Planning Commission schedules hearing on Haight Ashbury Free Clinic master plan after neighborhood concern

The San Francisco Planning Commission voted unanimously on Sept. 21 to schedule a public hearing on the Haight Ashbury Free Clinicabbreviated institutional master plan after neighbors raised concerns about notice and materials linked to the clinic's outreach.

Planning staff and representatives for the clinic told the commission the master plan is intended as a planning tool and does not itself approve operations. Brett Horsfield, representing the clinic, said the plan "moves a large amount of the substance abuse program away from the Haight" while keeping a presence at 558 Haight Street and that the consolidation is intended to improve efficiency and ADA accessibility.

Neighbors pressed for more notice and safeguards. Dorothy Murray, a long-time Haight resident, said she was never alerted when programs began in her neighborhood and that the clinic had been slow to resolve past problems. "The health department has never informed any neighbors in my neighborhood when they put a new program," she said. Mary Anne Hessian and other neighbors described concerns about a youth outreach handbook that they said included unsafe instructions; Ted Lowenberg said the outreach materials included step-by-step injecting instructions in a 2003 handout that alarmed residents.

Health-department staff told the commission that the department is required under Proposition I to hold its own separate public notice and hearing process for changes that trigger health-department review and that the move to Mission and Division will be subject to those Prop I notice requirements, including 300-foot mail notice and on-site posting. Rudy Aguilar, a health-department contract manager, told the commission the department will host a formal public hearing with minutes and stenography and will notify residents within 300 feet of any proposed residential program change.

Commissioners debated whether the Planning Commission should additionally hold a hearing. After hearing residents and the clinics representatives, Vice President Lee moved to place the master plan on the commissions calendar for a hearing and to allow staff to continue processing non-conditional-use permits. The motion passed unanimously.

Next steps: staff will calendar the Planning Commission hearing with public notice and continue processing applications that do not require conditional-use hearings. The Health Department also must provide Proposition I notices and a separate public hearing prior to certain program moves.