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Planning Commission asks Board to delay new Central SoMa 'Tier B' fee, approves cleanup ordinance edits
Summary
The Planning Commission forwarded a revised Central SoMa cleanup ordinance to the Board of Supervisors but urged removing a proposed $20-per-square-foot "Tier B" impact fee for smaller nonresidential projects pending further analysis; commissioners voted 6–0.
The San Francisco Planning Commission on Sept. 24 voted unanimously to forward a revised "cleanup" amendment to the Central SoMa Special Use District to the Board of Supervisors while urging the Board not to adopt a proposed impact fee on smaller Tier B nonresidential projects.
Planning Department staff, led by Matt Snyder, told commissioners the draft ordinance contains about 13 clarifying edits intended to tighten lot‑coverage rules and where certain retail-for‑PDR substitutions are authorized. Aaron Star, the department’s legislative affairs manager, summarized the policy rationale: "The need is clear," he said, describing the city effort to reduce gas use in buildings while noting the technical design challenges of additional electrical transformers for ground‑floor retail.
Public comment and commissioners’ questions focused on two issues raised at an earlier hearing: whether the Central SoMa infrastructure fee should apply to small Tier B nonresidential projects and how the draft treats lot‑coverage and grandfathering for projects with pending applications. Speakers representing neighborhood groups and small developers warned that retroactively adding a $20-per-square-foot fee to projects that had already relied on an existing fee schedule would risk sidelining small projects in the current economic climate and that the legislative history did not unambiguously authorize the fee as the Board intended.
Staff clarified the commission’s role: the commission can forward the ordinance text to the Board and include a resolution expressing its recommendation. Josh Switzky of Planning staff said the intent was to remove the Tier B fee provision before sending the ordinance so the Board can consider the issue after further study. Commissioners pressed staff for clarity about whether keeping the fee text in the ordinance (even if the Board were later asked to strike it) would create confusion for applicants.
After deliberation, commissioners moved to adopt the revised resolution with staff’s edits and an explicit recommendation that the Board not include the Tier B fee until further analysis is complete. The motion passed 6–0.
The Board of Supervisors will receive the commission’s ordinance and resolution; the Planning Department noted the ordinance still contains language related to lot‑coverage changes and a grandfathering clause for applications filed on or before July 1, which the Board may choose to keep, modify or remove.
