Board overturns Planning Department’s categorical CEQA exemption for Octavia Street project; orders fuller review

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted on July 28 to conditionally reverse a categorical exemption issued by the Planning Department for a proposed fourth‑floor addition at 2651–2653 Octavia Street and directed the department to prepare written findings and follow‑up analysis.

Appellants representing neighboring buildings told the board they were not opposed to the property owner’s project but argued the Planning Department had issued a Class 1 categorical exemption without adequately evaluating impacts on the adjacent Golden Gate Valley Branch Library, a building the appellants and preservationists say is a pending landmark and a class‑A historic resource. Appellants said the library’s main reading room — a large, light‑filled interior — is a character‑defining space that could be materially impaired by additional shading from the proposed addition and…