by Stan Hayes and Nancy Shanahan, Committee Co-Chairs
PZ@thd.org
Mayor’s Upzoning Plan
In mid-December, Mayor Daniel Lurie signed the Family Zoning Plan. Passed by the Board of Supervisors in a 7-4 final vote, the plan represents the most significant rezoning of San Francisco in more than 50 years, allowing a major upsizing of buildings throughout much of The City. The upzoning plan was co-sponsored by District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter. Joining Supervisor Sauter in voting in favor of the upzoning plan were Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Bilal Mahmood, Rafael Mandelman, Myrna Melgar, Stephen Sherill, and Alan Wong. Voting against the plan were Supervisors Connie Chan, Chyanne Chen, Jackie Fielder, and Shamann Walton.
With Neighborhoods United San Francisco (nusf.net) and others, THD has partnered with more than 60 community and other organizations to oppose the upzoning plan. Here are some of the reasons for the opposition.
• The plan won’t work. The City’s own Office of Economic Analysis calculates that the plan would produce fewer than half (41%), and maybe no more than about a quarter (24%), of its 36,000-unit housing target, even over the next 20 years, let alone by 2031 as required by Sacramento.
• The plan will not build housing affordable to most San Franciscans. The Office of Economic Analysis calculates that citywide housing prices would drop by only 2.5% to 4.2% over the next 20 years.
• The plan is a major overreach with its target based on outdated, overstated pre-pandemic population data that no longer apply. The State of California now projects that thousands fewer people than in 2020 will live in San Francisco in 2030 and even in 2050. This makes us wonder why we are letting Sacramento force us to build 82,000 new units.
• The plan is unfair. Some of the densest parts of The City, like District 3’s North Beach, Telegraph Hill, and the Northern Waterfront, will have to bear far more than their fair share of new housing units. The mayor, with the support and encouragement of Supervisor Sauter, added more than 5,000 additional upzoning units than required by The City’s Housing Element. That’s a 650% increase—greater than seven-fold—more than in any other planning district. This is grossly unfair, especially since many of the areas in our neighborhoods were not even included in the Housing Element, the Housing Element Environmental Impact Report, or any of the multiple Upzoning Maps. That is, until Mayor Lurie’s plan.
Behemoth on the Waterfront (Marina Safeway)
San Francisco is about to look dramatically different. The recently proposed Marina Safeway project in Supervisor District 2 (Figures 1 and 2) is an example of the massive scale of new developments that are certain to come. Preliminary plans have been filed to replace the Marina Safeway grocery store with a 25-story, 297-foot apartment complex, rising nearly as tall as the length of a football field. The project would include 790 rental units, with 86 units designated as affordable. A new 63,000 square-foot grocery store would be built on the ground floor, with the current store closed during the several-year construction.
This project has been variously referred to as “colossal” and a “behemoth on the waterfront.” The Mayor and District 2 Supervisor Sherrill, both of whom live in District 2, have stated that they oppose the project. Mayor Lurie has charged the developer (Align Real Estate) with “trying to sneak in a project” before the upzoning plan takes effect.
In building new residential projects in The City, two alternative options are available to developers: the upzoning plan and the State’s Density Bonus Program. Either can be selected at the developer’s choice, each with different requirements. The Marina Safeway project is seeking approval under the State Density Bonus Program, not Mayor Lurie’s upzoning plan. This is an option we fear might be similarly sought by other such projects, particularly along the Northern Waterfront.
As we have said many times, we strongly supporttruly affordable housing that fits in with the scale and character of its neighborhood. This proposed project does neither.
We will continue to follow this issue and report back.
Little-noticed memorandum
In an appendix on the last eight pages of the 1,125-page Staff Report on an addendum to the final environmental impact report on the mayor’s upzoning plan, there is a little-noticed staff memorandum entitled Appendix D, Memorandum Regarding Potential Zoning Map Changes in Supervisor District 3.
The memorandum refers to potential future changes to the upzoning plan in three areas, including Sansome Street. The memorandum states: “No decision has yet been made regarding the inclusion of these potential changes in the proposed rezoning program; thus, these changes are not included in the analysis in the addendum.”
We are particularly concerned about Sansome Street (Figure 3), where multi-story high-rises have previously been proposed at 955 and 1088 Sansome. While we understand that District 3 Supervisor Sauter and planning staff have discussed and collaborated with respect to the referenced specific changes, it is unclear from the memorandum what, why, or when these specific changes are being contemplated.
We will continue to follow this issue and report back.
To join or to get information from the THD Planning & Zoning Committee, just send an email to PZ@thd.org. We look forward to hearing from you.
