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Board dismisses AIDS Healthcare Foundation pharmacy appeal as moot after interim controls take effect
Summary
The Board dismissed an appeal challenging the release of a suspension on the AHF pharmacy/clinic permit at 518 Castro Street, finding the city’s interim formula-retail controls adopted in July made the appeal moot; the dismissal was unanimous among present commissioners.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals dismissed on Aug. 20 an appeal over the release of a suspension for work at 518 Castro Street, where the project sponsor had proposed a pharmacy and clinic operated by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF).
The central question was whether the zoning administrator erred in issuing a release of suspension related to the pharmacy portion of the permit and whether the Board previously had found the use to be "formula retail." Zoning Administrator Scott Sanchez and Planning Department staff said earlier proceedings had identified elements consistent with formula retail, but AHF counsel Ryan Patterson argued the Board’s prior action contained no formal finding and that the legal standard for the Board’s current review is whether the ZA abused his discretion on the date of his April 18 decision.
AHF’s Bay Area director Dale Bluth told the Board the operator intends to run the front-of-house pharmacy as a distinct "Castro Pharmacy" with different signage, interior appearance and merchandise selection, arguing it would not meet the Planning Code’s formula-retail criteria. Appellants and neighborhood organizations, including the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District (Andrea Aiello) and San Francisco AIDS Foundation (James Laduka), urged the Board to require conditional-use review and neighborhood input given AHF’s size and purchasing power.
Deputy City Attorney Robert Bryant advised the Board that interim zoning controls adopted July 8, 2014, could apply to pending permits and that whatever the Board’s action on the appeal, the Planning Department and DBI would follow the interim controls now in effect. After deliberation, Vice President Arceli Hurtado moved to dismiss the appeal as moot based on the applicability of the interim controls; the motion passed (recorded 3-0). The Board kept filing fees for the appeal, noting the appeal was valid when filed but the change in law limited the Board’s further jurisdiction on the matter.
The dismissal means future review of the pharmacy component will proceed under the interim controls and any required conditional-use authorizations before the Planning Commission and relevant departments.
