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Commissioners weigh grocery-store allowances and limits on nonconforming retail in PDR
Summary
Staff proposed a conditional-use path to enable grocery-store expansion in PDR districts and sought direction on whether and how to allow expansions or portability of large nonconforming retail and personal-service uses (gyms); public commenters and commissioners debated size caps, case-by-case CUs and limited portability.
Planning staff proposed a targeted approach to let neighborhood grocery stores expand in PDR districts while preserving the policy intent to protect production, distribution and repair (PDR) space. Steve Wertheim (planning staff) described the staff recommendation: treat grocery stores as eligible for expansion via a special exception — a conditional-use permit (CU) — so existing grocers could expand beyond PDR retail limits in PDR-1G and PDR-1D where the default caps had been 2,500 or 5,000 square feet for ground-floor retail.
Wertheim summarized the rationale: "grocery stores really aren't like other kinds of retail" and the commission has heard requests from longstanding neighborhood grocers (he specifically referenced Rainbow Grocery) to allow growth while reviewing traffic and other site-level impacts through the CU process. Another staff speaker noted that a CU would allow case-by-case review of parking and traffic impacts associated with larger grocery operations.
The commission and the public then debated related questions about legal nonconforming retail expansion and portability of large personal-service uses (notably gyms). Staff offered several options: permit any expansion via CU, cap expansions by a square-foot limit (e.g., 5,000 sq ft), limit expansions by percentage (25%, 50%), or give the commission discretion to set limits on a case-by-case basis. On portability — whether a large nonconforming business could relocate within PDR if it lost a lease — staff warned against broad portability citywide but indicated limited geographic portability (within a defined PDR subdistrict) could be considered.
Public commenters representing business owners and neighborhood groups urged practical solutions. Greg Miller (Pillsbury) suggested fast-tracking grocery CUs to avoid long delays, saying grocery stores are essential to neighborhoods and have been leaving the city. Several community speakers asked that gyms and other large neighborhood-serving uses be preserved through narrowly tailored exceptions so that neighborhood-serving services are not lost if leases terminate.
No formal action was taken; commissioners requested staff to bring specific draft code language and several alternative thresholds (size caps, percentage expansions, or FAR options for very large parcels such as the American Industrial Center) back to a future hearing so the commission can weigh benefits and risks before adopting any change.
