Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Government Audits And Oversight Co

SFGTV BOS Government Audits And Oversight Committee July 13, 2024

Commission. But as long as there is a sponsor it goes through a legislative process for a zoning change to that table that exists in the planning code saying what is allowed, what isnt allowed, requires conditional use, neighborhood notification. Any change comes to the Planning Commission for recommendation as a proposed ordinance or zoning change, and then from there it goes on to the Land Use Committee and board of supervisors and finally the mayor. And its all done as a proposed piece of legislation. And from there the Planning Department makes the change to the map and from 30 days after the mayor signs it, that is what become it is new zoning in that district. Because its an individuallynamed district, thats the part that makes it easier because you dont have to change it for all of them. You can just change the one little thing. Correct and one last question for jen since she is here. You dont got to get up. Is that little bit of yellow, is that monterrey . Sf gov tv . Which yellow . Thats monterrey. Thats where safeway is. Oh, thats where safeway is . Yep yes, we did not include monterrey. But we can happily do so in engaging some of the commercial tenants there. We intentionally for district 7 looked at areas that would have the characteristics that are distinct. Monterrey was up for consideration but given that it is a smaller strip, theres not really i think it was something we wanted to engage the neighborhood on and not too hastily do so without their input. I think that makes perfect sense. Totally agree with that. I do think its like it sort of speaks to me of like an opportunity that is just kind of needs more love and attention, i think. Absolutely. I think this is not the be all end all. I think this is a way for us to create more tools in our toolbox. If this works maybe this is something to talk about, to expand or to use in the future for other parts. This is not i dont think all the n. C. D. S are reflective of all the different commercial corridors of the city. Am i right to say so . I mean, its a good majority of them, but its not universal. And i think right now its a good this is a good kind of test. Thank you. Commissioner. So i probably am the commissioner that has most recently gone through a planning and building process in that my business got its approval just a little over a year ago. And i probably looked at and considered to submit l. O. I. S in 15 locations where after reviewing the n. C. D. Restrictions with o. E. W. D. , realized that my what my Small Business wanted to do was not allowed or basically not allowed because it would have had to go through a c. U. And thats just both financially and temporally a huge obstacle for a lot of Small Business owners who dont have money they are paying themselves while they are building a Small Business. You put here in the explanation that this that land use controls could be either made more liberalized or stricter depending on needs with these named n. C. D. S and i guess thats the key point in my mind. If the individual naming of all of these streets makes it that much more difficult for young folks, folks without a ton of money, folks with a bold idea that hasnt been tried yet could be more difficult to be put into a corridor that they are a part of, i think it could and commissioner you maybe mentioned this as well, it could make it harder to open up Small Businesses in San Francisco. So the key in my mind is how do we make sure that once this is all done that we dont actually make the process of if i recollecting out if your Small Business of figuring out if your Small Business can fit into a commercial door is even more difficult. You mentioned the process that basically anyone can propose adding in additional restrictions to a named corridor. And the process that it goes through to figure out if thats going to be okay is land use and planning and the board. Those are all bodies that may or may not have Small Business owners on them. Maybe they are, maybe they arent, or people who have tried to open up Small Businesses in our city. So thats troubling to me, because that experience is important. Unless im missing something. So all im saying is i think it will be important for all of us in this room to watch how this plays out in the future, and we are sitting here in a couple years and all of a sudden there are 31 new set of rules on whether or not you can open up a bookshop on bernal or coffee shop in cole valley, i think it could make things harder. I would like to make sure i clarify that you are absolutely right, and it is something that we would say is a possibility. And we have seen controls in certain n. C. Districts become stricter over the years versus less strict. I will say in order for the Planning Commission to recommend approval, it does have to meet the guidelines of our general plan which has a very strong commerce and industry element that it must meet. And so generally, i cant say 100 percent of the time because it is discretionary at the commission, because but generally, we are for anything that will activate the street front and will bring activity to these districts. And so thats kind of what these districts are designed to do. And it is in their definition in both the planning code and our general plan. So theyre certainly not in risk of becoming, for instance, residential districts or becoming entirely office space, because my bidefinition, they are by definition, they are to be Commerce Centers within a neighborhood. But they are something to watch. An example. Some of you may not know this but valencia street is its own commercial corridor. I found this incredible space on 17th and valencia on the second store of harringtons. A huge space, hadnt been activated, the landlord liked it. It was just sitting there vacant. I worked with katie at oawd. We had come up with a set of terms that was going to work. She went through the planning code and it turns out that on valencia, second floors of valencia street frontages are not allowed to have food and beverage specifically. So we had to crush that. And actually after that point i thought i might not be able to open up the space because we couldnt find a space big enough. So i think its great we are removing n. C. D. S for everything. This is a great step, and we should all monitor it in the future and make sure as things are proposed to change that Small Business voices are heard. Thank you. Commissioner huie. I had a few questions. One was what are some of the criteria that your supervisors went through in order to identify these additional named commercial districts . And also when was the last time more, i guess, last time one of these districts was added to the list . And why these, basically . So he we dont have all six of the districts here, so we can only speak to because the concerns that were raised for district 9 and then i dont know if jen wants to speak about district 7. The storefront vacancy tax the way it was written is that the only places that it applies to are named n. C. D. S as of the date that the voters voted. And i totally agree with what commissioner yekutiel is saying, the concerns about vacancies i think are growing, and the acknowledgment that some of the burdens that we are placing on Small Businesses has really become primary in a lot of districts thinking. So digging into what are the things we can look at in the future in terms of code and needing to be able to do that on a individual, neighborhood by neighborhood way is going to be a lot easier than doing some global changes. For our district, we have three named n. C. D. S already in place. Theres a mission n. C. D. In district 9, a 24th street n. C. D. In district 9 and then theres also half of the valencia n. C. D. , and so what really showed up for us was we were very aware of other commercial strips that were having trouble and that were of enough of a quantity, enough of a size that it made sense for them to be looked at. For district 9, we also have a bernal Business Alliance which has members of many, many, many of merchants on cortland and theres also a Mission Bernal merchants association, which has members of the merchants that are between shaves and randal on mission. And then theres less of a formal organization on san bruno but also the Neighborhood Association which includes merchants in a big way. And so we have someone to work with as we move forward, and we are really looking at this as a starting point where these were not named n. C. D. S before, but this is a possibility for us to work with community, work with merchants and be able to figure out specific neighborhood changes that we might be able to make, but in the meanwhile, we will make sure the storefronts qualify under the storefront vacancy tax, if the voters vote to approve that. Does that help . Okay. It really is a general, we looked at the map, we are familiar with the district, and these were the corridors that jumped out for us. Okay. Commissioner ortiz. Actually, i was wondering when was the last time there were new commercial districts added . And i guess my point i guess of asking this question is really wondering why these areas were not included in past approvals and why theyre being addressed now because specifically of the vacancy tax and yes, so i think off of my question of when the last time it was approved, i would like to also know what were some of the ramification and what were some of the outcomes of that last time . Absolutely. So to answer the question about some of the our more recent individualnamed n. C. D. S, the fillmore street n. C. D. And visadero street were approved. Before that we had the Mission Street n. C. D. And we had four n. C. D. S in the sunset from four or five years ago. The hayes street is another one. All of these are areas that the Planning Department or supervisor sponsored the ordinance has felt that over the years, they have developed more and more of their own individual identity as a commercial district, and therefore oftentimes the Planning Department, thats why we would recommend they become their own named n. C. District. Most of the time they are coming from a Zoning District that was already neighborhood commercial but more generalized, this is great because it gives it the ability to evolve into its own identity, but as these districts all become a little bit more specific in the clientele they are attracting and the types of businesses that they host, they find that its easier to split off and become their own. In terms of this legislation, the Planning Department and Planning Commission did not have a hand in choosing the specific 12 districts. What we did have a hand in was advancementing each that came to us to ensure they did seem to have the threshold we use, which is that they have evolved in the last few years. And that may be why Something Like the cole valley n. C. D. Wouldnt have been something we would have considered five years ago, but the street has evolved there, the businesses have kind of started to formulate their own scheme, and that is what caused us to recommend approval. If that helps. You had a question . Im wondering in the areas that are currently named already, are there is there a difference in vacancy rates on these streets versus like with the ones that you are proposing . I dont have an answer to that question, but this legislation doesnt change the likelihood of vacancy in these particular named n. C. D. S. What it does is apply the same strategy that is going to be applied to the existing, preexisting named n. C. D. S if the voters vote to approve it to apply it to these as well. So it makes it consistent throughout the city to an increased number of named n. C. D. S. But there is nothing in place at this point for the named n. C. D. S that would be specific linked to the vacancyies. Okay. Commissioner ortiz. I want to thank everybody for their time on the presentation. Im a real proponent of n. C. D. S. Like if it wasnt for the mission, we would have probably lost a lot of the culture, the eclectic little shops, because formula retail come could around. It is a stop measure, and i appreciate that. Now that i live in district 10, seeing the bayview getting that big corridor is much needed. Because as gentrification happens, Small Businesses get gent if id as well. I have a question, and maybe you cant answer in detail, but how is the outreach for the various merchants associations along those corridors . Again, i would only speak to my own so this has moved very quickly. And thats why we are not changing any of the underlying control, because we didnt, honestly we didnt have the time to do so. We know we needed to make a deadline in order to in order for the storefront vacancy part of this to take effect, we needed to make a deadline. For Everything Else we hope will come later, some real sensitive deep digging with the merchants, we would love to do that, and we would love to take the time and have the capacity from Planning Department staff to dig it into and work with Small Business commission. For our district, we reached out to leadership among the Business Associations for these three corridors. And got positive feedback and were told to yes, please do this. So. If i could make a recommendation along the lines with my cocommissioneria yekutiel, maybe a lot more resources or maybe make associations where a business in the corridor is about the im sorry, c. B. 3 program text. Those are tools in the tool bag to expedite conditional use process. I think its underutilized and maybe now that the corridors are new, we take time and maybe allocate resources to bring this to light, like say, hey, we can really do a lot of good things here. We can help Small Businesses, make it a positive, and make its allocation of resources. I know there was a deadline but maybe you could go back and reach to those various merchant associations and let them know the resources they have. I just wanted to say and thank you, commissioner, i do know for a fact that you guys were reaching out, because i get involved with a lot of i have branches in most of these merchant corridors, and i know supervisor fury reached out in the richmond, march reached out in the sunset, and supervisor yee reached out to the merchant corridors. Because thats where they could really make changes. I like the fact here because when the visador street, as soon as that change happened, they were able to get the group hubs on the street into those second stories to take care of like what you experienced on valencia. But i do know some of these others, there was outreach, and i know rowland was doing outreach. We have a branch on san bruno avenue. And i think thats going to make the world of difference. I agree with you. We got to stop the parking thing. Sidebar, but i think you can really make, you know, Going Forward, i know this was intended for the vacancy, but each neighborhood is its own individual person. And i know the people down in cole valley, i dont live too far from there, and im there a lot, they were very, very happy about this. I know supervisor brown did a lot of outreach and dean preston was in there agreeing with it. So i actually think this will make a world of difference Going Forward on a whole bunch of different levels. So supervisor laguana . I just wanted to second what commissioner ortiz said. Theres an opportunity here i think as we are looking at this and reexamining this. When we come out on the other side and hopefully the measure is successful. Theres an opportunity here to open things up a bit. And loosen some of the strangle hold on Small Business and particularly the young businesses just trying to get up off the ground. So im sure well have all of your cooperation and engagement on that. But looking forward to that and your comments are wellsaid. And i totally agree with what you just said, because thats what actually happened on divis adaro. Things loosened up where i didnt think it would. And if you go down there right now, you dont see a lot of vacancies on that street between haight street and going up to geary boulevard. Past geary, yes, but in that new second right now, its like where theyve opened up those upstairs and stuff, its effective. It made a difference. Okay. We are going to open this up for Public Comment. Is there any members of the public who would like to make comment . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Do we have a motion, commissioners . Or not . Maybe this could be my first motion. Go for it i make a motion to approve the item. Seconded. Motion by commissioner yekutiel. Im so sorry. Commissioner yekutiel. Second to approve the ordinance as heard seconded by commissioner laguana. Roll call vote. [roll call] motion passes 60 with one absent. Great job. This is going to be awesome. I think this will really be a difference. Thank you for your time. Thanks, guys next item, item 7, approval of draft Meeting Minutes, action item. And there is one correction to be made under item 6 on decembe, there was an incorrect spelling of commissioner rileys name, so i will make that correction. Okay. Do we have any members of the public who would like to make comment on the draft Meeting Minutes of december 9 and december 20 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Im going to motion. Im going to motion to approve the draft Meeting Minutes for december 9 and december 20 with the correction of irene rileys name. Do i have a second . Seconded. All in favor, voice vote. Aye. Any noes . Item 7 passes. I

© 2025 Vimarsana