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San Francisco residents press commission to treat banks as "formula retail"; Planning staff points to code ambiguity
Summary
Neighbors and neighborhood groups urged the Planning Commission to apply the city's formula-retail rules to banks so national branches would require conditional-use review, while business representatives and the Planning Department said the code and Board of Appeals historically excluded "financial service" from the list of formula-retail uses.
Dozens of neighborhood residents and merchant groups told the San Francisco Planning Commission on July 28 that banks should be treated as formula retail and therefore require conditional-use (CU) review under the city's Proposition G and planning code. Speakers from Hayes Valley, Haight-Ashbury and other neighborhoods argued that national bank branches displace small businesses and erode street-level character.
"We urge you to put banks within the ban on chain stores so that we will be able to maintain the integrity of our neighborhood," said Russell Pritchard of the Hayes Valley Merchant Association. Tess Welborn of Haight-Ashbury told commissioners, "Please, do make sure that banks are included in this." Several speakers also urged the department to apply existing zoning tables to show that "retail sales and service" is a catch-all that already includes financial services.
Representatives of banks and the industry pushed back. Greg Endom, representing Chase, said city appeals hearings previously found that financial institutions are not formula retail and defended the company's outreach and site-selection work, noting that "there are no mom and pop banks." He and other industry representatives said past Board of Appeals decisions and the zoning administrator's practice have limited the list of uses treated as formula retail.
Planning Department staff explained that the definition of formula retail adopted in 2004 references specific use categories as defined in the planning code and does not explicitly list "financial service"; the department has historically applied the list narrowly. Staff told commissioners that the zoning administrator has authority for code interpretation and that the Board of Appeals has previously ruled financial services are not formula retail.
Commissioners agreed there is broad public interest in the question and discussed next steps. Several commissioners urged a legislative fix or clearer code realignment to reconcile neighborhood commercial controls, mixed-use district rules and Prop G language. The commission directed staff to continue work with the Board of Supervisors' offices, the city attorney and neighborhood stakeholders to develop options for clarification.
The commission did not take a formal vote on a code change at the meeting; commissioners described pursuing either an ordinance to clarify that financial services are formula retail or an internal policy for consistent interpretation across zoning articles.
