Planning staff brief commissioners on SB 79 and wide-ranging 2025 housing laws

San Francisco planning staff on Dec. 4 briefed the Planning Commission on a wave of 2025 state laws and focused on Senate Bill 79, which takes effect July 1, 2026, and establishes minimum housing densities and height limits around qualifying transit stops.

"Senate Bill 79, the Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, goes into effect on 07/01/2026," Sarah Richardson, planning staff, told commissioners. She described a tiered approach around transit stations with heights ranging roughly from five to nine stories and densities of about 80 to 160 units per acre, and explained limited near‑term parcel exemptions that expire in 2032.

The department also summarized enforcement and permitting bills that change how jurisdictions handle housing approvals and reviews. Lisa Gluckstein, legislative staff, highlighted measures that strengthen enforcement (allowing developers to recover fees when local actions violate housing law) and accelerate judicial timelines for permit challenges. Staff noted AB130 and SB131’s CEQA changes that create new statutory exemptions and a near‑miss streamlining path for certain infill housing, and AB507’s ministerial pathway for adaptive reuse projects beginning July 2026.

Commissioners asked for clearer parcel maps and for staff to reconcile the department’s maps with the final station areas MTC/ABAG will publish. Joshua, planning staff, said the department’s maps use a single-radius simplification while the bill requires radii measured from each pedestrian access point, which MTC will later publish. "We used published geographies from MTC as a foundation, but the SB 79 mapping rules create nuance when station access points multiply radii," he said.

Staff urged the commission and the Board of Supervisors to prepare a local implementation ordinance and, if the city prefers, an alternative plan that demonstrates equal or greater capacity than SB 79 within the SB 79 geographies. That alternative must allow at least 50% of SB 79 density on all parcels in the area and provide equal or greater total net capacity; HCD will review any local ordinance for up to 120 days after adoption.

Commissioners raised equity and infrastructure questions. Commissioner Williams said the bills risk "upzoning with no affordable housing money attached" and asked how infrastructure and neighborhood impacts will be analyzed. Staff responded that the family zoning plan already generates significant capacity and, once adopted, positions San Francisco to meet SB 79’s tests with minimal local rezoning beyond a limited set of parcels staff identified for targeted tweaks.

Planning staff recommended starting local implementation in early 2026 to allow time for public engagement, planning‑code amendments, and HCD review before July 1. The briefing concluded with staff committing to parcel‑level analyses and clearer maps for commissioners and the public.