Committee backs zoning change to allow nighttime entertainment on Folsom Street

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Land Use & Transportation Committee voted unanimously Jan. 30 to send a planning-code amendment to the full Board that would allow nighttime entertainment as a principally permitted use on properties fronting Folsom Street between Seventh and Division Streets.

Supervisor Mirna Melgar, chair of the committee, moved to approve the ordinance with a positive recommendation and the motion passed 3-0, with Board President Aaron Peskin and Vice Chair Dean Preston joining Melgar in the affirmative. The item is scheduled to appear on the Board of Supervisors agenda on Feb. 7.

The ordinance, as introduced to the committee, would amend the planning code to remove certain restrictions on nighttime entertainment uses in the Folsom Street neighborhood commercial Transit District, the Regional Commercial District, and the Western SoMa Mixed Use General District. Committee members said the item had been continued previously because of substantive amendments and staff from Supervisor Dorsey’s office was present to answer questions about those changes.

At the meeting, Bob Goldfarb, executive director of the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District, urged the committee to approve the change. “The nightlife and entertainment venues are really the lifeblood of our district,” Goldfarb said, adding that current zoning “does not allow for any new nightlife and entertainment venues, essentially in most of SoMa.” He said the amendment would let venues “flourish and open in the neighborhood.”

No callers joined the remote public comment queue on the item. Following public comment, the chair made the motion to forward the ordinance to the full Board with a positive recommendation, and the committee voted to approve it.

Next steps: the ordinance will be considered by the full Board of Supervisors at its Feb. 7 meeting.