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Planning Commission initiates Eastern Neighborhoods program hearings, unveils three-volume package
Summary
The Commission voted to initiate amendments to the general plan, planning code and zoning map for the Eastern Neighborhoods; staff presented a 3-volume initiation packet and proposed a five-meeting workshop schedule beginning May 15 to resolve issues including PDR protection, housing, heights, and public-benefit funding.
The Planning Commission on April 17 voted to initiate formal hearings on the Eastern Neighborhoods Program, directing staff to run required public notice and begin a series of workshops and hearings on a timetable that would begin in mid-May and run through June. The initiation opens a multi-week review of proposed general-plan, planning-code and zoning-map changes covering East SoMa, the Mission, Showplace Square/Potrero Hill and the Central Waterfront.
Planning staff presented a three‑volume initiation package—containing area plans, draft code and map amendments, interim historic‑preservation procedures and an implementation program with public‑benefit funding options—and summarized key changes since the December 2007 drafts: (1) retaining SLI (industrial) zoning in parts of the Fourth/Third Street corridor for targeted re-evaluation, (2) select modest height increases (generally one to two stories) where public benefits will be concentrated, (3) more flexible floor‑by‑floor office/PDR controls allowing owners to designate which floors may house office uses, and (4) a new "innovative industry" special-use overlay designed to encourage knowledge- and tech‑oriented employers near Mission Bay.
Ken Rich, Eastern Neighborhoods manager, framed the update as an effort to "balance" housing and jobs: the plan encourages new housing where appropriate while protecting job‑generating uses in priority industrial areas and creating an implementation strategy to fund parks, transit and neighborhood infrastructure. Public comment during the initiation hearing was extensive: neighborhood groups, the housing advocacy coalition, business owners and preservation advocates raised mapping accuracy concerns (noting that live‑work and existing housing were under‑mapped in some areas), asked for clearer nonconforming‑use rules, pressed for close attention to displacement risks and affordability, and requested more detailed EIR analysis.
Staff clarified that the SLI area in eastern SoMa would be re‑examined separately but remains part of the overall package for initiation, and explained the difference between legal nonconforming uses (which would remain permitted) and illegal violations. Commissioners approved initiation and the staff‑proposed five‑meeting schedule (land use overview and jobs May 15; housing May 22; complete neighborhoods June 5; implementation/zoning June 12; pipeline and certification June 19). Staff will publish the 21‑day newspaper notice and 10‑day mailed notice and bring materials to the May 15 workshop.
Why it matters: the Eastern Neighborhoods program is a major rewrite of land‑use and zoning rules for a large, economically diverse portion of San Francisco; its outcomes will affect where housing and jobs are allowed and how the city captures public benefits from future development.
