Mayor’s Rezoning Plan Explained

Mayor Daniel Lurie and the SF Planning Department released a map proposing where San Francisco can build more housing by increasing height limits for multifamily buildings. 

It’s important to note that the mayor’s plan:

• oes not change existing heights along the coast and Sunset Boulevard.

• ocuses rezoning in areas where it makes the most sense – along commercial and transit corridors (especially where there are streetcars).

Why Rezoning?

This citywide rezoning effort is required by state law. Every city in California is required to prepare and submit a map to meet its housing goals. San Francisco’s goal is 82,000 new units.

For some, rezoning is welcome because it means creating housing options to meet real-life needs. Young adults and families want affordable apartments that will allow them to stay in San Francisco. Seniors want the option to downsize to an apartment in a building with an elevator where they can safely age in place without leaving their neighborhood.

For others, the prospect of changes to a neighborhood they have known for decades can cause tremendous concern.

Because of the state mandate, doing nothing is not an option. If our rezoning map doesn’t add up, we risk losing local control over planning and land use decisions. 

The creation of the map was led by Mayor Lurie and the planning department with input from supervisors. What I heard most from Sunset residents was to protect the coast and Sunset Boulevard. And that’s what I pushed for. The mayor listened and there are no height increases for the coast or Sunset Boulevard. 

The Coast

I advocated for no changes to existing heights on the streets adjacent to the coast. For further protection, our city charter forbids housing development on parkland. Now that the Upper Great Highway between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard is legally parkland under the jurisdiction of the SF Recreation and Park Department, it is protected from any oceanfront housing. Ocean Beach is not going to become Miami Beach.

Some have questioned why Self-Help for the Elderly can build affordable housing for seniors near the coast at La Playa Street and Lincoln Way that is taller than existing height limits. A state law from 1979 allows several extra stories of height at the coast only for housing that is 100% affordable. The senior housing meets that criterion. 

Sunset Boulevard

I advocated for no change of existing heights on Sunset Boulevard. An early draft of the rezoning map upzoned both 36th and 37th avenues to eight stories along the entire stretch of Sunset Boulevard. I made the case that this upzoning was nonsensical because Sunset Boulevard has zero commercial properties.

The mayor agreed and the latest rezoning map does not touch Sunset Boulevard. Instead, the map focuses on actual commercial and transit corridors. That’s why height increases are concentrated along Irving, Judah, Noriega and Taraval streets – while leaving most of the Sunset untouched. 

Map Is Still a Draft

The rezoning map must go through a public process at the planning department where residents can provide input. The Board of Supervisors will not vote on the map until later this fall. The deadline to submit an approved map to the state is January 2026.

Why Is the Rezoning Focused on the West Side?

The state has identified San Francisco’s western neighborhoods, from the Marina to West Portal, as “well-resourced areas” where upzoning must be prioritized. This is an effort by the state to make up for historical issues: 

“With no zoning changes in more than half a century, San Francisco’s well-resourced western neighborhoods have added little new housing. Northeastern neighborhoods have been rezoned several times this century and have borne more than their fair share of new housing construction.”

Westside Progress

San Francisco has already made some progress in making it possible to build new housing on the west side. Last year, the Board of Supervisors approved legislation allowing for a two-story increase on corner lots on the west side. 

You may be familiar with Gus’s Market at 44th Avenue and Noriega Street, where new housing was built above a grocery on a corner lot. The taller housing and ground floor amenities at the corner anchors a neighborhood of single-family homes. Everyone gets to enjoy the amenity, whether it be a grocery, cafe, or senior/childcare center. This concept was also supported by every candidate for mayor last year because it is a common-sense approach to building more housing that benefits an entire community.

Housing is also an equity and environmental issue. Improving San Francisco’s diversity depends on building new housing that a middle-income family can afford – and ensuring that enough of our existing housing stock remains rent controlled. To address climate change, we need to encourage transit, walking and biking and reduce suburban sprawl. This requires building more housing near transit.

Our future depends on being able to keep seniors, young adults and middle-income workers and families in San Francisco, along with welcoming newcomers who bring their talents and diversity to our City. We can do this by embracing more multi-family housing that can coexist with single-family homes and complement the westside neighborhoods we love.

You can read my full housing platform at engardio.com/housing.

To see the zoning maps, go to SFPlanning.org, and search “proposed zoning.”

Stand Up Against Recology Rate Increases

If you think your recycling and garbage collection bill is too high now, Recology wants to raise rates by 30% in the next three years. That’s a bold ask, considering all the trouble Recology has been in recently, including having to refund customers after incorrectly calculating its rates and taking in profits beyond what is allowed in its agreement with the City. Not to mention two Recology executives pleading guilty in a corruption case.

Recology has enjoyed a monopoly in San Francisco since 1932 and perhaps some competition is in order. For now, there is a Refuse Rate Board that regulates Recology because of the monopoly enshrined in the city charter (a 2012 ballot measure tried to end the monopoly but failed).

Make your voice heard during public comment at the Refuse Rate Board meetings May 30 and June 25 when Recology’s proposed rate increases will be discussed.

Joel Engardio is the District 4 representative on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He can be reached at engardio.com/contact.