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Committee forwards ordinance to allow accessory dwelling units tied to seismic retrofits
Summary
Supervisors unanimously forwarded an ordinance that would let property owners add accessory dwelling units within existing building envelopes if they complete mandatory or voluntary soft‑story seismic retrofits, providing a financial incentive to speed retrofits and add rent‑controlled units.
The Land Use and Economic Development Committee unanimously forwarded an ordinance authored by Supervisor Scott Wiener that would allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs or "in‑law" units) to be added inside the existing envelope of buildings that participate in the city's mandatory or voluntary soft‑story seismic retrofit program.
Supervisor Wiener said the measure creates an incentive to both add typically moderate‑income housing and to encourage seismic upgrades, noting that new ADUs created under the ordinance would be rent‑controlled when added to existing rent‑controlled buildings. Planning Department staff explained the program targets soft‑story buildings (generally five or more units, built before 1/1/1978) and would provide administrative waivers for yard, open‑space and parking requirements to facilitate conversions within existing footprints.
Supporters including SPUR (Alyssa Keyes) and the Housing Action Coalition (Tim Cohen) praised the dual benefit of promoting seismic safety and adding subsidy‑free, smaller units they described as "affordable by design." Planning staff (Kimiya Haradon) said the ordinance mirrors aspects of prior Castro ADU legislation and includes a monitoring provision to report rents and track affordability. Supervisor Jane Kim asked several implementation questions — about monitoring, differences from previous ADU ordinances and whether units should be prohibited from short‑term rentals — and said she supports exploring extra protections for single‑family situations and short‑term‑rental limits across ADU policies.
Supervisor Wiener moved to adopt the amendments distributed at the hearing and to forward the ordinance to the full Board with a positive recommendation; the committee adopted the amendments without objection and passed the motion unanimously. Planning staff said they are developing equivalency bulletins with the Department of Building Inspection to address code compliance barriers for older buildings.
The ordinance will next appear before the full Board of Supervisors for final action; the committee discussion focused on scope (multiunit vs. single‑family applicability), monitoring, and ensuring ADUs created under the program remain rental housing rather than converting to condominiums or short‑term rentals.
