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Committee adopts downtown and storefront code amendments, then continues substantive changes for further review
Summary
The committee approved a package of amendments to allow certain non-retail ground-floor uses downtown through 2030, revise transparency and sign rules, and make other changes, then voted to continue the item to the call of the chair for further edits.
The Land Use and Transportation Committee considered a broad Planning Code package that would principally permit certain non-retail sales and service ground-floor uses in downtown C-3 districts temporarily through Feb. 29, 1930 (note: committee materials show a sunset date referenced in the ordinance), update storefront transparency and fenestration rules, and exempt some interior signs and small painted facade signs from Planning Code permits.
Katie Tang, director of the Office of Small Business, described four "buckets" of changes: storefront transparency exemptions for certain sensitive uses (childcare, homeless shelters, mortuaries, religious institutions and reproductive health clinics), removal of permit requirements for certain interior and painted signs, temporary downzoning relief in downtown C-3 for non-retail uses on the ground floor to draw employees back downtown, and adjustments to RC (residential-commercial) districts to allow non-ground-floor retail and nonretail uses on upper floors.
Tang said the proposal included technical amendments to measurement of window-sign area, consistent percentage calculations across zones, and clarifications that nonstructural sign applications (including paint and vinyl) would not require planning approval. The Planning Department and Planning Commission reviewed the ordinance on June 26 and recommended approval with modifications.
Supervisor Bilal Mahmood moved amendments and then a motion to continue the item for further substantive edits. The committee voted first to adopt the amendments and then to continue the item to the call of the chair; both votes were 3-0.
No public speakers were recorded on this item at the committee. Committee members requested follow-up work on specific code sections (including clarifying treatment of gross floor area in C-3 districts and exemptions for certain historic buildings in Rincon Hill). The committee’s continuation is intended to allow staff to refine substantive amendments before the Board of Supervisors considers the ordinance.
