After 16 public hearings over a five year period lasting through the tenure of three mayors, the largest San Francisco rezoning plan in ten years received a unanimous Planning Commission approval on May 10, 2018. On Monday of this week, the Land Use Committee of the Board of Supervisors had a first hearing to listen to testimony about plan. The rezoning is intended to produce 40,000 new jobs, the construction of millions more square feet of office space than currently allowed, and the creation of roughly 7,000 new housing units. The area affected is defined (generally) as follows:

• boundary to the west will be 6th Street,
• boundary on the east will be 2nd Street,
• boundary on the north will be Folsom, Howard and Stevenson Streets, and
• boundary to the south will be Townsend Street.

At this hearing of July 16, the Land Use Committee (consisting of Supervisor Jane Kim, Asha Safai and Chair Katy Tang) heard testimony asking that the Plan be more tailored to construction of housing, instead of office space, given the epidemic housing shortage of the moment. The plan was created years ago to focus on producing more office space, which remains the prominent proposed use for the district. In response to public comments, Supervisor Kim (the Supervisor whose district is being partially rezoned), introduced amendments to the Plan which would change the zoning north of Harrison Street from “mixed-use office” to “mixed-use residential,” adding housing to that part of the plan’s designated area. Members of the Planning Department stated that these changes could be made, but that  further changes to add more housing to the plan might trigger changes to the Environmental Impact report, a 600 plus page multiyear effort that ended with its certification by the Planning Commission.

A second and final Land Use Committee hearing will be held Monday July 26, 2018. The vote will then go in front of the City’s Board of Supervisors, and approval by Mayor-elect London Breed is expected thereafter.