Planning Commission approves Trader Joe’s at Sutter, Mission Street housing and Kaiser clinic; delays Subway franchise

The San Francisco Planning Commission on May 15 approved a series of development and zoning actions while pausing a contentious Subway franchise request.

Commissioners voted 4–1 to approve conditional-use authorization and a variance for a 12‑story mixed‑use development at 1285 Sutter Street that will include a Trader Joe’s grocery and ground‑floor retail, along with residential units above. Planning staff’s recommendation to approve the project with conditions — including continued design work with staff and streetscape improvements on Sutter — was adopted after the project sponsor and architects described design changes and publicly circulated lease and loading plans. Commissioner Catherine Moore cast the lone “no.”

The commission also approved a Mission Street redevelopment that replaces three small buildings with a four‑story mixed‑use building containing 22–23 units, roughly 5,000 square feet of ground‑floor commercial space and 32 underground parking spaces. Planning staff noted the project sponsor’s commitment to meet the inclusionary housing requirement via an in‑lieu payment, and the sponsor agreed to conditions requiring continued façade design work and a verification that the development attain a high sustainability rating (a target of 100 green points or equivalent LEED NC Gold). Craig Nikitas of planning staff said the project sponsor must provide the zoning administrator “verification that the project has achieved a green point rating of a 100 points or more or a LEED NC Gold Certification.”

On a separate, larger rezoning and discretionary application, the commission recommended approval of a zoning map amendment and conditional-use authorization for a six‑story, 75,000‑square‑foot Kaiser Permanente pediatrics outpatient clinic and medical office building at 1401–1417 Visadero/Gary (adjacent to Kaiser’s Gary campus). Staff reported a CEQA addendum to a 1997 EIR and a replacement housing plan: Kaiser has an owner participation agreement to deliver 21 replacement affordable units at 2139 O’Farrell Street to Tabernacle Community Development Corporation for $100. Commissioners voted unanimously to recommend the rezoning and to approve the findings.

The commission did not grant approval to a Subway franchise proposed at 2128 Mission Street. After a split debate, a motion to approve failed and commissioners ultimately voted to continue the item indefinitely until after pending city legislation on formula retail comes back to the Board of Supervisors. Planning staff had recommended denial, saying the conditional-use finding could not be made because the addition would adversely affect commercial diversity along Mission.

Several items proposed for continuance were formally continued by commission motion earlier in the agenda, and consent‑calendar demolition and replacement approvals at 248 Ocean Avenue were acted on after public comment.

Commissioners heard extensive public testimony on a separate staff presentation of the Eastern Neighborhoods Program and Western SoMa strategic analyses, where staff laid out proposed new districts (PDR, urban mixed use, special‑use overlays) and a suite of controls meant to balance production/distribution/repair (PDR) jobs, office growth and housing near transit. The public comment period included dozens of speakers representing neighborhood groups, business associations and regional planners who urged both stronger protections for industrial jobs and more flexibility to permit mixed‑use, walkable streets.

Next steps: staff will return with additional materials and refined draft code language during the remaining Eastern Neighborhoods hearings in late May and June; items continued by the commission will be re‑noticed on future agendas.