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Committee advances Chinatown zoning-code reorganization with narrow amendment to protect legacy uses
Summary
The committee forwarded Part 3 of a planning-code reorganization for Chinatown that standardizes zoning tables, applies use definitions, and makes entertainment uses conditional while closing a loophole that could allow nonconforming projects to exceed a 5,000 sq ft maximum except for institutional or legacy business uses.
The committee advanced an ordinance to revise Chinatown mixed-use zoning tables to align use definitions and standardize the zoning control table format as part of a broader code reorganization project.
"The item before you is part 3 of the code reorganization project," Aaron Starr, manager of legislative affairs, told the committee. He said the phase focuses on Chinatown and that the Planning Commission recommended approval. Starr described two substantive changes: removing a requirement that entertainment uses be tied to an existing restaurant by making entertainment conditional, and closing a loophole that could permit projects to exceed the 5,000-square-foot maximum after a change of use unless the proposed use is institutional or a legacy business.
Roy Chan of the Chinatown Community Development Center thanked staff and said the changes respond to business-owner feedback and help preserve neighborhood character. Public comment also included an emotional exchange in which an unrelated commenter accused supervisors of prioritizing higher-income residents and criticized housing and homelessness policy during the Chinatown item; the committee proceeded after additional community testimony supported the ordinance.
Supervisor Peskin said he would accept a minor amendment (A4) discussed by the commission; the committee took the amendment without objection and forwarded the item as amended to the full board with recommendation.
