Extension of Mission District Interim Controls is Expected
For the past three years, the Planning Department, in coordination with a number of community organizations, has been assessing policies and proposals that are intended to preserve socioeconomic diversity in the Mission District. The Department has focused in particular on promoting affordable housing, tenant protections, and retention of production, distribution and repair space. The Department’s efforts have culminated in the recent issuance of the Mission Action Plan 2020, which discusses objectives, policies, and regulations proposed for implementation by several City agencies in order to advance these goals.
The Mission Action Plan 2020 is both an advocacy document and road map for actions to be taken by multiple city agencies, including the Planning Commission, Board of Supervisors, Mayor’s Office of Housing, Rent Board and non-profit housing developers, working in conjunction with community organizations, to promote affordable housing. Working in concert with the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District Organization, the goal of preservation of Latino cultural identity will be integral to the Planning Department’s process.
In addition to the promotion of affordable housing and various potential measures that seek to control gentrification, the Mission Action Plan 2020 promotes and details the City’s new investment of over $350,000,000.00 to advance tenant protections, homelessness prevention, mental health subsidies, immigration support, youth and family services and resource centers, education programs, small business development, cultural arts, workforce development, preservation of non-profit organizations, and subsidized healthcare in the Mission District.
The Planning Department will coordinate its efforts with the San Francisco Latino Parity and Equity Coalition to ensure that Latinos are adequately represented and provided with resources, including planning strategies to combat displacement, prevent homelessness, assist immigrants and preserve Latino culture and arts.
The Mission Action Plan 2020 contemplates a phased approach to drafting legislation, including zoning changes, to implement the objectives of the Plan. In addition to zoning controls, the City intends to seek additional funding for more affordable housing units from City-issued bond funds, federal funds, state funds, private sources, and allocations from the City’s Small Sites Fund.
Phase 2 of the Mission Action Plan 2020, to be developed by the Planning Department in the near future, will include further study of the role of market-rate housing projects that are currently in the Planning Department pipeline, the appropriate pace of market-rate development relative to the pace of affordable housing development, and further examination of specific impacts of development on the community. Moving forward, City agencies will closely monitor the production of both market-rate and affordable housing, preservation of production distribution and repair space, and retention of small business, non-profits, SROs and space for community organizations. Community planning efforts with Mission District neighborhood organizations will be ongoing.
Mission District Interim Zoning Controls Are Expected To Be Extended
On January 14, 2016, the Planning Commission adopted Interim Zoning Controls applicable to the Mission District. The proposed extension of the Interim Controls is intended to allow additional time for Planning Department staff analysis of affordable housing needs, development of affordable housing and preservation of Production, Distribution and Repair capacity. The Interim Controls require a Large Project Authorization or Conditional Use Authorization in the Mission Street Neighborhood Commercial Transit District (Mission NCT) as well as within the proposed Calle 24 Special Use District, for projects that propose the addition of more than 25, 000 square feet of certain non-residential uses, or the addition of 25 or more residential units.
The boundaries of the area that will be subject to the Mission District zoning controls will be expanded to include the Mission NCT boundaries as defined in Planning Code Section 736, as well as the district encompassed by the proposed Calle 24 Special Use District, within boundaries to be determined by the Board of Supervisors. The Interim Zoning Controls are proposed to be extended for a period of nine months. The Interim Zoning Controls remain largely the same as those adopted in 2016, with minor changes in wording. The Planning Department is targeting March 2017 for adoption of the Interim Zoning Controls extension by the Planning Commission.
We will continue to monitor the Interim Zoning Controls and keep readers apprised of further developments.
The issues discussed in this update are not intended to be legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is established with the recipient. Readers should consult with legal counsel before relying on any of the information contained herein. Reuben, Junius & Rose, LLP is a full service real estate law firm. We specialize in land use, development and entitlement law. We also provide a wide range of transactional services, including leasing, acquisitions and sales, formation of limited liability companies and other entities, lending/workout assistance, subdivision and condominium work.
