Focus
San Francisco Board of Supervisors agrees to protect city’s legacy businesses from potential displacement
San Francisco Chronicle – October 22
A bid to bolster eviction protections for San Francisco’s oldest neighborhood businesses won key approval last Tuesday as city leaders contemplate a sweeping rezoning plan that stands to boost building height limits along some 50 commercial corridors. The Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted interim controls that, for 18 months, will require property owners in select areas who wish to fill or demolish retail spaces that were once occupied by so-called legacy businesses to first obtain a conditional use authorization from the city by way of a public hearing. The legislation will go to the desk of Mayor London Breed, who has 10 days to sign the legislation, which will become effective in 10 days unless there’s a veto.
News
Charter cities should be allowed to sue states, Huntington Beach tells Ninth Circuit
Courthouse News Service – October 21
Huntington Beach argued Monday before a Ninth Circuit panel that its status as a unique charter city should give it standing to bring federal claims against California for a state mandate requiring the city build more housing. California held in their arguments that charter cities are creatures of the state constitution, but they’re municipal corporations like any other city, Huntington Beach sued California in 2023 over the state’s plans to build more housing, especially high-density housing, across California to alleviate the state’s housing crisis, even in exclusive coastal areas.
FEMA, Cal OES announce $42 million voluntary buyout program to Rancho Palos Verdes homeowners impacted by land movement
CBS News – October 29
State and city leaders announced a massive $42 million voluntary buyout program for Rancho Palos Verdes residents who have been impacted by the ongoing land movement in the area since 2023. The program, which comes through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, will provide money to property owners in the affected area that have had homes damaged or threatened by land movement. Rancho Palos Verdes has been severely impacted by continual land movement over the last two years, which has caused severe damage to roads, homes and utility services.
Could changing this obscure S.F. building code allow the city to create more housing?
San Francisco Chronicle – October 23
San Francisco ended single-family zoning several years ago, allowing fourplexes across the city and sixplexes on corner lots, yet few of these small-scale multifamily projects have been built since that loosening of regulations. Some think that a simple tweak to the city’s building code could change that. On Wednesday, Supervisor Aaron Peskin introduced a resolution that calls on the city’s Fire Marshal, Department of Building Inspection and Planning Department to convene a “sensible density” working group to study one thing: permitting apartment buildings of up to six stories to be constructed around a single staircase.
San Francisco currently requires any building over three stories to have two stairwells that can be used as exits, in case of a fire. As explained by Peskin: “Single-stairway building code equivalencies are something that San Francisco can adopt, without any necessary change to state law, and can unlock tens of thousands of new residential units from density purgatory.” Mayor London Breed's office supports the potential code change. Peskin’s resolution will head before the full board next week.
Co-living could unlock office-to-residential conversions
Pew – October 22
The U.S. has a shortage of 4 million to 7 million homes and, at the same time, an all-time-high office vacancy rate of 20%. But despite the urgent need for housing—and many local policymakers’ desire to convert underused office space to apartments to help revitalize downtowns that lost residents and businesses during the pandemic—construction costs remain too high to make most such conversions profitable, even with today’s high market rents in many U.S. cities and towns. New research from The Pew Charitable Trusts and Gensler suggests a more economically viable approach to office-to-residential conversions. Rather than conventional apartments, the proposal calls for converting buildings to co-living dorm-style apartments.
Marin County eyes a future of all-electric buildings to cut greenhouse gas emissions
KQED – October 16
Marin County supervisors approved a countywide road map last Tuesday to reach its goal of an all-electric future. The plan, which comes after a 2022 Marin County Civil Grand Jury report noting the need for coordinated implementation to meet goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, makes 10 recommendations that include a neighborhood-scale electrification project, streamlining the permit process, and offering permit discounts to reduce the cost of appliance upgrades.
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