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Planning staff outlines Eastern Neighborhoods plan, proposing PDR protections and affordable‑housing tools
Summary
Planning Department and Mayor’s housing team presented a programmatic plan for San Francisco’s Eastern Neighborhoods, proposing zones to preserve about 1,000 acres of PDR land, options to rezone roughly 427 acres to mixed use, and new tools — including land‑donation models and ‘affordable‑housing priority zones’ — to boost deeply affordable units. Draft EIR planned for May; adoption targeted for December.
Planning Department staff presented their first comprehensive update Thursday on the Eastern Neighborhoods program, laying out how the city plans to balance protecting industrial PDR (production, distribution, repair) uses and opening land for new housing and neighborhood improvements.
Ken Rich, senior planning staff, told the Planning Commission the effort will use a two‑track framework — “people and neighborhoods” and “economy and jobs” — to guide zoning and public‑benefits choices and to prioritize transit, open space and workforce connections. He said staff’s middle option would preserve about 1,000 acres for PDR uses while converting roughly 427 acres for mixed‑use housing and related development, and that the proposal could accommodate about 7,400 new residential units outside the separately‑handled Bayview plan.
Doug Shoemaker and Matt Franklin of the Mayor’s Office of Housing described potential tools for funding deep affordability. They proposed a set of instruments including stronger inclusionary requirements where financially feasible, designated affordable‑housing priority zones, and a land‑dedication approach in which owners voluntarily dedicate part of a large site to the city or a housing sponsor in exchange for the right to develop the remainder. Shoemaker said the mayor’s office estimates its current funding patterns could finance roughly 600–1,200 affordable units under baseline assumptions, and that land dedication on larger sites could substantially increase that number; he urged stakeholders to review staff financial models in a mid‑May technical meeting.
Jasper Rubin (Planning) and Jesse Blount (Economic & Workforce Development) framed the proposal within the city’s industrial‑land accounting and workforce goals: staff reported the city has lost acreage from its historic base and that the proposal aims to retain core PDR capacity while allowing housing in targeted locations. Jesse Blount and Ted Egan (Controller’s office/consultant) emphasized that PDR and knowledge‑sector jobs can be complementary and that workforce development linkages will be needed to connect existing residents to new job opportunities.
Multiple community speakers urged caution. Neighbors and advocates raised concerns about displacement, parking and traffic, open‑space loss, seismic/liquefaction risk in former marsh areas, and the timing of planned historic‑resource surveys; some property owners and developers asked staff to remove or narrow an “affordable‑only” overlay on certain East SoMa parcels so pipeline market‑rate projects can proceed.
Staff outlined a schedule: publish the draft EIR in May, hold hearings over the summer (with focus hearings on transportation and public benefits), release final draft plans and public‑benefits packages in September, and seek commission action by December. Staff said follow‑up briefings will address transportation, parks, schools, and detailed zoning language.
The commission largely welcomed the cross‑agency presentation but asked staff for more analysis of cumulative infrastructure impacts (transportation, utilities, emergency response), clearer mapping and appendices for the public, and detailed plans for historic‑resource surveys and neighborhood commercial strategies. The commission set a stakeholder technical meeting on the public‑benefits financial work for mid‑May.
