Planning Commission advances Eastern Neighborhoods plan with new hybrid PDR, legalization and fee proposals

San Francisco—Planning Department staff and a coalition of neighborhood groups, property owners and small business advocates presented a refined Eastern Neighborhoods rezoning package July 24 that would preserve industrial capacity while creating new, flexible paths for office and small production businesses to remain and grow.

Planning director-level staff described three linked approaches the department says will reduce conflict between retaining job-producing PDR (production, distribution, repair) uses and the reality that many industrial‑zoned buildings already function as offices or mixed creative studios. First, staff proposed a three‑year legalization track that would allow existing office‑like uses that have operated for several years to seek permits and become legal nonconforming uses, subject to building code compliance and reasonable fees. Second, the commission heard a staff-proposed conditional‑use route to allow modest expansion (up to 25%) of nonconforming uses. Third, the proposal would add two new land‑use categories: "small enterprise workspaces" (S E W) for new construction designed as many…