By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt
Almost a third of all the small businesses in the city’s neighborhood commercial districts could face displacement under Mayor Daniel Lurie’s plan to allow more and denser housing in neighborhoods, data from the City Planning Department shows.
In some neighborhoods—the Geary corridor, for example—nearly half the small local merchants are endangered, the data shows.
That’s because the so-called “family housing” plan would encourage developers to demolish small buildings to put up larger ones—and many of those small buildings have small commercial tenants.
City planners tell me that they will discourage the demolition of existing rent-controlled housing (although SB 79) a bill by Sen. Scott Wiener would encourage that practice.)
But 1,769 small businesses are in vulnerable places (sites that are prime for new development where there are no existing residential units)—and 47 are officially recognized “legacy businesses.”
As the planning report notes:.. (more)
The Small Business Commissioners agreed at their meeting on Monday. They took no action, pending plans to talk to neighborhood merchants and consider legislative remedies. They do not fee that any of the current Board of Supervisors are working on anything of substance yet. (July 28, 25 meeting)