Supervisors vote down original Cathedral Hill hospital ordinances to clear way for revised CPMC term sheet

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on April 16 voted to reject three pending ordinances (items 23–25) related to the original California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) Cathedral Hill proposal.

President Chu explained that the three items before the board—amendments to the general plan and urban design element to facilitate a high‑density replacement hospital and related mapping and findings—relate to an earlier version of the hospital proposal. The board had adopted a new term sheet weeks earlier, Chu said, and members were advised they must proactively vote down the prior ordinances to move forward with revised legislation that will reflect the term sheet.

"We adopted a term sheet several weeks ago and voted 11 in support of a term sheet that will soon be embodied in legislation," President Chu said. "The three items we have in front of us are related to the original proposal and so we've been advised that we need to actually proactively vote these items down in order to move forward with the new proposals."

The board conducted a roll‑call vote on items 23, 24 and 25. Each was defeated on a recorded 11–0 "no" vote, and President Chu announced, "The ordinances fail."

What passed and why it matters: Supervisors’ unanimous "no" votes were procedural rather than a rejection of the Cathedral Hill project overall; the board intends to replace the earlier ordinances with new legislation that implements the more recent term sheet. The failed items concerned general plan amendments and urban design map changes for the Van Ness Medical Use Subdistrict and related dimensions for a replacement hospital site at Van Ness Avenue and Geary Boulevard.

The board's action clears the way for newly revised proposals to be drafted and returned as legislation for consideration.