South San Francisco Planning Commission Meeting - March 21, 2024
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South San Francisco Planning Commission Meeting - March 21, 2024
The Planning Commission held a regular meeting on March 21, 2024, at 7:00 PM in Council Chambers. The primary agenda item was a staff report on the 2023 General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Reports (APRs). Commissioners received updates on implementation of the recently adopted Shape SSF 2040 General Plan and the first year of the new Housing Element cycle. The meeting included one public comment submitted in writing and one written comment read into the record, as well as approval of the previous meeting's minutes.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Draft Minutes (February 15, 2024): Unanimously approved by roll call vote. Commissioners Funes-Ozturk, Baker, Evans, Pamukcu, Shihadeh, and Zhang all voted yes; Chair Faria did not vote (presiding).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Chef Ava Marie (written public comment): Identified herself as a content creator, award-winning home cook, and daughter of former Planning Commissioner Marty Romero. She expressed opposition to "wrecking" the MSB (Municipal Services Building) and urged the Commission to preserve it as a senior center for classes and bingo, similar to the Daly City Westlake Senior Center. She stated, "Do not wreck the MSB. We need to keep MSB a beautiful place."
- Written public comment on Item 2 (General Plan & Housing Element APRs): Submitted on behalf of the Old Town community, the comment expressed serious concern about the further extension of downtown high-rise buildings overburdening the historic Old Town neighborhood. The author stated that new buildings block natural sunlight from single-family homes and that the community has not seen benefits from impact fees. They also noted opposition to recent developments (e.g., the lot on Lux/Linden, former Liberty Bank parking lot loss, and a hotel purchase on Airport Boulevard) and asked for equitable outreach. The comment acknowledged the need for affordable housing but questioned whether it would benefit current South San Francisco residents.
Discussion Items
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Report on the 2023 General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Reports (Item 2): Staff presented an overview of the first annual progress report since the adoption of Shape SSF 2040 in October 2022. Billy Gross (Principal Planner) explained that the General Plan contains 763 or 764 policies and actions across 11 elements. A tracking table shows each policy’s status (complete, ongoing, underway, or no action) and responsible department. For 2023, only one General Plan amendment occurred (Lindenville Specific Plan consistency updates). A new data dashboard with performance metrics is expected to go live on the Shape SSF website in early April 2024.
Stephanie Skangos (Senior Planner) presented the Housing Element APR, noting this is the first year of the new 8-year cycle (2023–2031) under RHNA Cycle 6 (2022–2030). As of December 31, 2023, 116 units had received building permits, representing about 3% of the total RHNA requirement of approximately 805 units. Breakdown by income level: above moderate 1.1%, moderate 3.9%, low 10.8%, very low 1.6%. Most units came from large multifamily projects (e.g., 428 Baden Avenue) and ADUs. ADU affordability is estimated using a UC Berkeley/ABAG study allocation (30% very low, 30% low, 30% moderate, 10% above moderate). Staff noted that several larger projects (Huntington, 1477 Huntington, 7 South Linden) are in the pipeline but could not be counted in 2023 due to timing.
Commissioners asked questions about RHNA requirements, consequences of non-compliance (loss of state funding, builders remedy), job growth factors, and the possibility of exceeding low-income targets. Staff explained that RHNA figures are set by the state and that the city must ensure zoning allows for the targeted units; actual construction is market-driven. Commissioner Shihadeh highlighted the importance of communicating these state mandates to residents.
Key Outcomes
- Approval of February 15, 2024 meeting minutes: Unanimously approved.
- No formal action on the General Plan and Housing Element APRs: The item was informational; no vote was taken. The report, including the tracking tables and data dashboard update, will be included in the public record.
- Acknowledgment of public comments: The written comment from the Old Town community was read into the record. Chair Faria thanked staff for their work. Commissioner Baker expressed openness to producing a podcast episode about RHNA to improve public understanding, and staff agreed to discuss with the Assistant City Manager.
- Adjournment: The meeting adjourned following the completion of business.
Meeting Transcript
Walking in the door. Are there any items or announcements from staff? We do not have any nonsense. Okay. Does any member of the other questions? On the agenda tonight at this time, please follow a speaker card. At this time we'll eat we have one um comment that was submitted as a meeting comment that I would into the record. Okay. Hi there. I couldn't be at the planning commission meeting, but I'm there to make the current planning commission accountable because I am a content creator, award-winning competition home cook and on-air media podcast, and CDS sales advisor. And most of all, daughter of former planning commissioner Marty Romero. My name is Chef Ava Marie, and my mission is to help my elders to save MSB to use as a senior center for classes in bingo halls. Also to do catering for the elders, like in Daily City Westlake Senior Center does. So I say do not wreck the MSB. We need to keep MSB a beautiful place, and I yelled back. Moving on. Next is a disclosure of exquarted communications. If any commissioner has had any communication with applicants, any site or project visits, an interaction with third parties, or has any conflicts regarding any items on the agenda, you may disclose them at this time if you would like to be recuse yourself for an item. Seeing hearing none, I will move on to the next item. Yes. Vice Chair Funas Osturk. Yes. Commissioner Baker. Commissioner Evans. Yes. Commissioner Pomiku. Yes. Commissioner Shahade. Yes. And Commissioner Zhang. Yes. Motion passes. Moving on. Next on the agenda. Item number two under administrative business is report regarding the 2023 general plan and housing element annual progress reports. And uh Billy Gross, principal planner, and Stephanie Scangus, senior planner will be uh giving the staff report. I was letting one of the other commissioners know this evening. This is actually my first time in front of you in this space, so it's nice to be part of this is it's a little bit of an upgrade, isn't it? Um we are before you this evening. You've seen in the past couple years, well, like four years annual progress reports on the housing element. Um we did not always do that with the general plan, but since we adopted the new general plan in 2022, um and we've actually now had time to start implementing that. We're gonna be before you now yearly to talk about implementation of that as well. So I will provide the presentation on the general plan, um, annual progress report, and then Stephanie will go through the housing element portions. Um I'll start with let's see. There we go. Um at a high level, as you are all aware, you were you were part of the process. We adopted Shape SSF 2040 general plan in October of 2022, and so we've basically had 18 months to start implementing a lot of those items. Um for the annual project report, what what the state is asking is how first does the general plan comply with all of the requirements that the state has. And so, for instance, there are a lot of statutory requirements that the state has passed over time, and almost all of those were adopted between say 2015 and 2020. So when we were adopting the 2022 plan, um, all of that was taken into consideration.
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