Planning Commission backs limits on office uses in UMU districts with grandfathering

The Planning Commission voted to recommend modifications to an ordinance introduced by Supervisor Ronan’s office that would limit office uses in Urban Mixed Use (UMU) districts and require conditional-use authorization for certain ground-floor professional uses. Amy Beinart, legislative aide to Supervisor Ronan, said the change aims to prevent high-rent office development from displacing housing and arts/PDR uses in sensitive areas such as the Mission.

Planning staff encouraged narrowing the prohibition to the Mission Area Plan and adding grandfathering language so that projects already filed would not be caught mid‑stream. Deputy City Attorney Kristen Jensen advised commissioners that SB 330/concurrency concerns should be addressed by ensuring that any upzoning used to offset downzoning goes into effect contemporaneously; staff agreed to broaden the ordinance language to allow other planned upzonings to qualify if they become effective at the same time.

Stakeholders were sharply divided: labor groups, neighborhood organizations and equity advocates largely favored the restriction and retention of conditional use authority; housing advocates and some developers warned that lack of grandfathering or overly broad restrictions could kill projects and cost housing and jobs. Commissioners debated limiting the ordinance to the Mission and incorporating a grandfathering provision tied to the introduction date. The motion to approve the ordinance as amended — including a grandfathering clause — passed unanimously 6–0.