Board upholds planning certification for 5M special-use district after lengthy appeals and public protests

San Francisco ' The Board of Supervisors affirmed the Planning Commission's certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the 5M mixed-use project and approved the related legislative package creating a Fifth-and-Mission Special Use District and a development agreement for a large mixed-use development by Forest City and Hearst Corporation.

The 5M project, proposed for a multi-parcel, predominantly parking-lot site in southern SoMa, calls for a mix of housing, office, retail, arts space and approximately an acre of publicly accessible open space. The development team pledged an unprecedented mix of public benefits tied to the project: 40 percent of the project's housing units were committed to income-restricted tiers (a mix of very-low, low and middle-income levels), funding and parcels for nearby nonprofit-sponsored and senior housing, arts and cultural space, and targeted workforce, youth and neighborhood stabilization funds.

The measure underwent intense public scrutiny and a formal appeal filed by neighborhood groups including South of Market Action Committee (SMAC), South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN) and others. Appellants…