OCII delegates land‑use review for small portion of 75 Howard to Planning Department

The Commission on Community Investment and Infrastructure voted July 7 to delegate land‑use authority — including CEQA review — for a small triangular portion of a proposed residential project at 75 Howard Street to the San Francisco Planning Department.

Deputy Director and General Counsel Jim Morales told the commission the project is a roughly 20‑story residential tower with a garage, about 133 units, ground‑floor retail, roughly 100 parking spaces and more than 120 bicycle stalls. Most of the building sits outside OCII’s remaining land‑use obligations; only a small triangular corner (about 337 square feet of the parcel) touches the Rincon Point/South Beach redevelopment area. Given that the Rincon Point/South Beach project area is largely complete and OCII’s redevelopment obligations there are minimal through 2021, staff recommended delegating review to Planning as a matter of administrative efficiency.

Morales said the Planning Commission had already scheduled environmental and project approvals for July 23 and that the EIR and comments/response documents had been prepared. Staff noted that delegation agreements have precedent in other project areas and are permitted by redevelopment law and dissolution statutes when a redevelopment agency or successor body transitions land‑use authority to a city department.

Commissioner Mondejar moved approval; Commissioner Bustos seconded. The commission voted unanimously to adopt the delegation agreement and delegate land‑use and CEQA review for the identified portion of the 75 Howard project to the Planning Department.

Staff said the delegation does not preclude OCII involvement where enforceable obligations remain and that the agreement is appropriate because the project portion in question is tiny relative to the parcel and the planning code and Planning Department review are the primary mechanisms for consistency with the redevelopment plan.