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Planning Commission approves 100% affordable 2070 Folsom project after deliberations on flooding and stormwater
Summary
After public comment raising flooding and sewer-overflow concerns, the Commission voted unanimously to not take discretionary review and to approve a proposed 127-unit, 100% affordable project at 2070 Folsom, with staff conditions addressing stormwater controls and SFPUC coordination.
The Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve a proposed 127-unit mixed-use project at 2060/2070 Folsom Street designed as 100% affordable housing, after a discretionary-review hearing with both opposition and supporters weighing in.
Margaret Miyazaki, the project's discretionary-review requester, opposed the permit on safety grounds, saying the site is in a known localized flooding and sewage-overflow area and urging more study of soils, stormwater and seismic risk. Paul McCarthy and other residents described episodic, forceful localized flooding in the block between 14th and 18th streets and worried about placing new housing in that pocket.
Project sponsors and supporters, including Mission Economic Development Agency (Elaine Yee) and Chinatown Community Development Center, presented outreach history, design, and program commitments: 127 rental units (including 20 units set aside for transition-age youth), ground-floor nonprofit and childcare uses, no off-street auto parking, and stormwater strategies that will capture roughly 30% of direct stormwater runoff in proposed landscaping and design features. Staff noted the project is reviewed under planning code section 3.15 as an affordable housing project authorization and cited relevant code and environmental findings, including staff's determination that no additional environmental review beyond the Eastern Neighborhoods EIR was required (transcript cites CEQA guidance).
Commissioners pressed staff and sponsors on stormwater controls, SFPUC infrastructure upgrades, neighborhood notification, and public-safety issues. Planning staff and the Port/City representatives said the project's proposed stormwater control plan must be approved by SFPUC prior to building permit issuance and noted the citywide investment program (Seawall and other upgrades) addresses broader infrastructure needs.
Outcome: Commissioner Moore moved to approve the project ("not take DR"), the motion was seconded, and the Commission approved the discretionary-review item unanimously. Staff will proceed with permit processing subject to required SFPUC stormwater control approvals and the conditions laid out in the staff recommendation.
What to watch: SFPUC approval of the stormwater control plan and any subsequent coordination with the sea-level rise and sewer-infrastructure programs; the project team's follow-through on on-site stormwater capture and community-serving ground-floor uses.
