San Francisco Supervisors Delay ‘Spite’ Housing Mission, Reluctantly Clear One other

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors dominated on appeals for 2 controversial housing developments Tuesday, maybe offering a preview of how allow appeals will fare in a brand new regulatory setting dominated by state intervention to expedite the development of recent housing. 

In comparison with Peskin’s introduction later within the assembly of main reforms of town’s inclusionary inexpensive housing guidelines and charges, which he’s co-sponsoring with Mayor London Breed, the attraction votes replicate continued ambivalence over town’s new growth panorama.

The board upheld the attraction of 1 venture on Nob Hill which had been deemed a “spite venture” by appellants, and denied one other for a bunch housing venture within the Mission which had already been the topic of state evaluate. 

The primary venture, a cluster of ten townhomes at 1151 Washington St. on the slope of Nob Hill close to Higher Chinatown, had been described by appellant lawyer Scott Emblidge in a June 16 attraction letter as “absurd in so some ways” and as a “spite venture.”

Within the letter, Emblidge alleged the developer “made it clear via intensive on-line posts that he’s proposing this monstrosity due to his anger on the metropolis for having turned down an earlier transform venture that didn’t adjust to the Planning Code.”

Earlier plans to broaden the prevailing two-story home on the positioning had been deserted after the Planning Division blocked a conditional use authorization in 2021. The brand new plans are for a row of townhouses totaling over 12,000 sq. toes in space and 50 toes in peak, overlooking the basketball court docket of the adjoining Betty Ong Recreation Middle.  

Whereas maybe not as a lot of an eyebrow-raiser as plans for a 50-story skyscraper residence complicated close to Ocean Seaside, which had been submitted to the Planning Division final April, the Washington St. venture drew incredulous opposition from each neighbors and neighborhood teams. 

Opponents cited three main objections to the venture, together with doubtless shadows on the basketball court docket, the presence within the floor of what appellant lawyer Richard Drury referred to as “very uncommon poisonous chemical substances,” and hearth questions of safety because of the homes’ slender paths and spiral staircases.

“There are too many unknowns on this venture,” mentioned Han Min Lu of the Higher Chinatown Neighborhood Affiliation, supporting the attraction of the venture’s exemption from evaluate underneath the California Environmental High quality Act (CEQA). 

Workers from the Planning Division and the Division of Public Well being repeatedly testified that points laid out by the appellants both had been irrelevant to the CEQA course of, or properly inside the protection of the venture’s website mitigation plan and didn’t benefit an environmental influence report. 

Most supervisors disagreed. Board President Aaron Peskin, in whose district the venture is positioned, mentioned the venture introduced very uncommon circumstances, notably in regard to its proximity to the Betty Ong Middle, which he described as a “valuable, distinctive public useful resource.”

Supervisor Myrna Melgar concurred. “There’s a mismatch in how we’re treating this… it’s uncommon,” citing the toxics and life security entry points. 

A number of members of the pro-housing group Yimby Motion testified in favor of the venture and opposed the attraction, warning of penalties from Sacramento. “If we proceed to abuse native management, we’re going to lose native management,” mentioned Jane Natoli, a Yimby Motion lead organizer, and Airport Commissioner, throughout public remark. 

Ultimately, the board remanded the venture again for environmental evaluate by a vote of 7-4 with Supervisors Ahsha Safai, Matt Dorsey, Catherine Stefani, and Joel Engardio in dissent. 

The board then went on to dam an attraction of the conditional use authorization for a six-story “group housing” venture at 3832 18th St. 

The venture initially had a flooring trimmed by the Planning Fee in 2021 to allay neighbors’ shadow issues, and Peskin led a profitable tightening of laws round group housing, often known as “microunit” or “effectivity residence” buildings, in its wake. 

Final yr the California Division of Housing and Neighborhood Growth obtained concerned and ordered San Francisco to permit the unique plan. 

New appellants argued that the present venture must be topic to the brand new, extra strict group housing guidelines; Supervisors unanimously disagreed. 

“I don’t suppose this can be a nice venture,” mentioned Supervisor Rafael Mandelman in transferring to dam the attraction. “In a variety of methods I believe this isn’t truthful. The difficulty is, I don’t consider this can be a struggle we might doubtless win.”