Repeating my opening paragraph from the first Planning Commission rundown…
“The San Francisco Planning Commission meets each Thursday at noon. While a typical week can cover too many topics and projects to cover each with an individual article, I want to bring a broader range of planning-related issues to your attention via these commission summaries. If something piques your interest, show up, speak up, and help the commission make the right decisions for the future of San Francisco.”
Let’s get into it.
The items proposed for Continuation address a couple of classic San Francisco problems. The first concerns “window replacement standards.” Anyone who has lived in a San Francisco apartment knows about the infamous windows with the single-pane glass within 50-year-old frames coated in about 15 layers of white paint that take two arms to open. These are policy choices, and I look forward to the city easing restrictions so San Francisco tenants can have some peace with higher-quality windows.
The next item concerns formula retail and approving a conditional use authorization. Any retail is good retail, especially when it’s a fitness center. Let’s not overthink this, Commission Members, and green-light it at a future meeting.
The consent calendar has two projects, making a similar request – to convert vacant retail to office use. At 300 Grant Street, a mixed-use project completed in 2022, is asking to convert the use of the 2nd floor of vacant retail to office use. Staff recommends approval and will adjust the office small cap allocation to account for the conversion of 9,610 square feet. At 160 Spear Street, a conditional use authorization has been requested to convert 3,600 square feet of vacant restaurant space to amenity space for office users. The plan includes a shared lounge, conference room, and bike room for the office tenants.
And we make it to the regular calendar…
Here are a couple of unique ones, followed by the typical type of Project we want to cover at Urbanize.
At 500 Laguna Street, an extension of a conditional use authorization has been requested to have Cannabis Retail Use for an additional two years in a vacant retail space. For various reasons, Staff recommends revoking the CUA. At 1815 Market Street, a CUA is requested to create a new Outdoor Activity Area in the form of a new roof deck associated with a proposed Nighttime Entertainment Use. The Project includes merging two currently vacant tenant spaces, façade alterations, and vertical and horizontal additions to the existing one-story commercial building.
Lastly, a proposal for a 10-story mixed-use residential building at 2588 Mission Street has been submitted. The Project would include 181 dwelling units, 3,838 square feet of Retail Sales and Service space, and 1,476 square feet of Community Facility space. It would utilize the State Density Bonus Law for a 50% density bonus. We will cover this Project in more detail in an article to be released later today.
Please come to city hall on February 6th at 2 p.m., make some noise, and help make San Francisco a better place.
