Supervisors advance North Beach legacy-business ordinance, defer formula-retail health-services debate

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Land Use & Transportation Committee on Sept. 11 moved an ordinance aimed at protecting North Beach’s ground‑floor retail and legacy businesses to the full Board while setting aside proposed citywide changes to formula‑retail rules governing health‑service uses.

Sponsor Supervisor Aaron Peskin said the package seeks to keep ground‑floor spaces active, protect historic resources and legacy businesses, limit lot sizes to reduce speculative redevelopment, and reduce parking requirements for new development. He told colleagues the Planning Commission and Historic Preservation Commission had reviewed the legislation and recommended it, but said recent concerns raised by the Department of Public Health required more work on the proposed expansion of “formula retail” to include certain health‑service uses.

"My simple idea was today to delete under that formula retail provision the words ‘health services,’" Peskin said, and proposed duplicating the file so the ordinance minus the formula‑retail changes could go forward while the original file stayed in committee for further discussion with the Department of Public Health and community stakeholders.

Colleen Chawla, deputy director for the Department of Public Health, told the committee she was "receptive to hearing our concerns" about unintended consequences of extending formula‑retail restrictions to health providers and asked that the city’s health‑services master plan guide any changes that could affect safety‑net partners.

Business and neighborhood groups were split. Didi Workman of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce thanked the sponsor for proposing to remove health services but asked the committee to continue the entire item because citywide changes to formula‑retail controls had surprised some members of the business community. By contrast, Stan Hayes of the Telegraph Hill Dwellers urged adoption, saying the amendments would preserve North Beach’s pedestrian‑activated retail and historic character.

Housing advocates warned the expanded historic‑building definition and added conditional‑use review could discourage housing development. Laura Clark of GMB Action said, "If we make basically all of D3 landmark and add historical review to everything basically over 40 feet ... we're basically saying that we're not gonna do any HOME SF projects in District 3 for the foreseeable future." Corey Smith of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition pressed for an analysis of how the ordinance would affect housing production.

Planning staff said both the Planning Commission and Historic Preservation Commission recommended the ordinance; the HPC suggested narrower historic‑review procedures for North Beach and other technical adjustments.

The committee took Supervisor Peskin’s procedural proposal: to duplicate the file, move forward the version that deletes section 303.1 (the formula‑retail changes) to the full board with a recommendation, and keep the original file in committee to continue the discussion on formula retail and the definition of health services in coordination with the Department of Public Health. The city attorney’s office indicated the approach was legally permissible and the committee took the motion without objection.

The full Board will receive the ordinance as amended at its September 19 meeting; the original version that would clarify formula‑retail and health‑service definitions will remain in committee for further study.