Upzoning Plan Amendments

Last month the San Francisco Planning Commission voted to advance Mayor Daniel Lurie’s upzoning plan with a 4-3 vote. This split vote shows that there are clearly concerns with the plan and reinforces what we have heard from community, housing advocates and stakeholders throughout the last year – that we must do more to protect our tenants, aging homeowners and small businesses from displacement while advancing legislation to support more housing.

I attended the Planning Commission hearing last month and testified about my concerns. I delivered a letter to the Planning Commission laying out potential amendments to the plan that would help mitigate the impact on our communities.

As I write in the letter, “Over the past few months, I have been meeting with community stakeholders, housing advocates and Mayor Daniel Lurie and his staff to discuss ways to work together to better benefit San Franciscans, create the housing we need and do better for those who laid the foundation of this diverse city. I am hopeful given the Mayor’s commitment to furthering our discussion and look forward to working with him and his office to consider the following improvements.”

These improvements include: boosting affordable-family housing, offering meaningful tenant protection, protecting vulnerable populations, providing small business support, committing to historic preservation, utilizing the San Francisco Survey, establishing an affordable housing district, prevailing wage and labor standards, requiring Nexus studies to analyze existing infrastructure capacity, protecting the California coast by ensuring environmental protections and working under the belief that Residential Transit Oriented Zones disincentivize housing development.

I will keep you updated with the progress we make with the Mayor’s Office on implementing these amendments. Read my full letter to the Planning Commission on richmondsunsetnews.com.

Connie Chan represents District 1 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She can be reached at 415-554-7410 or chanstaff@sfgov.org.