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Board partially reinstates AHF permit for Castro clinic; pharmacy portion sent to conditional‑use review
Summary
The Board overruled the zoning administrator in part and reinstated work on AIDS Healthcare Foundation's clinic at 518 Castro Street after finding a miscalculation in square footage; the pharmacy portion remains subject to conditional‑use/formula‑retail review and will require further planning action.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) appealed a Planning/ZA suspension of a building permit for a proposed clinic and pharmacy at 518 Castro Street. AHF said the permit was issued in good faith and that it had already invested in construction; planning staff said the permit was issued in error because the proposed medical office portion amounted to 2,100 square feet, triggering a conditional‑use authorization in the Castro Neighborhood Commercial District, and because the pharmacy raised potential "formula retail" questions.
Dale Glooth, AHF's Bay Area regional director, said the organization relied on the issued permit and had already started construction. "We were issued a building permit on January 13 of this year," Glooth said, noting AHF had invested more than $200,000 in contractor costs and was seeking clarity so clinic work could continue.
Planning staff acknowledged the error: the Department had missed a provision that requires conditional‑use review where a change of use involves space greater than 2,000 square feet in the Castro district and also that the pharmacy could be a formula retail use under Planning Code criteria. Planning displayed examples from other AHF sites and referenced the signage and branding as factors that could trigger formula‑retail review.
The Board deliberated on whether a partial remedy could limit the immediate harm to AHF while preserving Planning’s review authority. A technical discussion turned on how to allocate shared spaces (for example, restrooms that serve both the pharmacy and the clinic) when calculating the clinic's net square footage. The architect for AHF said that if shared restroom area were attributed to the pharmacy, the clinic would fall under the 2,000‑square‑foot threshold.
The Board overruled the zoning administrator in part and reinstated the permit for work limited to the medical office/clinic on the finding that the ZA had inaccurately included shared restroom area in the clinic’s square‑foot calculation. The Board left the pharmacy portion subject to conditional‑use and possible formula‑retail review; Planning will process the pending application and a notice period will apply. The Board encouraged Planning to expedite review given AHF’s financial exposure and patient‑service needs.
The partial reinstatement allows AHF to continue clinic build‑out steps that are separable from the pharmacy construction while Planning and community review proceed for the retail/pharmacy aspects.
