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Planning staff says Central SoMa rezoning could yield up to $2 billion for public benefits; community warns of trade-offs
Summary
Planning Department staff presented a preliminary financial-feasibility analysis showing Central SoMa upzoning could generate as much as $2 billion in public benefits, while community groups urged prioritizing historic preservation, displacement protections and culturally competent outreach.
Planning Department staff told the San Francisco Planning Commission on June 25 that rezoning Central SoMa could create billions in land value that the city could capture for public benefits, but speakers and commissioners warned the trade-offs will be steep and must be decided publicly.
"Just based on development requirements alone, we can achieve up to $2,000,000,000 in public benefits in Central SoMa," said Steve Wertheim, project manager for the department. Wertheim and Lisa Chen, who led the financial-feasibility analysis, presented modeling of four prototypical projects and two benefit packages — a baseline and a full community-benefits package. They said the full package in many prototypes exceeded development capacity, requiring scaled-back alternatives.
The staff analysis used land-residual pro formas to estimate value created by rezoning and then…
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