TRD staff : therealdeal – excerpt

Developer adds AB 2011 application to two lawsuits over project in Outer Sunset

The developer behind a failed plan to build a 50-story condominium tower in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset has pulled another arrow from its quiver: a new law to fast-track affordable homes.

Reno-based CH Planning, led by John and Raelynn Hickey, has added Assembly Bill 2011 to two lawsuits attempting to overturn the rejected project at 2700 Sloat Boulevard, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The couple are seeking streamlined approval under the law that went into effect July 1 to redevelop the Sloat Garden Center, creating a controversial highrise over low-lying homes and businesses, a few blocks from the beach.

AB 2011, known as the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act, fast-tracks housing on commercial properties by allowing ministerial approval if certain housing and labor standards are met… (more)

Let’s see Buffy and Wierner worm their way out of this one. What would happen if they declared Sloat Blvd. a SLOW STREET? Would that make it a non High Road Jobs Act Street immune from application of AB 2011? Could refusal of insurance companies to cover the project become a factor in making it less desirable? Could the coastal commission take meaningful action or would they, considering the plan is to not protect the coastal area from rising tides? How creative can we be?