By Thomas K. Pendergast
The City's west side faces unprecedented zoning changes in the coming years and the San Francisco Planning Department has released a proposal about where upzoning should be done.
Upzoning is a term used to describe changes to a zoning code made to increase the amount of development allowed in the future.
The upzoning map posted online by the department shows that the majority of zoning changes will be along transit and commercial corridors, plus significant traffic arteries, although not exclusively along such streets.
Graphic courtesy of San Francisco Planning.
The department proposes that California Street east of Park Presidio Boulevard would be upzoned to a maximum of 85-feet tall (eight stories) to Arguello Boulevard and west until 27th Avenue up to 65-feet tall (six stories).
All of Clement Street west of Arguello Boulevard would be rezoned up to 65 feet. And that same stretch of Geary Boulevard out to 43rd Avenue would be upzoned to 85-feet tall, except for the first block-and-a-half west of Arguello and the corners of Funston and 14th streets, which would be up 140-feet tall (14 stories).
Between Clement and Geary, parcels would not be rezoned for height. However, they would be rezoned to adjust density limits and increase the number of units that could be built.
Balboa Street west of Arguello would be entirely rezoned up to 65-feet tall, while all of Fulton Street along that same stretch would allow building up to 85-feet tall.
Most of the parcels along Funston Avenue and 14 Street would be rezoned up to 65-feet tall, except at the aforementioned intersections.
These draft zoning proposals are in response to changes in the Housing Element of the City's General Plan passed last year. These changes in turn are a response to a California State mandate for San Francisco to build 82,000 units of housing in the next eight years or face cuts in state funding of public transportation and other programs.
According to the Planning Department's website, "the lack of diverse housing choices limits people's opportunities and impacts quality of life.
"Most housing built in San Francisco in recent decades has been concentrated in the eastern neighborhoods, where zoning allows for mid- and large-sized developments. Meanwhile, the northern and western parts of the City have seen relatively little growth. These areas are primarily zoned for single-family development, which is less likely to be affordable to low- and middle-income residents and is shown to reinforce patterns of economic and racial segregation."
According to the website, "expanding housing choice involves changes to San Francisco's zoning rules to accommodate new housing, increase housing affordability for low- and middle-income households, and help advance racial and social equity.
"The project allows for more housing options in neighborhoods with greater access to economic opportunities and services that can support growth, such as public transit, parks, retail and community facilities."
Big zoning changes are also proposed south of Golden Gate Park in the Sunset District.
District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio says the proposed zoning changes, however, are just a starting point.
"There will be a lot of input and iterations before it is finalized," Engardio said. "Just because a street is marked for higher zoning does not mean the entire street will be transformed. The map only shows future potential. The zoning heights are voluntary, not mandatory. It will be a decades-long process of gradual change."
Engardio noted that the proposed changes will not touch most of the Lower Great Highway "so there will be no chance of a wall of Miami-like towers on the Lower Great Highway.
"I believe we must not allow out-of-scale housing to ruin our neighborhoods," he said. "I am focused on housing for our adult kids and grandkids that will allow them to remain in San Francisco. We need housing for our first responders. Many police officers and firefighters commute long distances to work in San Francisco. Seniors might also like an elevator building to downsize to and age safely in place without having to leave their neighborhood."
In the Sunset, the department's proposal would allow for 65-foot-tall buildings along Lincoln Way, except for the corners of certain intersections at Ninth Avenue and between 18th to 21st avenues, allowing for 85-foot-tall structures on those blocks.
Irving Street would allow for 85-foot-tall buildings out to 27th Avenue, except at the intersection with 19th Avenue, which would allow 140-foot-tall buildings there, while keeping the current zoning maximum height of 130 feet already allowed out to 22nd Avenue. Between 38th Avenue and La Playa Street, 65-foot-tall buildings would be allowed.
Judah Street from Eighth Avenue out to La Playa would be upzoned to 85-feet tall, except around the intersection at 19th Avenue, which would go up to 140-feet tall.
Noriega Street would be upzoned to 85-feet tall from 17th to 37th avenues, except for the intersection of 19th Avenue, which would go up to 140-feet tall. From 38th Avenue out to Lower Great Highway, the new zoning would be up to 65-feet tall.
Taraval Street from 12th to 15th avenues would be upzoned to 65-feet tall, while along the rest of Taraval out to 48th Avenue, up to 85-feet-tall buildings would be allowed, except for the intersection with 19th Avenue, which would be up to 140-feet tall.
Except for the aforementioned intersections, 19th Avenue would be upzoned to 85-feet tall from Lincoln Way south to Eucalyptus Drive.
Most of the parcels along 36th and 37th avenues adjacent to Sunset Boulevard would be upzoned to 85-feet-tall from Lincoln Way south to Sloat Boulevard. And much of Sloat would be upzoned to 65-feet tall.
But there are critics of the department's proposal, like District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who does like upzoning transportation and commercial corridors in general, but not at all of the areas targeted by the latest zoning map.
"I think that some of it makes sense and some of it does not," Melgar says.
While she agrees with changing the zoning along Muni light rail lines for the most part, she is not pleased with some parts of the plan for her district.
"Other areas on the map, like Junipero Serra, make no sense to me at all because they don't fit any of the criteria that we stipulated on the Housing Element," she said. Melgar noted Junipero Serra is neither a public transportation nor a commercial corridor but mostly just has single-family homes.
"If we're going to be consistent, like with our climate action goals and all of the things that we're saying, that makes no sense," she said.
Melgar also does not like upzoning to 85-feet tall all the parcels lining the east side of 19th Ave. along the Lakeside area.
"All those blocks that you see there, it's the back yards that are onto 19th Avenue," Melgar said. "So, unless we totally change our building codes to do away with back-yard minimums, you can't really build unless you knock down the house. The problem that you have is that you have a potential eight-story building on 19th Avenue, but in the back."
She noted that the streets east of 19th avenue in that area are all smaller residential streets.
Other critics, like longtime housing activist Dennis Antenore, see a significant potential for massive displacement with the department's new zoning plan.
In a recent opinion piece for the Richmond Review, Antenore predicts that the resulting increase in land values will motivate landlords to rid their properties of tenants in order to build bigger.
He also predicts that renewals of commercial leases will be threatened, impacting the survival of small and neighborhood businesses.
"Although the proposed upzoning is couched in terms of creating housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income households, families, seniors, people with disabilities and essential workers, by far the most extensive impact would be to create large amounts of market-rate housing. There is limited evidence to justify such an expansion of market-rate housing," Antenore says.
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