Planning Commission approves Planning Department budget, presses for stronger tenant protections and records access

The San Francisco Planning Commission voted to recommend the Planning Department's budget to the mayor on a unanimous roll-call vote after a daylong hearing that highlighted concerns about tenant protections, records access and enforcement funding.

The commission approved the department's proposal to transmit a near'steady FY budget built largely on application and permit fees and modestly increased grant activity. Deborah Landis, the department's deputy director of administration, told commissioners the proposed revenue package relies on about $43.5 million in fees and continued work to recover interagency and grant funding. She also outlined two legislative requests being packaged with the budget: (1) change the planning code so enforcement fines can be used for broader enforcement work (rather than only sign enforcement), and (2) add a second, lower-tier transportation review fee for smaller projects.

Commissioners framed their approval around several priorities raised by the public. Commissioner Richard (first speaking at the hearing) urged the commission to press for stronger, programmatic responses to the city's large pipeline of entitled but unbuilt housing, suggesting tools such as a public-bank financing role and infrastructure bond measures. Public commenters and tenant advocates flagged three consistent concerns: inadequate online records and document access (including missing project documents on the public Property Information Map), rising merger and demolition activity that may remove affordable units, and misuse of permits that can lead to displacement.

"Until there is an explicit directive from the planning director that requires all planners to place all or most documents on the planning information map, the public will continue to suffer through a lack of what should be publicly available documents," Kathleen Courtney of the Russian Hill Community Association told the commission.

Staff and commissioners acknowledged those problems and discussed staffing and policy options. The department said it is scanning its files and intends to post records to the PIM; Deputy Director Landis said the department had erred on the side of scanning everything rather than selectively withholding material. Commissioners asked for quarterly process-improvement reports and urged the department to build training and a housing specialist capacity so planners better evaluate displacement risks tied to ADUs, retrofit work and other permits.

Commissioner Andrews moved to approve the budget with explicit latitude for the director to prioritize displacement and ADU-related work and to seek options for targeted additional resources. The motion passed with Commissioners Fong, Coppell, Richards, Moore, Vice President Melgar and President Hillis voting aye.

What happens next: The commission's recommendation will be transmitted to the mayor's office as the department's submission for the upcoming city budget cycle. The commission asked staff to return with follow-up reporting on enforcement-fee language, whether a dedicated tenant-protections position is feasible within the budget and a clearer timeline for the department's citywide records scanning effort.