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Commission approves special use district to legalize office uses and allocates 213,400 sq ft to 600 Townsend site
Summary
The Planning Commission recommended approval of a special use district and approved an office allocation allowing up to 213,400 square feet of office use to legalize longstanding office occupancy at 600 Townsend Street; the commission added clarifying language about bicycle parking and confirmed several impact-fee treatments.
The San Francisco Planning Commission on March 27 moved to recommend approval of planning code and map amendments to create the “600 Townsend Street West” special use district and approved a large-cap office allocation that would legalize longstanding office use at the five-story building at 600 Townsend West.
Planning staff explained the proposal would convert up to 213,400 square feet of gross floor area from wholesale sales to office use by principally permitting office uses on all floors at the subject property and establishing a special use district to allow the building’s existing configuration. Rebecca Salgado of Planning Department staff said the allocation represents roughly 8% of the currently available large-cap office allocation.
Brian Dahl, legislative aide to Supervisor Matt Dorsey, described the ordinance as a path to legalize decades-long office use at an occupied building and noted the city would receive transfer taxes and property tax revenue from an expected sale. “This legislation creates a special use district to facilitate the legalization of a long time District 6 office space ahead of its sale,” Dahl said.
Project counsel and the property owner described efforts to document the building’s history and said the proposed ordinance would not enable new construction — it would legalize the building as currently used but require compliance with standard development rules if the property were later substantially changed. Cecily Barclay, representing the property owner, told the commission the owner has paid commercial rent taxes and the building is 94% occupied.
Commissioners asked for clarification on how the project would meet bicycle parking requirements and on impact fees. Zoning Administrator Corey Teague explained the ordinance applies certain impact fees consistent with an earlier Eastern Neighborhoods “legitimization” approach: transportation sustainability fee, jobs–housing linkage fee and childcare impact fees would apply (inflation-adjusted to a 2012 baseline and subject to the current 33% fee reduction). The ordinance excludes the Eastern Neighborhoods impact fee because the building predates that rezoning; staff characterized the treatment as matching precedent for legalized, longstanding uses.
On bicycle parking, the applicant said the building provides 139 Class I (long-term, secure) bike spaces in the garage and lacks room in the sidewalk for Class II short-term racks. Commissioners and staff agreed to add a clarified finding that the applicant’s provision of additional Class I spaces will be recognized in lieu of some Class II spaces. That clarification was incorporated into the commission’s approval motion.
On a roll-call vote the commission adopted a recommendation of approval of the planning code and zoning map amendments, and approved the office allocation and associated conditions. The motion passed unanimously, 6–0.
