Committee recommends special sign district to help Chinese American International School update signage

The Land Use and Transportation Committee on April 21 recommended that the Board of Supervisors consider an ordinance to establish the 3250 Nineteenth Avenue Special Sign District, intended to permit signage commensurate with the parcel size and allow the Chinese American International School (CAIS) to replace a nonconforming sign in front of the school.

Supervisor Mirna Melgar introduced the item and said the property was purchased by the Chinese American International School from the Sisters of Mercy (the former Mercy High School site) and has been rehabilitated to consolidate the school's three campuses. The school sought the change because the previously grandfathered sign on the parcel would not allow the school to display its name under current sign restrictions that apply to residential neighborhoods adjacent to the school site.

Joseph Sakhi (Planning Department staff) told the committee the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval with a modification to permit indirect illumination for permitted signs; that modification was incorporated into the circulated ordinance. No members of the public signed up to comment. Chair Melgar made a motion to send the ordinance, with the Planning Commission modification and other technical amendments, to the full Board with a positive recommendation; the committee voted aye: Vice Chair Cheyenne Chen, Member Bridal Mahmood, Chair Mirna Melgar.

The ordinance record makes the same CEQA affirmation and Planning Code findings noted elsewhere on the agenda (consistency with General Plan and Planning Code §101.1 and public necessity, convenience and welfare under Planning Code §302). The measure is scheduled as a potential committee report to the Board on April 22, 2025.