San Francisco Land Use and Transportation Committee Meeting - April 21, 2025
San Francisco Land Use and Transportation Committee Meeting - April 21, 2025
The Land Use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors held a regular meeting on Monday, April 21, 2025, at 9:45 AM. The committee, chaired by Supervisor Mirna Melgar with Vice Chair Cheyenne Chen and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, considered seven agenda items. The meeting resulted in unanimous votes to recommend several ordinances to the full Board, continued one item, and adopted a resolution supporting the Sunset Chinese Cultural District's strategic plan.
Consent Calendar (Routine Approvals)
- None. All items received individual discussion and votes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 1 (Formula Retail on Van Ness): A 40-year resident and property owner expressed 100% support for the ordinance, showing photos of his building over time and a nearby CVS. He urged supervisors to direct police to address crime to help businesses thrive.
- Item 3 (Concrete Building Inventory): Sarah Atkinson (Spur) supported the legislation, calling it a crucial step for seismic resilience. She noted risks to lives, housing, business continuity, and sustainability. George Wooding supported the initial draft but urged stronger compliance requirements and disclosure laws similar to Japan. David O'Kane (structural engineer) supported, recommending a future mandatory retrofit mandate. Charlie Goss (San Francisco Apartment Association) supported, citing clarity for property owners wanting to retrofit voluntarily. Mitchell Omerberg (Affordable Housing Alliance) expressed concern about tenant displacement from retrofits and the risk of affordability loss.
- Item 5 (Sunset Chinese Cultural District): Multiple speakers supported adoption of the Chess report, including Dr. Emily Murase (Japantown Cultural District), Lisa Xu (Sunset resident), Ben Wong (WAME), LeMal Leavett (consultant), Diane Chow (consultant), Angie Pettit (Sunset Mercantile), Mario Demira (Filipino Cultural Heritage District), Kimberly Zito (Asian Inc.), Gainer Ansiatanga (Pacific Islander Cultural District), and April Spears Mays (African American Arts and Cultural District). They highlighted extensive community engagement, cultural preservation, and the need for affordable housing and small business support.
- Item 6 (ADU Condo Conversion): Eileen Bogan (Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods) criticized delays in posting amended legislation and questioned local need. Mitchell Omerberg raised concerns about tenant protections in existing ADUs and requested time to review the amendments.
- Items 2, 4, and 7 had no public comments.
Discussion Items
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Item 1: Planning Code – Formula Retail on Van Ness Avenue
- Lorenzo Rosas (Supervisor Cheryl's office) presented the ordinance to remove conditional use authorization for formula retail on Van Ness, with three amendments (two substantive) requiring a one-week continuance. The committee had received the full presentation previously.
- Motion to send to full board as a committee report (unanimous).
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Item 2: Planning Code – 3250 19th Avenue Special Sign District
- Chair Melgar sponsored the ordinance to allow Chinese American International School to install signage on a property formerly Mercy High School. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval with a modification to permit indirect illumination.
- Motion to amend and recommend to full board as a committee report (unanimous).
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Item 3: Existing Building Code – Concrete Building Inventory Assessment
- Brian Strong (Chief Resilience Officer) and Laurel Matthews (Office of Resilience) presented the ordinance to inventory seismically vulnerable concrete and tilt-up buildings and adopt voluntary retrofit standards. This followed 13 years of work since the community action plan for seismic safety.
- Matthews read numerous non-substantive amendments into the record, including clarifying definitions, moving exemption language, and streamlining screening processes.
- Supervisor Chen asked about outreach to mom-and-pop property owners, language access, and financial assistance. Staff responded that a FEMA grant will produce a financing guide within a year, and DBI plans extensive multilingual outreach and a mailing list.
- Public comment included strong support and calls for future mandatory retrofits.
- Motion to amend and recommend to full board as amended (unanimous).
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Item 4: Declaration of City Property – 772 Pacific Avenue
- William Wilcox (MOHCD) presented the resolution to declare 772 Pacific as exempt surplus land for 100% affordable housing (175 units for low-income seniors, 25% homeless). The property, acquired in 2017, will preserve a ground-floor banquet hall. The resolution helps compete for $32 million in state funding.
- Supervisor Chen asked about future site acquisition RFPs; staff noted no current funding available after the failed regional bond.
- Motion to recommend to full board (unanimous).
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Item 5: Sunset Chinese Cultural District’s Cultural, History, Housing, and Economic Sustainability Strategy (CHESS) Report
- Supervisor Engardio (District 4) spoke in strong support. Grace Lee (MOHCD) outlined the Cultural Districts Program and the importance of the CHESS report. Lily Wong (Sunset Chinese Cultural District) presented the six strategic areas: historic/cultural preservation, housing access/stabilization, economic/workforce development, land use, arts/culture, and cultural competency.
- Community engagement statistics: over 3,000 community members, nearly 400 organizations, 150 in-person visits to small businesses, 245 visits to Chinese-owned businesses, 395 individuals contacted digitally, 2 in-person town halls, 5 community events, and interviews with community leaders.
- Supervisor Chen added herself as a co-sponsor.
- Motion to recommend to full board (unanimous).
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Item 6: Planning, Subdivision Codes – Condominium Conversion of Accessory Dwelling Units
- Supervisor Engardio presented the legislation to allow ADUs built under the state program to be titled and sold separately from the primary dwelling. He read amendments into the record, including limiting eligibility to new construction ADUs on lots with existing dwellings, moving requirements to the subdivision code, and clarifying that applications may be submitted concurrently.
- Aaron Starr (Planning Department) confirmed the amendments reflected the Planning Commission’s February 13 recommendations.
- Supervisor Engardio requested a one-week continuance to allow stakeholder review.
- Motion to amend and continue to April 28, 2025 (unanimous).
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Item 7: Planning Code – Entertainment Uses in South of Market
- Supervisor Dorsey presented the ordinance to eliminate a 200-foot buffer restriction on nighttime entertainment uses in the Western SOMA Special Use District and permit entertainment at 655 Folsom. The legislation supports mixed-use neighborhoods, small businesses, and aligns with the Mayor’s entertainment zone expansion. No changes to underlying zoning.
- Planning Commission recommended approval on April 10.
- Motion to recommend to full board (unanimous).
Key Outcomes
- Item 1: Recommended to the Board of Supervisors as a committee report (vote: 3-0), to appear on April 22 agenda.
- Item 2: Recommended as amended (unanimous), to appear on Board agenda April 22.
- Item 3: Recommended as amended (unanimous), to appear on Board agenda April 29.
- Item 4: Declared exempt surplus land; resolution recommended (unanimous), to appear on Board agenda April 29.
- Item 5: CHESS report adopted; resolution recommended (unanimous), to appear on Board agenda April 29.
- Item 6: Ordinance amended and continued to April 28, 2025 meeting (unanimous).
- Item 7: Ordinance recommended to full board (unanimous), to appear on Board agenda April 29.
Additional Notes
- Committee Clerk John Carroll conducted roll call and public comment procedures. The meeting was broadcast by SFGov TV.
- All CEQA determinations were affirmed per the agenda boilerplate.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everyone. This meeting will come to order. Welcome to the April 21st, 2025 regular meeting of the Land Use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. I'm Supervisor Mirna Melgar, Chair of the Committee, joined by Vice Chair, Supervisor Cheyenne Chen and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood. The committee clerk today is Mr. John Carroll. I also would like to take a moment to thank James Kawana from SFGup TV for supporting us in broadcasting this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Please ensure that you 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. I'll meet you at the rail and you can pass 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 sign up to speak along your right-hand side of the room. I'm pointing it out with my left hand. Alternatively, you may submit written public comment by emailing it 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 comments to the members of this committee and also include your comments as part of the official file on which you are commenting. Items on today's agenda are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors agenda of April 29th, 2025, unless otherwise stated. Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk. Please call item number one. Agenda item number one is an ordinance amending the planning code to remove the conditional use authorization for formula retail uses in the residential commercial zoning districts along Van Ness Avenue for lots fronting Van Ness Avenue and to establish that a change of owner or operator of a pre-existing formula retail use that had not previously received a conditional use authorization is not an intensification of such use that would require conditional use authorization. The ordinance affirms the planning department's secret determination and it makes findings of public necessity, convenience, and welfare under planning code section 302 and findings of consistency with the general plan and the eight priority policies of planning code section 101. By prior arrangement, Madam Chair, we have this item on our agenda as a potential committee report, and it may be sent to the board for consideration tomorrow, April 22nd, 2025. Thank you very much, Mr. Clerk. We have Lorenzo Rosas here from Supervisor Cheryl's office who will uh provide some remarks. Thank you, Chelmer Chair Melgar, uh committee members Mahmoud and Chen. Uh my name is Lorenzo Rosas. I'm here on behalf of Supervisor Cheryl to talk about this ordinance which principally permits formula retail on Vaness. Um this item was continued for a week from last meeting to include three amendments, one which was clerical, two which were substantive and required a continuance for a week. Um we thank you so much for your co-sponsorship, Supervisor Melgar and Supervisor Mahmoud, and we ask for your support moving this to the board agenda for tomorrow, April 22nd, as a committee report. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, uh Mr. Brosas. So we had a full presentation uh when this item was heard prior to amendments being introduced. Uh and I don't see anyone on the roster. So uh let's go to public comment, Mr. Clerk. Thank you, Madam Chair. Land use and transportation will now hear public comment on agenda item number one. If you have comments for these changes along Vaness, please come forward to the lecture now. Uh in into the microphone, please. Pull it down.
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