Supervisors send 2564 Sutter Street project back to planning, disapproving CEQA exemption

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to disapprove the planning department’s categorical exemption for the proposed renovation and enlargement of 2564 Sutter Street and returned the matter to the City Planning Department for further environmental review.

The decision followed an extended public hearing in which neighbors, preservationists and architects argued the proposed project — which would alter an existing one‑story stick‑style cottage into a multi‑story, three‑unit building with garage — could have a significant effect on a locally recognized historic resource. Appellant Steve Williams told the board the project would transform “a one‑story stick style cottage … into a 40 foot tall, 4‑story, 3‑unit residential building” and that the change “can never meet the requirements of a categorical exemption under CEQA.”

Planning staff had…