Planning staff unveils formalized review process and other internal reforms

The San Francisco Planning Department laid out details of an internal Action Plan and a revised development-review system during the commission's Jan. 13 meeting, saying the package is intended to provide earlier notice to neighborhoods and more consistent, enforceable conditions of approval.

Director Ram and senior staff said the Action Plan, work that began more than two years ago, produced standardized conditions of approval, a consultant pool for environmental work, updated forms and an effort to expand in-house technical capacity. Kelly Amder, who presented the status update for staff, said the department rewrote more than 300 commonly used conditions to make them clearer, enforceable and to identify the agency responsible for compliance.

The most notable operational change is the introduction of a mandatory Preliminary Project Assessment, or PPA, for larger projects. Corey Teague and Sarah Jones explained that projects meeting a standard threshold (generally six or more dwelling units or 10,000 square feet of nonresidential space) will be required to file a PPA before any environmental or entitlement applications will be accepted. The PPA is intended to be fee neutral: the PPA fee will be credited toward later environmental review fees. Staff committed to producing a written PPA letter within 60 days; the letter would be posted on the department website as a public roadmap outlining the entitlements, studies and likely permits a sponsor will need.

Staff described three distinct phases under the new process: PPA (early formal review and roadmap), a project-description stage to coordinate environmental and neighborhood planning input, and an entitlement stage where environmental review documents are published and projects are taken to commissions. Teague said a single case coordinator will be assigned so the public and sponsors will have a consistent point of contact as projects move through the phased review.

Public commenters and several commissioners urged improvements to outreach and website navigation and asked for clear fact sheets and multilingual assistance for technical materials. Ms. Amder told the commission the department has contracted with a translation service for counter assistance and has web redesign funds in place. Neighbors and advocates also asked that staff retain institutional memory and improve the clarity of submittal requirements so applicants submit complete, consistent materials.

Director Ram said the PPA fee authorization is in the current budget and that staff would roll out the formal PPA process on Feb. 1. He told commissioners the department expects more predictable, earlier notice for the public while sponsors will receive an earlier, clearer read on project requirements.

The department asked the commission to accept the presentation as an informational update; commissioners praised the effort and asked staff to return with a short report after the initial months of PPA operations to identify further tweaks.