SF Health Code Article 38: Enhanced Ventilation for Urban Sensitive Use Development

There is a defined Air Pollutant Exposure (APE) Zone for San Francisco, based on modeled emissions of fine particulate matter and carcinogens from Air Quality District-permitted stationary, area, and roadway pollution sources. In 2008, San Francisco Health Code Article 38 was adopted, requiring new residential construction projects in the defined zone to install enhanced ventilation. Article 38 states that those buildings requiring enhanced ventilation "design a system capable of removing >80% of ambient PM2.5 from habitable areas of dwelling units." The reduction of exposure to fine particulates (i.e., particulate matter 2.5 micrometers in diameter and smaller) is an evidence-based protection of public health from particle pollution to minimize cardiovascular and respiratory health impacts, as well as premature mortality.

The purpose of SF Health Code Article 38 is to protect residents from the effects of living in a poor air quality zone by requiring enhanced ventilation in new and renovated residential buildings.

The City of San Francisco implemented a law requiring enhanced ventilation in new and renovated residential buildings to protect residents from harmful particulate matter.

In 2013, the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the San Francisco Department of City Planning, and the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection began cooperating to improve the implementation of Article 38 and to propose amendments to the existing law. Concurrently, in collaboration with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the underlying map was revised and simpler methods for determining poor air quality zones in the city were developed. In July 2013, the Air Quality Program began providing several options for determining compliance with Article 38. The guidance explains a simpler way to comply with the law, and describes a clear process for the approval of enhanced ventilation systems.