Planning Commission extends Yellow Cab temporary parking lot at 531 Bayshore for eight years

The San Francisco Planning Commission on March 13 approved a conditional use authorization allowing Yellow Cab to continue operating a private temporary parking lot at 531 Bayshore and adjacent properties for up to eight years.

The approval, which passed unanimously, covers continued use of an existing private parking lot that contains approximately 150 spaces bounded by Waterloo, Loomis Street, Industrial Street and Bayshore Boulevard. Planning staff said the lot was first authorized in 2018 for a three-year temporary period and the current request seeks an eight-year extension.

Planning staff presented the request and said the department found the extended use consistent with the Bay Shore Area Plan and the general plan because it maintains transportation services, business and job opportunities and a land use compatible with the PDR-2 zoning district. "Yellow Cab seeks to continue using this temporary parking lot . . . only for an extended period of 8 years," department staff said during the presentation.

Tuya Catalano, representing the project sponsor, emphasized the application seeks only continuation of the private parking lot use, not a change to fleet charging or parcel delivery operations. "We are not asking for fleet charging use. We're not asking for a parcel delivery use," Catalano said, adding that fleet charging and parcel-delivery services are distinct uses under the planning code and would require separate approvals and permits.

Mark Malouf, business agent for Teamsters Local 665, had earlier asked the commission to pull the item from consent and said his local has been "heavily involved in autonomous vehicle and fleet charging policy in the city." During public comment on the item, union representatives and other speakers urged the commission and staff to make clear that any conversion from a private parking lot to a fleet-charging use in the PDR-2 zoning requires a separate conditional-use approval under recently adopted Board of Supervisors legislation.

Commissioner Lebron said he regularly passes the site and observed it to be a visible lot used by Yellow Cab with no signs of fleet charging or queuing problems. He moved to approve the conditional use authorization; the motion was seconded and carried unanimously 7-0.

The commission’s approval includes conditions described in the staff recommendation; commissioners noted the change in city policy that now requires a separate conditional-use review if the site later seeks to convert to fleet charging. Planning staff and the project sponsor both told the commission that no new on-site improvements were needed because perimeter fencing and site conditions were installed under the 2018 authorization.

Planning staff recorded the applicable planning code sections cited in the presentation. The commission’s action preserves the existing private parking-lot land use while leaving future changes of use subject to new application and review.

Votes at a glance

Motion: Approve conditional use authorization to extend temporary private parking lot use for Yellow Cab at 531 Bayshore and adjacent addresses for up to eight years. Mover: Commissioner Lebron. Second: not specified in the record. Outcome: Approved, unanimous (7–0).

Why it matters

The commission’s action maintains an established private-parking use that the city and the applicant say serves transportation needs and jobs while clarifying that future conversion to fleet charging will require a separate, explicit conditional-use review under the planning code and recently adopted Board of Supervisors legislation.