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Planning Commission shifts key hearings as staff, sponsors and residents seek time to resolve big projects
Summary
The commission moved several high-profile items — including the 3400 Cesar Chavez development and San Francisco General Hospital informational hearing — to dates in April and May after public pleas, sponsor scheduling conflicts and planners’ concerns about heavy calendars and voluminous materials.
The San Francisco Planning Commission on Thursday reconfigured its calendar for several major matters after residents, project sponsors and staff argued more time was needed to address complex issues.
Commissioners voted to continue the conditional use requests and environmental items for 3400 Cesar Chavez and related agenda items to April 19 and scheduled an informational presentation on San Francisco General Hospital for May 10. The motion to continue a set of cases was carried in roll call votes after debate over public outreach, volume of materials and project sponsor availability.
Residents and neighborhood groups who spoke during the public comment period said they supported continuances so the planning department could address concerns about affordable housing, traffic impacts and the adequacy of the department’s environmental analysis. “I had been attending the developer community meetings in which the community have raised the concerns in favor of affordable housing and community serving facilities,” said a resident who identified herself as living next to the Cesar Chavez site and asked the commission to allow community review.
Project sponsors and counsel pressed for earlier hearing dates. A representative for 7 Hills Properties said the sponsor was unavailable on one proposed date and asked for April 19 instead. “We were a bit taken by surprise… We would ask that instead you continue this to April 19,” the sponsor’s attorney said.
Ron Alameda, project manager at the Department of Public Works for the SF General replacement, urged urgency for the hospital timeline, citing a state mandate to have an operational replacement hospital by Jan. 1, 2013. “We have less than 6 years to do what’s normally done in 10 years,” Alameda said, asking the commission to accommodate scheduling that keeps the project on track.
Commissioners and staff said the city calendar is heavily occupied — Market Octavia materials alone accounted for hundreds of pages — and that moving some items would allow fairer review for both commissioners and the public. The commission rejected some proposed earlier dates after weighing public availability and other time‑certain meetings. The final calendar placements were adopted in a series of motions and roll-call votes.
The commission said items continued are expected to return on the dates stated in the calendar unless sponsors request otherwise.
