From Scott Wiener via email
SACRAMENTO – The Senate Environmental Quality Committee passed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill 1227, new legislation that spurs the revitalization of downtown San Francisco by providing regulatory and tax relief to a targeted area for a period of 7 years. The bill passed 4-2 and heads next to the Senate Revenue & Taxation Committee…
The bill provides an expedited pathway to convert parts of downtown San Francisco’s office-heavy downtown to a vibrant mixed-use hub of activity…
SB 1227 does not relax any local permitting or zoning requirements. The City of San Francisco will continue to implement its local permitting requirements. The City will also be able to invoke this CEQA exemption.
Second, SB 1227 expands the ‘welfare exemption’ from property tax for specified projects that provide rental housing up to 120% of the area median income, so long as projects are rented 10% below the market value, as determined by the Housing and Urban Development Fair Market Rents. This provision expands a property tax exemption used by affordable housing projects to encourage the production of moderate-income workforce housing projects in downtown San Francisco. This expansion will help the City meet its housing goals while giving more moderate-income workers a chance to locate close to jobs and supporting local businesses with an increase in area residents.
The downtown zone covered by the bill includes the Financial District, Union Square, Civic Center, Yerba Buena, East Cut, Eastern and Central SOMA, South Beach, and Rincon Hill.
SB 1227 is sponsored by San Francisco Mayor London Breed. The bill is supported by the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, YIMBY Action, SPUR, Bay Area Council, and many others… (more)