Board conditionally reverses certification of FEIR for 469 Stevenson Street after appeals over historic impacts, seismic analysis and displacement

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Oct. 26 voted 8–3 to conditionally reverse the Planning Commission’s certification of the final environmental impact report for a proposed 27‑story mixed‑use building at 469 Stevenson Street and directed staff to prepare findings supporting that reversal.

The motion, carried after a full hearing with more than two dozen public speakers on both sides, requires the board’s written findings explaining the reversal of the FEIR certification and the planning commission’s action. The reversal followed appeals by neighborhood groups and preservation advocates who said the EIR did not adequately analyze seismic and geotechnical risk, impacts on multiple nearby historic districts — including the Old Mint and Mint Plaza — and the potential for gentrification and displacement that could produce additional, downstream environmental impacts.

Appellants argued the EIR improperly “scoped out” detailed analysis of subsurface and foundation options and therefore deprived reviewers of the opportunity to require pile foundations or other mitigations to address differential settlement and liquefaction risks. “You cannot do that today. You don't have that authority because of the way it was done,” said appellant John…