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Supervisor Preston Wins Phased Approach for Market‑Octavia 'Hub' Plan; Committee Advances Three Key Sites
Summary
After lengthy testimony from labor, community groups and developers, the committee accepted Supervisor Dean Preston’s amendments to phase the Market & Octavia 'Hub' area plan: three vetted projects (30 Van Ness, 10 S. Van Ness, 98 Franklin) advance now; remaining parcels are paused pending a community‑led racial and social equity analysis and further amendments were forwarded to the Board.
The Land Use committee took up a major package of four related items (general plan and zoning amendments, a Housing Sustainability District overlay, and related code changes) to implement the Market & Octavia area plan, commonly called the Hub.
Planning staff described the package as a substantial rezoning across roughly 84 acres intended to add housing capacity (about a 20% increase compared with current entitlements), provide up to $682 million for affordable housing and nearly $1 billion in total public benefits for parks, transit and community facilities, and apply a new racial and social equity assessment tool.
Supervisor Dean Preston moved a set of amendments developed with community groups to phase the legislative package. The key element: advance immediately only three development sites that had completed robust community engagement and offered substantial public benefits (30 Van Ness, 10 South Van Ness and 98 Franklin) while pausing action on the remainder of the parcels until a scoped racial and social equity analysis—led by community stakeholders—could be completed (Preston suggested a six‑month timeline to scope and begin the study). The amendment also included clarifications about affordable housing fee methodology and increased reporting frequency on community facilities funds.
Public testimony was extensive and split. Labor unions and construction trades urged the committee not to delay the entire package because union standards were written into the Hub tools and early projects would create jobs; neighborhood and community coalitions supported Preston’s phased approach, saying it preserves community voice and that many parcels have not undergone sufficient engagement. Developers of the three key sites and the French American International School described on‑site affordable units, fee commitments and educational facility plans and urged movement on those projects.
Procedurally, the committee duplicated several files, amended the originals to reflect the phased approvals, forwarded the amended originals to the full Board with a committee recommendation, and continued the duplicate files to the call of the chair to allow the equity work and follow‑up; roll calls recorded the committee's procedural approvals.
Next steps: The three identified projects advance toward Board consideration with the committee’s recommendation; planning staff and community groups will proceed with the scoped racial and social equity work for the remainder of the Hub parcels before the duplicates return to committee.
