to about 5 megawatts of power.

The project team and planning staff described the proposal as the Sewer System Improvement Program’s largest capital project and said the new facility would replace aging equipment, reduce the number of digesters, enable beneficial reuse of treated biosolids and improve onsite energy generation. Project manager Carolyn Chu said the design locates digesters and maintenance buildings to minimize neighborhood impacts and includes measures intended to limit odors to within the plant fence line.

The staff report and responses to comments conclude that most identified significant impacts can be mitigated to less‑than‑significant levels, but that some air‑quality and cultural‑resource impacts would remain significant and unavoidable. Planning staff recommended the commission adopt a motion certifying that the EIR was prepared in compliance with CEQA and its guidelines so the PUC may proceed with its deliberations.

At public comment, adjacent businesses and neighborhood representatives urged closer study of truck routing, traffic mitigation and air impacts. Michael Janus of the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market said redirecting PUC construction trucks through the market would create safety hazards and that an underused city right of way, Innis Avenue, should be evaluated as an alternate haul route; he said repeated attempts to have the PUC consider Innis Avenue were not reflected in the published responses to comments.

Dan Dote of the Bayview Community Planning Office and Mark Clayman of Pet Camp also asked the PUC and city staff to require a fully vetted transportation‑and‑traffic mitigation strategy and robust air‑quality review before the city issues final project approvals. Commissioners acknowledged the scale and technical benefits of the project but pressed staff and the PUC to continue working with the community on truck routing and implementation details.

After deliberation the commission voted to certify the final EIR. The transcript records the motion passing and records the vote as unanimous in favor (transcript recorded tally: 6–0). The certification allows the PUC to consider project approval; if the PUC votes to approve the project it would need to adopt a statement of overriding considerations under CEQA to proceed given the identified unavoidable impacts.

The PUC project team said it will continue coordination with neighbors on construction staging and haul routes; the commission’s action was limited to certifying the adequacy of the environmental document for decisionmaking.