Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation Fee topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee approves hospital fee changes to San Francisco’s Transportation Sustainability Fee and forwards ordinance to full Board
Summary
The Land Use and Transportation Committee voted unanimously to forward amendments to the planning code establishing a citywide Transportation Sustainability Fee (TSF) that includes an $18.74 fee per net new hospital bed and an $11 fee on medical-service buildings over 12,000 sq ft; the change narrows prior hospital exemptions and clarifies calculation rules.
The San Francisco Land Use and Transportation Committee unanimously approved amendments to the city’s planning code on Thursday to apply a new Transportation Sustainability Fee (TSF) to certain hospital and medical-service developments and forwarded the ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation.
Chair Supervisor Malia Cohen, who led negotiations with the hospital council and multiple city departments, said the compromise replaces an earlier, broader exemption for hospitals. "The first is an $18.74 fee on net new hospital beds, effective immediately," Cohen read into the record, and described a separate "$11 fee on medical services on medical services buildings over the 12,000 square foot mark." The amendments also clarify that TSF will be calculated on net new gross square feet and add provisions to treat future changes of use so that the hospital exemption benefits hospital uses rather than future property owners who change uses.
Why it matters: The ordinance is intended to raise additional revenue for public transportation and to align fees with the transportation impacts of new medical facilities. Cohen said the changes were negotiated with MTA, Planning, the Department of Public Health and the city attorney’s office and described most of the edits as cleanup and technical clarifications to the conceptual agreement reached with the hospital council.
Support and reaction: David Serrano Sewell of the hospital council told the committee the council views the outcome as "an equitable solution" that the community "can live with." Dede Workman of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce said the chamber "is supportive and is supporting the TSF," while guest Supervisor Avalos estimated—using a legislative aide’s figure—that the grandfathering and amendments could enable about $2,100,000 to be accessed for transit (he characterized that number as an estimate and said he was not certain it was the final amount).
What the ordinance does not do: The amendments do not change exemptions for affordable housing or homeless shelters beyond clarifying and preserving those exemptions as described in the ordinance language; the committee’s changes were described as cleanup and non‑substantive in several places. Planning staff did not provide a formal presentation on Item 1; staff were present for questions.
Next steps: The committee voted without objection to forward the ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors for final action; the clerk noted items acted upon today will appear on the Board agenda for December 1 unless otherwise stated.
