Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Fulton Trader Joes topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee advances narrow exemption to bring Trader Joe’s to 555 Fulton, with conditions and community review
Summary
Supervisor Vallie Brown’s ordinance to allow a formula‑retail grocery (Trader Joe’s) at 555 Fulton was amended to retain conditional use review and enforcement mechanisms and forwarded to the full Board. Planning staff and the Planning Commission recommended changes; Trader Joe’s representative said the company can accept the ordinance as originally drafted.
The Land Use and Transportation Committee on Oct. 21 advanced an ordinance introduced by Supervisor Vallie Brown to allow a formula‑retail grocery at 555 Fulton Street (at Laguna) in the Fulton Street Grocery Special Use District, while explicitly preserving conditional use authorization and enforcement.
Supervisor Vallie Brown said the site has been pursued for years and that Trader Joe’s has signed a lease to occupy the space pending entitlements. “There’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel… We’ve had an interested tenant, Trader Joe’s. They have signed a lease,” she said. Brown submitted more than 32 letters of community support for bringing a full‑service grocery to the Western Addition and Hayes Valley neighborhoods.
Veronica Flores of the Planning Department told the committee the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval with modifications, including removing a periodic reporting requirement and removing a proposed sunset clause. The Commission asked that future grocery applicants provide affordability information at the time of conditional use review rather than through periodic reporting.
Chair Aaron Peskin and other members questioned a finding in the draft ordinance that suggested non‑formula grocery stores may be less affordable—an assertion Peskin said was not supported by evidence. Peskin moved several clerical changes and an amendment to keep a five‑year check‑in provision to allow the community to assess compliance with affordability conditions. When asked on the record whether Trader Joe’s could accept the ordinance as originally drafted, Trader Joe’s representative Daryl Hollis replied simply, “Yes.”
The committee accepted Supervisor Brown’s amendments, struck language the chair identified as unsupported by evidence, and, without objection, forwarded the ordinance as amended to the full Board for final action.
Next steps: the full Board will consider the SUD amendment and any conditions for a conditional use authorization; any grant of conditional use authorization would remain subject to the Planning Code findings and to enforcement if conditions are not met.
