Neighborhood groups appeal planning commissions parking approval at 299 Valencia; supervisors table decision after lengthy hearing

Neighbors and citywide advocates squared off before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors over a planning commission decision that granted conditional-use authorization for additional parking at a proposed 36-unit building at 299 Valencia Street.

Appellants led by Jason Henderson of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association urged the board to overturn the planning commissions conditional-use approval for seven spaces above the 0.5-as-of-right standard in the Market and Octavia planning area. Henderson told the board the conditional-use authorization was a "Pandora's box" for future approvals and said the commission had not demonstrated that extra parking was "necessary or desirable." He and other speakers cited census data for the block group showing high rates of car-free households and argued the extra parking would be incompatible with the neighborhoods transit- and bike-oriented character.

Advocates for transit-first and neighborhood character included Andy Thornley of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Tom Radulovich of Livable City, and other residents and neighborhood association representatives. They…