Objective ES.4 Preserve clean air quality

Indicators, Development Targets and Policies/Design Strategies

Indicators Development Targets Policies/Design Strategies
Primary
a. Proportion of households living within potential traffic-related air quality hazard area

Benchmark #1: Where sensitive uses are proposed in an area of potential traffic-related air quality hazards (as defined by SFDPH), does the project analyze potential traffic-related air quality pollution emissions concentrations at sensitive uses?

AND

Benchmark #2: If traffic-related pollution concentrations are above action levels, does the project either avoid locating sensitive uses where pollutants are above the action level OR reduce traffic volume of a type sufficiently to mitigate air pollution concentrations below the action level, OR use design and/or ventilation engineering to remove 80% of the outdoor particulate matter concentrations from indoor air?

Regulatory Minimum: According to Article 38 of the San Francisco's Health Code, if mitigation for air pollution is required based on air quality assessment, a performance requirement is provided for the developer to achieve an 80% reduction of outdoor fine particulate matter levels indoors through a design mitigation and/or ventilation filtration system.

  • Re-designate truck routes away from areas with high asthma rates and sensitive land uses such as schools, residential areas, parks, childcare centers, and hospitals.1

  • Work with the Police Department to enforce fines for illegal truck idling.2-4

  • Require warehouse and distribution facilities to provide adequate on site truck parking.5

  • Locate new residential buildings and other sensitive locations at least 500 feet from high traffic volume roads and stationary sources of air pollution.6
  • Require refrigerated warehouses to provide generators so refrigerated trucks do not have to idle.7
  • Include dust control measures and best available control emissions technologies for construction equipment to reduce the amount of toxics and particulate release into the air during demolition and construction.8-10

  • Incorporate engineering strategies to ensure that new buildings maintain clean indoor air quality. Strategies could include providing mechanical ventilation; keeping building interiors under positive pressure; installing particulate filtration and carbon filtration as needed; and locating air intakes away from pollution sources.11,12

  • Inform all potential buyers of all increased health risk associated with living close to major highways and thoroughfares and educate them in the proper use of any installed air filtration.13
  • Require an HVAC system with filtration for sensitive use sites that are within 500 feet of a high traffic road (100,000 vehicles per day) to reduce/mitigate infiltration of vehicle emissions if warranted by exposure analysis.14

  • Consider limiting building heights adjacent to roadways with high traffic flows. Taller buildings create "urban canyons" which can reduce the dispersion of air pollutants and increase ambient exposure levels. Dispersion analysis could inform where to allow higher buildings.15

  • Provide an adequate amount of short-term, on-street curbside freight loading spaces in PDR areas to avoid double parking and idling.16

  • Apply California Air Resource Board's Air Quality and Land Use Handbook regulations for large stationary sources (e.g., refineries, power plants, chemical facilities, etc) and small stationary sources (e.g., dry cleaners, auto body shops, welders, chrome plating facilities, service stations, etc), including: (1) Operating permit rules; (2) Air Toxics "Hot Spots" Law (AB 2588); (3) Local district rules; (4) Air Toxic Control Measures (ATCMs); (5) New Source Review rules.17

  • Apply regulations for mobile sources (non-fleet - e.g., cars, trucks, buses), including: (1) Emission standards; (2) Cleaner-burning fuels (i.e., unleaded gasoline, low-sulfur diesel); (3) Inspection and repair programs (i.e., Smog Check) 17

  • Apply regulations for mobile/construction equipment. Applicable regulations include ARB rules and US EPA rules.17
b. Proportion households living within 300 meters of major industrial stationary sources of air pollution

Benchmark: Does the project avoid locating sensitive uses in close proximity to a major industrial stationary source of air pollution?

Close proximity is defined as 1000ft for distribution centers, 1000ft for rail yards, downwind for ports, downwind for refineries, 1000ft for chrome platers, 300ft for dry cleaners using perchloro-ethylene (500ft two or more machines), and 50ft for a typical gasoline dispensing  facility (500ft for a large facility). In addition to source-specific recommendations above, the following list includes other industrial sources that could pose a significant health risk to nearby sensitive individuals depending on a number of factors: autobody shops, furniture repair, film-processing services, printing shops, diesel engines, construction manufacturers, metal platers, welders, metal spray (flame spray) operations, chemical producers, furniture manufacturers, shipbuilding and repair, rock quarries and cement manufacturers, hazardous waste incinerators, power plants, research and development facilities, landfills, waste water treatment plants, medical waste incinerators, recycling, garbage transfer stations, and municipal incinerators.

Since these types of facilities are subject to air permits from local air districts, facility-specific information should be obtained where there are questions about siting a sensitive land use close to an industrial facility.

Regulatory Minimum: SF Planning Code 210.5 and 210.6 specify permitted light and heavy industrial uses and have certain requirements as to enclosure, screening and minimum distance from residential districts.

Health-based Rationale

  • Extensive research demonstrates that living in proximity to a busy roadways, is linked to negative health outcomes. Adverse health outcomes associated with proximity include exacerbation of respiratory diseases, sleep disruption and cognitive disturbance, and unintentional (traffic) injuries. Mediating these effects are motor vehicle emissions, including diesel engine emissions, road traffic noise, and pedestrian injury hazards. The research on proximity to roadways and health effects is particularly robust for the exacerbation of respiratory disease. Epidemiologic studies have consistently found that proximity to high traffic density or flow results in reduced lung function and increased asthma hospitalizations, asthma symptoms, bronchitis symptoms, and medical visits.18 Children appear to be most sensitive to adverse effects. California freeway studies show about exposure levels are strongest within 300 feet and that there is a 70% drop off in particulate pollution levels after 500 feet.19 Specific epidemiologic research findings include:
    • Reduced lung function in children associated with traffic density, especially trucks, within 1,000 feet and the association was strongest within 300 feet.20
    • Increased asthma hospitalizations associated with living within 650 feet of heavy traffic and heavy truck volume.21
    • Increased asthma symptoms with proximity to roadways with the greatest risk within 300 feet.22
    • Asthma and bronchitis symptoms in children associated with high traffic in a San Francisco Bay Area community with good overall regional air quality.23
    • Increased medical visits in children living within 550 feet of heavy traffic in San Diego.24

  • Motor vehicle emissions, power plants, and refineries are the predominant sources of fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5). Several large-scale studies demonstrate that increased exposure to PM2.5 is associated with detrimental cardiovascular outcomes, including increased risk of death from ischemic heart disease, higher blood pressure, and coronary artery calcification.25

Established Standards

  1. HP 2010 Objective 8.1: Reduce the proportion of persons exposed to air that does not meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's health-based standards for harmful air pollutants. Healthy People 2010, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at: http://www.healthypeople.gov/
  2. HP 2010 Objective 8.2: Increase use of alternative modes of transportation to reduce motor vehicle emissions and improve the Nation's air quality. Healthy People 2010, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at: http://www.healthypeople.gov/
  3. HP 2010 Objective 8.3: Improve the Nation’s air quality by increasing the use of cleaner alternative fuels. Healthy People 2010, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at: http://www.healthypeople.gov/
  4. HP 2010 Objective 8.4: Reduce air toxic emissions to decrease the risk of adverse health effects caused by airborne toxics. Healthy People 2010, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at: http://www.healthypeople.gov/
  5. HP 2010 Objective 8.17: (Developmental) Increase the number of office buildings that are managed using good indoor air quality practices. Healthy People 2010, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at: http://www.healthypeople.gov/
  6. In 2005, the California Air Resource Board (CARB) issued guidelines for siting of sensitive land uses with regards to their proximity to stationary and mobile sources of air pollution. The CARB Air Quality and Land Use Handbook: A Community Health Perspective included a recommendation to not site sensitive land uses including schools, park and playgrounds, day care centers, nursing homes, hospitals, and residential communities within 500 feet of a highway with more than 100,000 vehicles per day.26

  7. San Francisco General Plan. Environmental Protection Element. Objective 4: Assure that the ambient air of San Francisco and the Bay region is clean, provides maximum visibilty, and meets air quality standards. Available at: http://www.sfgov.org/site/planning_index.asp?id=41417.

  8. San Francisco General Plan. Air Quality Element. Available at: http://www.sfgov.org/site/planning_index.asp?id=41422.

1. Urban Habitat: Ditching Diesel. http://www.urbanhabitat.org/node/163
2. The Pacific Institute: West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project. Clearing the Air: Reducing Diesel Pollution in West Oakland. http://www.pacinst.org/reports/diesel/clearing_the_air_final.pdf
3. Bnet - Business Network. N.J. Police Can Ticket Trucks for Illegal Idling http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5935/is_200509/ai_n23937670
4. US EPA. Compilation of State, County, and Local Anti-Idling Regulations http://epa.gov/smartway/documents/420b06004.pdf
5. Whole Building Design Guide: Warehouses. http://www.wbdg.org/design/warehouse.php
6. California Air Resources Board "Air Quality and Land Use Handbook: A Community Health Perspective" http://www.arb.ca.gov/ch/landuse.htm
7. Refrigerated Transporter. AuraGen and Oasis all-electric refrigeration solution is exempt from CARB's measure. http://refrigeratedtrans.com/refrigeration/equipment/auragen_oasis_allelectric_0708/
8. Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. Controlling Fugitive Dust at Construction Sites http://www.deq.state.id.us/multimedia_assistance/construction/fugitive_dust_brochure_0708.pdf
9. City of Albuquerque. Fugitive Dust Control Techniques and Businesses. http://www.cabq.gov/airquality/fugitivedustcontrol.html
10. El Dorado County, CA. Environmental Management. Construction Dust Rules. http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/emd/apcd/construction_dust_rules.html
11. Architectural Engineer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architectural_engineer_(PE)
12. Indoor Air Quality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoor_air_quality
13. US EPA. Guide to Air Cleaners in the Home http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/airclean.html
14. Building Air Quality: A Guide for Building Owners and Facility Managers http://www.epa.gov/iaq/largebldgs/baqtoc.html
15. Strategic guidelines for street canyon geometry to achieve sustainable street air quality-part II: multiple canopies and canyons. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VH3-48KV9GJ-4&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=820863d5c654efcd90bb6787ffb8888a
16. US Department of Energy. National Idling Reduction Network http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/resources/fcvt_national_idling.html
17. California Air Resources Board "Air Quality and Land Use Handbook: A Community Health Perspective" http://www.arb.ca.gov/ch/landuse.htm
18. Brauer M, Hoek G, Van Vliet P, et al. Air pollution from traffic and the development of respiratory infections and asthmatic and allergic symptoms in children. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2002;166:1092-1098.
19. California Air Resources Board. Air Quality and Land Use Handbook: A Community Health Perspective. 2005. Accessed at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/ch/landuse.htm
20. B, Janssen NA, de Hartog J, Harssema H, Knape M, van Vliet P. Air pollution from truck traffic and lung function in children living near motorways. Epidemiology. 1997;8:298-303.
21. Lin S, Munsie JP, Hwang SA, Fitzgerald E, Cayo MR. Childhood asthma hospitalization and residential exposure to state route traffic. Environ Res. 2002;88:73-81.
22. Venn A, Lewis SA, Cooper M, Hubbard R, Britton J. Living near a main road and the risk of wheezing illness in children. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2001;164:2177-2180.
23. Kim JJ, Smorodinsky S, Lipsett M, Singer BC, Hodgson AT, Ostro B. Traffic-related air pollution and respiratory health: East Bay Children's Respiratory Health Study. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2004;170: 520-526.
24. English P, Neutra R, Scalf R, Sullivan M, Waller L, Zhu L. Examining Associations Between Childhood Asthma and Traffic Flow Using a Geographic Information System. Environmental Health Perspectives. 1999;107(9):761-767.
25. Simkhovich BZ, Kleinman MT, Kloner RA. Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Injury: Epidemiology, Toxicology, and Mechanisms. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;52(9):719-26.
26. California Air Resources Board. Air Quality and Land Use Handbook: A Community Health Perspective. 2005. Accessed at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/ch/landuse.htm