Tag Archives: Planning Commission

October 25, 2015 · 10:30 am

Planning and Building Notices through October 24, 2015

The South of Market Leadership Council receives public notifications from the San Francisco Planning Department. While it may not be possible 52 weeks per year, there will be an attempt to share notifications that affect South of Market on the www.SoMaLeadership.org website for neighbors to check out if they care to do so.

Notice of Building Permit Application

241 10th Street – Proposal to demolish an existing two-level automobile rental building (Hertz) and associated one-story storage shed and to construct a new five-story, 55-foot tall, 33,764 square foot, mixed-use building containing 28 dwelling units and 1,500 square foot of ground floor commercial retail space. The project also provides 14 off-street vehicular parking spaces within a ground-level garage accessed from 10th Street.

Notice of Pre-Application Meeting

1500 Pacific Avenue – Pre-application meeting on Monday, November 16, 2015 at 6:30pm at 1500 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94109. Development proposal for Conditional Use Authorization for Medical Service (acupuncture clinic) in a currently vacant tenant space that was formerly Business/Professional use.

Notice of Project Receiving Environmental Review

1228 Folsom Street (723 and 725 Clementina Street) – Project site consists of three lots located mid-block on the block bounded by Eighth Street to the east, Howard Street to the north, Ninth Street to the west, and Folsom Street to the south in SoMa.
2435-2445 16th Street – Project entails demolitiion of an approximately 10,000-square-foot, one-story auto repair shop and construction of a seven-story, approximately 68-foot-high mixed-use residential building with an off-street basement-level parking garage.

Notice of Public Hearing

1283-1287 Howard Street – Hearing on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 not before 9:30am, City Hall, Room 408. Proposal to remove the existing three story 18-foot deep stairwell and replace it with a three story 8-foot deep deck on the rear of the structure with the incorporation of a spiral staircase at the northeast corner of the decks.
MB South Blocks 29-32 on 3rd Street and 16th Streets (Warriors Arena Project proposed office buildings) – Hearing on Thursday, November 5, 2015 not before 12:00pm (noon), City Hall, Room 400. Request for Design Approval of the Golden State Warriors Event Center and Mixed Use Development, consisiting of two, 6-to-11 story buildings (measuring from 90-ft tall to 160-ft tall) containing approximately 577,000 square feet of office use, approximately 54,000 square feet of retail space, and up to 546 parking spaces.

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Tagged as BuildingPermitApplication, EnvironmentalReviewNotice, Notice of Public Hearing, Planning Commission, Pre-ApplicationHearing

October 6, 2015 · 11:06 pm

Planning and Building Notices through October 6, 2015

Notice of Pre-Application Meeting

430 Main Street/429 Beale Street – Demolish two existing one- and two-story industrial buildings on the project site totaling approximately 28,360 gross square feet (gif) and construct a nine-story, approximately 159,200-sf residential building. 144 dwelling units, 84 feet, 9 stories. Pre-application meeting at South Beach Harbor Community Room between Pier 40 and AT&T ballpark on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 starting at 6:00pm.

Notice of Project Receiving Environmental Review

915 Minna Street – Proposed project consists of constructing two buildings containing a total of 44 dwelling units and 25 parking spaces. The northern building would front Minna Street, and the southern building would front Natoma Street. There would be a ground-level yard in between the two buildings.

Protect Life in SoMa’s Residential Enclave Alleys – Vision Zero and Natoma Alley

One of the best ways to protect life on the alleys is to limit the amount of traffic on them. The Western SoMa Citizens Planning Task Force memorialized this thinking in the Western SoMa Community Plan with the following two objectives relating to alleys:

OBJECTIVE 4.1

Facilitate the movement of pedestrians and bicycles in the alleys

OBJECTIVE 4.2

Limit the speed and volume of motor vehicles in alleys

Unfortunately, the San Francisco Planning Department appears to be ignoring our community’s agreed upon planning objectives for alleys by making it a policy to prefer vehicular traffic to enter new development projects from the alleys, even when the site abuts one of the major neighborhood serving streets.

This is what is happening at 9th and Howard Streets (Mario Andretti gas station). The Natoma alley neighbors have made it very clear that the driveway for approximately 90 cars should enter and exit onto Howard Street. The Natoma alley is a narrow (approximately 35’) one-way alley as it spans from 9^th to 8^th streets with the Canon Kip Community House for 104 formerly homeless, primarily disabled seniors in SRO units on the corner of 8^th and Natoma (705 Natoma) and the Community House provides a 7-day per week senior community center for activities.

This segment of the Natoma alley is currently congested with both business and residential users. A driveway for the approximately 90 cars on Howard Street would let the traffic disburse in many directions, whereas the Natoma alley exit would create many more trips for drivers to go north or west.

The only downside is the potential conflict with a bicycle lane, but the traffic planners have planned a bicycle traffic light and stacking space to minimize the conflict.

It seems much more dangerous to funnel more traffic onto Natoma alley and diminish the pedestrian safety intended for the alleys of SoMa than to have cars enter and exist onto Howard Street. With primarily disabled seniors in very small SRO units at the end of this block of Natoma alley, it would seem Vision Zero policies would prioritize the safety of pedestrians even more than other streets that do not have 104 formerly homeless, primarily disabled seniors trying to get some breathing room outside of the building on the corner of Natoma alley and 8^th Street.

Before Jim Meko died, he supported and would have trumpeted the entry and exit of vehicles to the new project at 9^th and Howard Streets (currently Mario Andretti gas station) and opposed the entry and exit occurring on Natoma alley. That is the agreed upon objective in the Western SoMa Community Plan for alleys like Natoma.

We need to let Planning know that they need to minimize traffic on the alleys, no funnel it onto them. Please contact Planner Tim Johnston about Case Number 2014.0011E at e-mail address Timothy.Johnston@sfgov.org or by telephone at 415-575-9035 to let him know the project’s entry and exit for cars should be on Howard Street in order to comply with Western SoMa Community Plan Objectives 4.1 and 4.2.

PDF file containing the Alleys section of the Western SoMa Community Plan

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Tagged as Alleys, Planning Commission

September 1, 2015 · 10:31 pm

SoMa Development Tsunami

Change both good and bad is nothing new to SoMa. But now the neighborhood’s special character is threatened by an unprecedented wave of proposed development.

Nearly every block in the area bounded by Market, 2nd Street, Townsend, and the Central Freeway on Division Street, has at least one project seeking approval from the city.

Pending projects in the neighborhood as of August 2015; doesn’t show projects that are already approved; Source: San Francisco Planning Department web site

These projects are not a done deal. They have to seek approval from the Planning Commission—and in some cases from the Board of Supervisors.

Other neighborhoods have stopped inappropriate development by persuading the city to modify projects or to reject them altogether. We can, too.

The South of Market Leadership Council has long served as an information clearing house and forum for discussion about neighborhood planning. Continuing that tradition, we’re providing the following list of significant projects and the dates of their upcoming hearings at the Planning Commission.

September 3, 2015:

75 Howard, APPROVAL (Items 14 and 15 on the agenda)
220’ tall high-rise on the waterfront, extreme luxury housing
5M (Fifth and Mission) mega-project PRESENTATION (Item 16, 3:30 p.m.)
For more info, contact the South of Market Community Action Network (DontSupersizeSoMa@gmail.com) Share this information flyer with your neighbors.

September 17, 2015:

5M mega-project APPROVAL
1532 Harrison APPROVAL
7 stories, 136 residential units (formerly 6 stories, 119 units of group housing)

September 24, 2015:

525 Harrison (right next to the bridge) APPROVAL
raise Rincon Hill heights and shrink required separation distance between towers

October 1, 2015:

363 6th Street STAFF REPORT
9 stories, 104 residential units, shadows Gene Friend Rec Park

October 15, 2015:

363 6th Street APPROVAL

What You Can Do:

Contact District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim (Jane.Kim@sfgov.org).
Share this information with your neighbors, your formal and informal neighborhood organizations, your local merchants, your schools, your places of worship, and anyone you know that shares your love for South of Market.
Subscribe to the SoMa Leadership Council e-mail list by sending an e-mail to SoMaJournal@yahoo.com with your first name and last name in the e-mail.
Get involved with the SoMa Leadership Council or any other SoMa neighborhood organization.
Tell the Planning Commission what you think about specific projects either in person during public comment at one of their Thursday afternoon meetings at City Hall (Room 400) or in writing. You can find Planning Commission meeting agendas here. To learn how to sign up to receive notices for public hearings regarding these proposed South of Market neighborhood development proposals and changes, please e-mail SoMaJournal@yahoo.com and ask for information on how to be added to the Planning Department notification mailing lists.