Category: Land Use

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Mid-Sunset Letter on PCE contamination

Dear Neighbor,

So much has happened in our community these last few weeks. I want to summarize some significant events and suggest ways you can help create constructive change.

We had a very successful Community Meeting last week.  One hundred neighbors gathered to learn from experts what PCE is, where it has been found in the immediate neighborhood, what the Department of Toxicology and Substance Control (DTSC) is and is not doing to protect the neighbors, and what actions the community should demand in order to ensure protection for current residents as well as future residents in the area.  Our website has more extensive information on these questions….(MidSunst PCE letter and request for support)

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Interim Zoning Controls – Parcel Delivery Service Uses

Thanks to the SF South East Alliance  and Supervisor Walton
for this city-wide ordinance to that puts an 18th month pause
of he expansion of Parcel Delivery Service  Users
Case Number:   2022-002847PCA
Board File/Enactment #:   220159
Initiated by:  Supervisor Walton
Effective Date:  April 1, 2022

The interim controls require Parcel Delivery Service uses to obtain Conditional Use authorization and set additional limits for Temporary Use authorizations of Parcel Delivery Service uses.

Background: Parcel Delivery Services are defined in Planning Code Sec. 102 as: A Non-Retail Automotive Use limited to facilities for the unloading, sorting, and reloading of local retail merchandise for deliveries, including but not limited to cannabis and cannabis products, where the operation is conducted entirely within a completely enclosed building, including garage facilities for local delivery trucks, but excluding repair shop facilities. Where permitted in PDR Districts, this use is not required to be operated within a completely enclosed building.

THE WAY IT WAS: THE WAY IT IS NOW:
Parcel Delivery Service uses were either Principally or Conditionally permitted in most M (Manufacturing), PDR (Production, Distribution, and Repair), MU (Mixed-Use), and C (Commercial) districts. Any new Parcel Delivery Service use must obtain Conditional Use authorization in districts where the Use was previously Principally permitted.
Parcel Delivery Service uses were not eligible for most Temporary Use authorization permits, except for the Temporary Use authorization for Interim Activities on Development Sites permit in Planning Code Sec. 205.5. Parcel Delivery Service uses may receive Temporary Use authorization in any zoning district for a period not to exceed 60 days within a 12-month period, without the possibility of renewal or subsequent approval during the same 12-month period. Parcel Delivery Services shall not be eligible for any other Temporary Use authorization permit.

These controls will be in place for 18 months or until permanent controls are established, whichever is first.

Link to signed legislation: https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=10534391&GUID=D3A42751-B929-4917-8C2F-6BA77259F941

SF South East Alliance should be credited for taking this on and making it a city-wide ordiannce.  https://www.sfsea.org/moratorium

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‘It looks like the Wild West’: Industrial dust is taking a toll on the Bayview

By Jessica Wolfrom : sfexaminer – excerpt

Candlestick Heights residents report health problems due to concrete crushing in vacant lots

The wind has always whipped up the earth at Candlestick Point, a waterfront expanse at the southeastern tip of San Francisco.

But last summer, Gayle Hart noticed a new kind of dust in the air. A brown film had settled over her neighborhood. It coated her car, crept into the corners of her patio and clogged her lungs.

Some days, the flurries were so bad that her 13-year-old son was unable to play basketball at the nearby playground. “He was only out there for about five minutes,” she said. “The dirt kept coming in his eyes.”…

Residents of Bayview’s Candlestick Heights neighborhood say the dust has been kicked up by concrete crushing and other industrial activity that recently has moved into the open parcels across the street from Hart’s townhouse on Arelious Walker Drive…(more)

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Court upholds density bonus law

By Bob Egelko Court Reporter : sfchronicle – excerpt

Court upholds density bonus law that exempts certain housing projects from local restrictions

A state appeals court says developers who agree to include affordable housing in their projects can be exempted from zoning rules, height limits and other local restrictions on neighborhood construction. The ruling, in a case from San Diego, has potential statewide impact as tensions over local control and the state’s housing crisis continue to escalate.

California’s 1979 density bonus law “incentivizes the construction of affordable housing,” the Fourth District Court of Appeal said in a decision it certified Wednesday as a precedent for future cases.

Once the developer commits to making a specified portion of the project affordable to lower-income households, “local government must allow increased building density, grant permits, and waive any conflicting local development standards unless certain limited exceptions apply,” Justice Judith Haller said in the 3-0 ruling.

Those exceptions include threats to public health or safety, harm to a historic resource, or conflicts with state or federal laws. None applied to the proposed 20-story project overlooking Balboa Park in San Diego, so it can be built despite opposition from some community organizations, Haller said.

The court had first issued the ruling Jan. 7 as a decision that applied only to the San Diego project, but agreed to make it a published precedent after hearing from the California Building Industry Association and its Bay Area affiliate, as well as the project contractor…

Continue reading “Court upholds density bonus law”

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Are ADU’s affordable housing?

By Zelda Bronstein : 48hills – excerpt

The NYTimes says yes—but even the Chron agrees that the data shows these units are not a very effective way to address the housing crisis.

The California growth machine rarely breaks ranks. As a rule, its members toe the supply-side line: To solve the state’s housing affordability crisis, build everything except single-family homes—the more the better, because according to the “laws” of supply and demand, increasing supply lowers prices.

One of the machine’s favored housing types is the accessory dwelling unit, also known as an ADU, plannerese for granny flat. The state of California allows a city to count ADUs toward fulfilling its Regional Housing Needs Allocation, “based on the actual or anticipated affordability.”…(more)

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Dom-i-city : Solving San Francisco’s housing problem

Eugene Lew presented his dom-i-city design concept to the CSFN General Assembly meeting Wednesday, January 18, 2022. This time he brought Cory Smith from SFHac to emphasize he fact that he has done the work of convincing a wide range of people that his ideas work. Together they presented a plan to enlist more people in adopting the dom-i-city plan in the West Side of town in a more gentle, humane manner that leads to a smaller footprint on the neighborhood, cuts cost, and meeting the approval of both city planners and the neighbors.

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The only community garden in Daly City could become market-rate housing

By Emily Margaretten : 48hills – excerpt

Mist swirls through soaring Monterey pine trees, threatening to envelop the gated enclosure below. A steep embankment protects a community garden from the wind and fog, offering sanctuary to hundreds of species of plants that have pushed roots and shoots past crumbling concrete to reclaim a small parcel of land in one of the most densely populated cities in the country.

Erick Campbell, caretaker of the garden, smiled impishly and attacked a slab of concrete with a pickax. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead. “Daly City,” he said between swings, “is the worst. There’s no urban canopy, something like 3.9 percent.”

An urban tree canopy is the layer of leaves, stems, and branches that cover the ground. It averages around 27 percent for US cities. Daly City is an extreme outlier. It’s “an impervious concrete jungle,” as Project Green Space puts it.

Campbell pointed to the ground, where the rich sediment, a combination of 20 years of decaying vegetation and protective mulch, has created a thriving habitat for seedlings and saplings to grow.

“It’s made its transition from concrete back to earth,” Campbell observed. “Kind of silly to think they just want to put it back to concrete, you know?”…(more)

What is another garden covered by luxury housing in a state that has removed single family zoning in favor of by right and no rights for residents and voters to determine how we want to live. You may drop those illusions at the border.

The state that claims to be following the “new green policy“ slate that is leading the country down the road to environmental excellence has started us down the road of destroying our natural environment by cutting  trees, plowing over gardens, limiting lawns, and withholding water from farms and fish to plant more housing. This is a small list of actions the state is taken to sell our land and resources to the highest bidders and wall street investors. There are no-bid options for all cash deals all around.

Your state representatives were sold to you by global investors pushing us into the 2022 gold rush. They are up-zoning and gentrifying the state, leading the way to the highest levels of inflation that will ripple across the country and food prices escalate and the parties quibble over social matters and the media keeps us entertained.

Everything you thought you loved about the state will be short-lived unless we pass the ballot initiative to stop the land grab in the anti-garden state. Rather than compromise or give the voters a chance to suggest other ways to solve the problems, Sacramento politicians have hidden their intentions and ignored the voices of opposition.

Ourneighobrhoodvoices.com is the place to go to find out how you can join the efforts to stop this outrage that starts with the takeover of our backyards and rolls across our cities building “housing for everyone.”

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What the de Young Museum needs to recover from the COVID pandemic

By Thomas P. Campbell : via email (ran in the SFChronicle 11/22/2021)

Photo by Zrants

On Oct. 17, 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the Bay Area with a magnitude of 6.9. At the de Young Museum, the shock waves inflicted grave damage, leaving the building with a “high potential for partial collapse.” As a result, the de Young

needed to be rebuilt, and despite having a history in Golden Gate Park going back as far as 1894, serious consideration was given to moving the museum downtown. San Francisco residents, however, overwhelmingly supported keeping the museum in its original location. And so it was rebuilt inside the park, where it remains.

Before COVID struck, the de Young drew as many as 1 million visitors per year to Golden Gate Park, including 50,000 San Francisco Unified School District students. We welcomed and continue to welcome low-income visitors and people with disabilities at low or no cost. Every Saturday we offer free admission for San Francisco and the entire Bay Area.

Running a museum in the middle of the city’s largest park, however, while ensuring equitable access to residents in the Bay Area and beyond, is not without its challenges…

Continue reading “What the de Young Museum needs to recover from the COVID pandemic”

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San Francisco’s clampdown on parklets fuels turmoil

By Carly Graf : sfexaminer – excerpt

Restaurants and shopowners hit with hefty new fees and fines.

When the pandemic hit, droves of people who found themselves stuck inside rushed out to get puppies.

That’s when Lynnet Spiegel knew she needed to figure out how to bring her pet store outdoors.

Fortunately, it’s also when San Francisco officials created Shared Spaces, a program that allowed for parking spots, sidewalks and other public spaces to be used for commercial activity — commonly known as parklets…

Nearly 18 months since she built her parklet, Spiegel recently received multiple citations threatening fines if she doesn’t make structural changes, including lowering its side walls, moving plant potters from the sidewalk and trimming the roof…

“As we move into a permanent program, the quickly-built structures need to adjust for long-term use,” said Robin Abad, who oversees the parklet initiative. “We have turned a crisis response into an enduring opportunity to reimagine the use of our streets to benefit the people who live, work and visit here.”…(more)

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Two big Projects Recently Rejected by the Board of Supervisors

Two big projects in District 6 were rejected by the Supervisors. How bad must a project be to be rejected? Read the two Tim Redmond articles that ran in 48hills. Most local media covered this with differing opinions.

In dramatic move, supes block huge luxury housing project in Soma

Debate shows city planners’ utter failure to understand the role of market-rate housing in gentrification and displacement.

In a stunning victory for progressives, the Board of Supes voted 8-3 Tuesday to block a massive market-rate development that would have threatened one of the last affordable areas in Soma.

The vote to overturn the 469 Stevenson EIR doesn’t kill the project, but it’s a major setback and could help advocates who want to use the site for affordable housing…

The vote also showed a new political shift on the board, with Sup. Matt Haney, who represents Soma, joining his more conservative colleagues, Ahsha Safai and Catherine Stefani, in voting to support the project…

The politics of this are fascinating: Haney, who has long been part of the progressive majority on the board, is now running for state Assembly with the strong support of the building trades (and it appears, at least some of the Yimbys—he is featured, along with the mayor, at a VIP reception for a Yimby fundraiser)…

At one point, under questioning, an executive from the developer, Build Inc., acknowledged that there is currently no financing for the project and the company doesn’t even own the land. Founding Partner Lou Vasquez said that he couldn’t predict how much the new units would rent for because “we don’t own the site or have financing in place to build it.

The supes didn’t even know how to respond. “I think that silence is from shock,” Sup. Shamann Walton noted...(more)

In a direct assault on planning policy, supes reject Tenderloin tech dorms

Board makes clear, for perhaps the first time ever, that developer profits should not be a deciding factor in city housing decisions.

The Board of Supes rejected a plan for tech dorms in the Tenderloin yesterday, setting up a challenge for private housing developers who increasingly want to build what’s known as “group housing.”

That term is badly defined in the Planning Code, and potentially creates a massive loophole for market-rate short-term rentals to replace family housing units.

And the supes, by unanimously overruling the Planning Commission—a very rare move—made it clear that they don’t want to see projects get approved, and then substantially changed afterward.…(more)

It appears that someone filed an application to develop someone else’s property, and went through the process of procuring an entitlement, with the help of SF Planning Department staff without involving the property owner in the process. It took an appeal before the Board of Supervisors to discover that the developer does not own the property they are entitled to develop. They have on funding or construction cost analysis and have no idea what the rents may be. How many times has this happened without an appeal being filed and is this a good use of SF Planning staff time and taxpayer money?