Committee backs conditional-use review for Ocean Avenue ground-floor health services

The Land Use Committee voted to send a positive recommendation to the full Board on an ordinance that would require conditional-use approval for ground-floor health-service uses in the Ocean Avenue Neighborhood Commercial Transit District (NCTD).

Jen Lo of Supervisor Yee’s office said the Ocean Avenue Association asked the sponsor to address a growing concentration of medical uses occupying ground-floor retail space. "The association came to us, with this idea because we were getting concerned that medical uses were taking up a lot of the retail spaces on the Ground Floor along Ocean Avenue," Lo said.

Audrey Beckhus of the Planning Department told the committee the Planning Commission unanimously approved the item on July 26 and gave three reasons for the conditional-use approach: that many health-service uses do not foster the same street-level activity as traditional retail and eating establishments; that conditional-use review preserves a path for appropriate health services while assessing compatibility; and that many of the affected businesses would remain eligible for the department’s Community Business Priority Processing (CB3P), which requires the Planning Commission to hear a complete CB3P conditional-use application within 90 days.

Committee members asked whether urgent-care centers are covered by the medical-services definition; Beckhus said she would follow up with a definition. Supervisor Safai Yi moved to send a positive recommendation; the motion passed without objection.

The item now goes to the full Board for final action.