Board committee advances SoMa Community Stabilization Fund strategic plan after months of public input

The Budget and Finance Committee advanced the South of Market (SoMa) Community Stabilization Fund 2008 strategic plan to the full Board of Supervisors with a recommendation on a voice vote after a public presentation and several hours of public comment.

Claudine Del Rosario, project manager at the Mayor's Office of Community Development, told supervisors the advisory committee and MOCD spent 18 months drafting the plan and held multiple public meetings and three town halls to collect community input. "The 4 main goal areas of the plan are: to strengthen community cohesion; to develop economic and workforce development; to increase access to affordable housing; and to improve the infrastructure and physical environment of the community," she said.

The plan is funded by development impact fees established by Ordinance No. 217‑05 (adopted August 2005). Del Rosario said the fund collects one fee at the site permit stage and a second at final certificate of occupancy; staff expect a substantial deposit to the fund in late summer or early fall, at which point MOCD and the advisory committee will return with specific spending recommendations. "By late summer, early fall, we are expecting to receive a chunk of money that will result in the committee and MOCD coming back before you with their recommendations for your approval," she said.

Jassy Collins, chair of the SoMa Community Stabilization Fund Community Advisory Committee, described the committee's community engagement and said that committee members intend to use resident input to shape the forthcoming RFP and RFQ processes. "We had an engaged community…we had 3 town hall meetings," Collins said, adding the committee will try to translate community ideals into bidding priorities.

Members of the public voiced broad support for the plan. Jim Meeko of South of Market urged supervisors to "really support this enthusiastically," citing decades of displacement in the neighborhood. Ursula McGuire of the Senior Action Network and Michelle Livas, a South of Market resident and service provider, also praised the committee's outreach and the plan's goals.

Supervisor Chris Daley thanked MOCD staff, the advisory committee and community stakeholders for 18 months of work and moved to send the item to the full board with a recommendation; the motion carried without objection. Daley said the RFP is expected to be released after the city's budget process and that appropriation authority to spend fund proceeds will come to the Board after funds are received and tied to certificate of occupancy timing.

The committee did not set specific allocations at this meeting; MOCD and the advisory committee will return with budget and program recommendations following receipt of the initial fee amounts and completion of the RFP process.