Planning Commission urges supervisors to restrict payday lenders, backs ‘Bank on San Francisco’ alternatives

The San Francisco Planning Commission unanimously voted Sept. 20 to advise the Board of Supervisors to adopt a proposed ordinance defining and limiting “fringe financial services,” a category the measure construes to include many payday lenders and check‑cashing operations. Planning Department staff said the ordinance would add a clear definition to the planning code, prohibit new fringe financial services within a quarter‑mile of an existing operation in many commercial districts, and create restricted‑use map areas where new FFS could not locate.

Planning Department senior staff Anne Marie Rogers introduced the measure, saying it implements recommendations from a 2005 staff report and is intended to avoid repeated discretionary conditional‑use hearings by making the use definition and geographic controls objective and transparent. “This legislation…