Re: [CPEO-BIF] Allston & Bird says California Vapor Intrusion Guidance likely to "Make Infill Development Harder and More Costly"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

As one of the Bay Area’s most successful proponents of infill development, I don’t buy this argument. In Mountain View, housing has been and continues to be built on or near land contaminated with underlying TCE and PCE groundwater and soil gas contamination. On many of these properties, EPA’s protective attenuation factors - what California is likely to adopt - are applied.

It turns out that - at least prior to the COVID-19-triggered exodus of a share of our renter population - people are more likely to rent or buy homes when they know their families are going to be safe. Furthermore, development on these properties often accelerates and even pays for cleanup.

We need regulatory policies that provide certainty to developers and prompt consideration of projects, but not at the expense of the safety of residents and other building occupants. And other cities should follow Mountain View’s lead, partnering with regulators to implement such policies.

Lenny

On Feb 1, 2021, at 4:51 PM, Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org> wrote:

Environment, Land Use & Natural Resources Advisory: California Poised to Make Infill Development Harder and More Costly – Again
A look at the past and future of vapor intrusion guidance in California

by Maureen F. Gorsen and Megan Ault
Allston & Bird

Executive Summary

CalEPA’s supplemental guidance on vapor intrusion offers instruction but also creates questions. Our Environment, Land Use & Natural Resources Group looks back and looks forward at what the impending changes might mean for housing builders and real estate developers across California and beyond.

• What does the supplemental guidance do?
• How will it interact with existing policies?
• How will it impact you?

When people wonder why California has a housing crisis, why housing is built in the suburbs and exurbs, and why the problem keeps getting worse, they will be able to add California’s vapor intrusion guidance to the ever-growing list of reasons.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.alston.com/en/insights/publications/2021/02/ca-infill-development-harder-and-more-costly

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org





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--

Lenny Siegel

Executive Director

Center for Public Environmental Oversight

A project of the Pacific Studies Center

LSiegel@cpeo.org

P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042

Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918

http://www.cpeo.org

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