Land Use and Transportation Committee Regular Meeting - March 10, 2025
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Land Use and Transportation Committee Regular Meeting - March 10, 2025
The Land Use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors met on March 10, 2025, at 9:45 AM. The committee, chaired by Supervisor Marina Melgar and joined by Vice Chair Supervisor Cheyenne Chen and Supervisor Bilal Mahmud, considered four agenda items. Supervisor Matt Dorsey (District 6) participated as a guest for all items. The committee voted to recommend items 1, 2, and 3 to the full Board, and continued item 4 with amendments to the next meeting on March 17, 2025.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 1 (Treasure Island Sewer Pump Stations): No public speakers.
- Items 2 & 3 (Central SoMa Commercial Development Requirements): Two speakers supported the amendments. David Wu (Soma Filipinas) thanked the city for retaining key site benefits for affordable housing and community amenities, but requested more proactive community outreach before future legislation. Zach Weisenberger (Young Community Developers) expressed initial concern that the legislation would jeopardize affordable housing development at 88 Bluxom, but commended the amended guarantee of land dedication for 100% affordable housing.
- Item 4 (Interim Housing in Hotels and Motels): Multiple speakers commented. Several individuals in recovery from addiction (David Murphy, Timothy Stewart, Brendan Harris, Jurony Gomez, and others from Salvation Army and Positive Directions) strongly supported the ordinance as critical for opening the sober living transitional housing program at the Civic Center Motor Inn, stating it would help prevent relapse and homelessness. Cynthia Gomez (Unite Here Local 2, Hotel Workers Union) expressed concern about a "poison pill" amendment that would allow any hotel existing after April 1, 2025 to apply for interim housing, and asked for more time to review the full text to prevent unintended harm to union jobs and benefits. Other speakers from the Salvation Army and Joseph McPhee Center also voiced strong support.
Discussion Items
- Item 1 (250098): Acceptance of Sanitary Sewer Pump Stations on Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island. Supervisor Dorsey introduced the item, noting that the Treasure Island development will produce up to 8,000 units (nearly 10% of the city's RHNA housing target). Public Works project manager Desmond Chan presented that four pump stations are the final infrastructure remaining for Stage 1 acceptance; 974 housing units are already built, with 1,215 more planned. The pump stations are operational but previously had punch-list work. The committee received no questions and voted unanimously to recommend to the full Board with a positive recommendation.
- Items 2 & 3 (250003 and 240787): Reduction of Commercial Development Requirements in Central SoMa and Transit Center District. Supervisor Dorsey presented amendments to provide flexibility for developers to build residential or commercial projects under 600 feet, while retaining key benefits for designated key sites, including land dedication for 100% affordable housing. He read the revised long title into the record. The committee adopted the amendments and voted unanimously to send both items to the full Board with positive recommendations.
- Item 4 (241067): Interim Housing in Hotels and Motels. Deputy Director Emily Cohen (Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing) explained that the ordinance is intended to incentivize hotel owners to partner with the city for interim housing by allowing them to retain their tourist hotel land-use designation. She read two sets of amendments into the record. The first set narrows the scope to the Civic Center Motor Inn for the sober living transitional housing program, adds findings about worker retention and union successorship, and includes relocation requirements for participants when interim housing ends. The second set addresses three former Shelter-in-Place (SIP) hotels (Covoy, Monarch, and Adante) that need to regain tourist status after closing; these amendments are substantive and require referral back to the Planning Commission. Supervisor Mahmud asked clarifying questions—the April 1, 2025 date ensures no retroactive applications, and the Civic Center Motor Inn currently has no union workers. Cynthia Gomez from Unite Here requested more time to review the second set of amendments. The committee voted to adopt only the first set of amendments (non-substantive) and then voted to continue the item as amended to the March 17, 2025 meeting, allowing time for review and referral of the second set to the Planning Commission.
Key Outcomes
- Item 1: Unanimously recommended to the full Board (3-0).
- Items 2 & 3: Amendments adopted; both items unanimously recommended to the full Board (3-0).
- Item 4: First set of amendments (non-substantive) adopted unanimously (3-0); item continued to March 17, 2025 meeting. The second set of amendments (SIP hotel provisions) will be referred to the Planning Commission for review before returning to committee.
- Next Scheduled Meeting: The committee is expected to continue item 4 on March 17, 2025.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everyone. This meeting will come to order. Welcome to the March 10th, 2025 regular meeting of the Land Use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. I'm Supervisor Marina Melgar, Chair of the Committee, joined by Vice Chair, Supervisor Cheyenne Chen, and Supervisor Bilal Mahmud. The committee clerk today is John Carroll. And I would also like to thank Alina Mendoza at SFGov TV for staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Please ensure that you've silenced your cell phones and other electronic devices you may have brought with you into the chamber today. If you have any documents to include as part of any of today's files, you can submit them to me. Public comment will be taken on each item on today's agenda. When your item of interest comes up and public comment is called, please line up to speak along your right-hand side of the room. Alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways. First, you may email your written comments to me at J-O-H-N period C-A-R-R-O-L-L at SFGOV.org. Or you may send your written comments via U.S. Postal Service to our office in City Hall. The address is one, Dr. Carlton B. Goodlick Place, room 244, San Francisco, California 94102. If you submit your public comment in writing, I will forward your comment to the members of this panel and also include your comments as part of the official file on which you are commenting. Items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors agenda of March 18th, 2025, unless otherwise stated. Madam Chair. Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk. Please call item number one. Agenda item number one is an ordinance accepting irrevocable offers of public infrastructure associated with the Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island project for the Bruton Sanitary Sanitary Sewer Pump Station on Bruton Street and the Cravith Sanitary Sewer Pump Station on Cravith Street, both on Treasure Island, and the McCollas Sanitary Sewer Pump Station on McCollar Road and the Northgate Sanitary Sewer Pump Station on Northgate Road, both on Yerba Buena Island. Dedicating this infrastructure to public use, designating it for utility purposes, accepting the public infrastructure for city maintenance and liability, approving a grant deed for the McCullough Pump Station, adopting findings under CEQA, making findings of consistency with the general plan and the eight priority policies of planning code section 101.1, and accepting a public works order recommending various actions in regard to the public infrastructure, as well as authorizing official acts in connection with the ordinance. Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk. We are now joined by a frequent guest of the Land Use and Transportation Committee, District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey. So I'm going to turn it over to you before the staff presentation. Welcome. Great. Thank you so much. Chair Melgar, and thank you, committee members, for uh being here today and for calendaring this item. As Chair Melgar knows uh from many hearings that have happened uh in this committee over the last few years, we have finally begun to see some real progress on the long-planned development of Treasure Island with uh the build-out of housing, parks, infrastructure, and other public benefits. Many of the earliest announced plans for Treasure Island actually uh parallel my own uh earliest roles in this building here in City Hall more than 20 years ago. So it's incredibly gratifying to see the promises that were made to Treasure Island finally being fulfilled. And when we talk about the amount of housing production that's going to happen there, it's close to 8,000 units, which is close to 10% of the the uh housing element uh re regional housing needs assessment um targets that we have for our city. Before us today is the acceptance of a key component of wastewater infrastructure, the sanitor sanitary sewer pump stations on the islands, which sometimes for those of who you knew to Treasure Island will sometimes refer to the islands because it includes Yoruba Buena Island. Um we are joined today by staff from Public Works who will give a presentation on this acceptance and a brief overview of the new island infrastructure as well. Um TIDA Director Bob Beck is here here and available. Hi, Bob. And thank you for all your work on this. Uh but he is here. I don't think he has planned to speak, but he's available for any questions as the person who was the you know the the most knowledgeable authority on this. Uh, through the chair, I I'd like to invite up uh Desmond Chan from Public Works for a brief presentation. Welcome. Uh good morning, supervisors.
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