Committee advances ordinance to loosen planning-code limits on residential window replacements

The Land Use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on March 17 voted 3-0 to amend the planning code to limit restrictions on window replacement projects, sending the measure to the full Board with a positive recommendation.

Supporters, led by Committee Chair Supervisor Myrna Melgar, said the change will reduce costs and regulatory barriers for homeowners and renters seeking energy-efficient windows while still protecting designated historic properties. "Our city is not a museum. It is a growing, evolving community that should reflect the needs of the people who live there," Melgar said during the committee hearing.

Michelle Taylor of the Planning Department told the committee the Planning Commission reviewed the proposal on Feb. 27 and recommended approval "6 to 1" with modifications that have been incorporated into the ordinance. Those modifications clarify that the department will not regulate frame and sash materials for replacement windows, add exceptions to avoid conflicts within the planning code, and replace the ordinance's historic-building language with the definition already in planning code section 102.

The ordinance's sponsor said nearly 20,000 window-replacement permits have been filed in the past decade and that the proposed reforms could save San Franciscans "millions of dollars" by removing what she called unnecessary red tape. The sponsor emphasized the proposal exempts properties already designated historic or listed as Category A and does not mandate a specific material: "Nothing in this legislation mandates a specific type of window, either vinyl or alternative, nor does it say that anything other than wood is more energy efficient than wood," Melgar said.

Public comment at the hearing sharply divided between local businesses that manufacture or install windows and affordable-housing advocates and tenants. Michael Keehan, vice president of Fox Hill Windows and Doors, said opponents from the local window-manufacturing industry submitted letters urging rejection and argued "this notion that different material windows are more energy efficient is just a lie." By contrast, Sofia O'Neil Roberts of Mission Housing Development Corporation, representing an affordable-housing provider, said current regulations delay necessary upgrades and maintenance and supported the ordinance as a way to remove barriers to building upkeep.

Other commenters, including contractors with long experience restoring historic wood windows, urged care to preserve the city's visual character; several tenants described drafty apartments, higher heating costs and health impacts and urged the committee to act. Committee members discussed the amendments proposed by Planning and then voted to adopt the amendments as read into the record and recommend the amended ordinance to the full Board as a committee report.

The committee vote on the motions was recorded as: Vice Chair Cheyenne Chen, aye; Member Bilal Mahmood, aye; Chair Myrna Melgar, aye. The item is scheduled for consideration by the full Board of Supervisors at its next meeting.