Planning staff outlines changes to Preservation Design Standards; commission hears public concerns

Planning Department staff on March 19 presented revisions to the proposed Preservation Design Standards (PDS), outlining edits made after consultation with AIA San Francisco and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and commissioners and members of the public discussed next steps and remaining concerns.

Rebecca Salgado, Planning Department staff, reviewed a timeline of changes since the HPC first considered the standards in November. She described edits made after meetings with AIA San Francisco and comments from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Notable changes include clarifications to window requirements for housing projects, additions to the replacement window matrix to include steel windows, removal of a strict requirement to retain garage doors when adding accessory dwelling units in certain cases, consolidation of storefront transparency rules, and deletion of several narrowly prescriptive material and lighting prohibitions that stakeholders had flagged as impractical.

Salgado emphasized the PDS apply to projects where objective standards are required and noted discretionary review remains for many Category A and B properties when projects are not adding two or more housing units. “Our goal … is to provide protections for buildings identified by the city as historic in instances where only objective standards can apply,” she told the commission.

Members of Neighborhoods United San Francisco urged broader and clearer coverage. Bridget Maley and Courtney Damkroger said the PDS should apply to all contributing buildings within historic districts and conservation areas, and asked for clearer wording where the draft currently exempts certain situations. The group also requested that the standards explicitly state they will be amended later to address new construction in historic districts and that the PDS not be treated as replacing community input for district‑level decisions.

Rick Sucre, department staff, thanked Salgado and emphasized the department’s collaborative process with AIA and public commenters. He said the HPC’s comments would be forwarded to the Planning Commission, which was scheduled to consider the standards the following day. Commissioners praised the staff work but several asked that the document be treated as a living standard, with a scheduled look‑back after initial implementation to allow revisions based on real‑world projects.

There was no action requested of the Preservation Commission at this hearing; staff said edits will be transmitted to the Planning Commission for consideration at its upcoming hearing. “Indeed, there’s no action before you here,” staff said as the discussion concluded.

Next steps described by staff include transmitting the edits and the HPC’s comments to the Planning Commission, continuing outreach with community groups, and returning with a review of implementation outcomes in several months.