Supervisors vote to send PDR/arts protections to November ballot after heated debate

The Board of Supervisors voted 7‑4 on Aug. 2 to place a proposed ordinance on the Nov. 8 ballot that would impose land‑use controls to protect production, distribution and repair (PDR) space and certain arts uses in the South of Market and Mission neighborhoods.

Supervisor Jane Kim, the ordinance’s sponsor, said the measure is a response to “alarming loss” of PDR and arts space and follows more than a year of outreach to arts groups, small businesses and other stakeholders. Supporters urged voters to approve the measure to preserve jobs and cultural spaces and to require replacement or mitigation when PDR space is converted.

Opponents, including Supervisor Scott Wiener, said the ordinance is effectively a rezoning of large parts of the city and should be addressed through the board’s legislative process rather than by ballot measure. Wiener and other critics argued the proposal could have unintended consequences for job creators and manufacturers and urged more collaborative work with industry groups.

Supervisor Kim said the measure includes compromises they believed could not be secured solely through the legislative process, including replacement requirements for projects already in the development pipeline; supporters argued voters should decide whether to preserve PDR and arts space at the scale proposed.

Public commenters included artists, arts organizations and neighborhood and business advocates. Cell Space, Museum‑ and community‑oriented groups, and representatives of the Mission District and Latino Cultural District described recent displacements of arts and community spaces and urged supervisors to send the measure to voters so residents could weigh in directly.

Calibrating tradeoffs was a recurring theme. Supervisor David Campos said he would support the measure as appropriately limited to SoMa and the Mission, so other districts could seek tailored rules. Supervisor Wiener and others urged more negotiation with industry groups before finalizing measures that alter zoning and land‑use processes.

On the roll call, the measure to submit the ordinance to the ballot passed 7‑4, with Supervisors Tang, Wiener, Cohen and Farrell voting no. The board also agreed to allow future amendments by ordinance only with a supermajority threshold in the ordinance text, a concession the sponsor said was intended to encourage future legislative collaboration.

Why it matters: Supporters argued the measure addresses rapid loss of affordable space for artists, makers and small PDR businesses in neighborhoods that drive San Francisco’s cultural and economic identity. Opponents said the ballot route bypassed full local legislative negotiation and risked unintended effects on employers and pipelines of local manufacturing space.

What’s next: With board approval, the ordinance language will be printed in the November ballot materials and the electorate will decide whether to adopt the PDR protections for specified neighborhoods.