Hello San Francisco. I'm at City Hall for a meeting of the San Francisco Board of Appeals. The Commissioners are taking a five-minute recess before the last item of the night: the appeal of a HOME-SF project at #3945Judah.
Here's an explainer:
Here's an explainer:
Surprisingly, the room is mostly empty. There are some folks from YIMBY Action, but not the huge crowd which gathered for #PalmCityWines. This thing might end by 9!
Mike Murphy is speaking now. He lives close to the project with a small family. His 12-year-old "wished to state for the record that he does not drink gasoline."
Mike: please deny the project. Public expressed concerns. Planning Commission erred in their analysis. Misled by the project sponsor. Potential for harm. Construction without removing the gasoline tanks presents a threat to public safety.
Exhibit D on the overhead, obtained via public records request. N Judah runs directly adjacent. Water testing at the time of closure in 1986 showed they were leaking. 
Testing showed contaminants presented at 700x safe levels. Mike alerted local, state, and federal levels. He claims the project sponsor ignored requests to clean up the site.
Mike points to another gas tank site where gas leaked into groundwater when the tank was uncapped and left alone.
Mike: Planning Commission refused to react to neighbors. They also had "concerns about height, bulk, massing.
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Project sponsor up: 3945 Judah is the type of project HOME-SF designed for. Without the project, only 6 market-rate homes would be allowed. With it, it can have 15 market-rate and 5 BMR homes above the height limit. Planning Commission unanimously approved. Didnt abuse discretion
Sponsor: Mike claims gas tanks would cause contamination. Not true. Removal is under jurisdiction of Dept of Public Health under Maher program. They've enrolled and followed process. Planning Commission doesn't regulate it. Further cleanup plan is being prepared.
Sponsor: Mike never appealed CEQA determination made in process of Maher program enrollment. Time period for appeal has expired.
Sponsor now introducing the architect.
Sponsor now introducing the architect.
Architect: here to discuss scale of the building. Commercial buildings nearby. "Anything but a purely residential area."
Architect: HOME-SF allows for 20 more feet. They could have gone for a 65 ft design but went with a 55 ft design so not to upset people.
Architect going over the building façade. Some stuff about "connecting with pedestrians" and other design logic I don't understand.
Time is up. Planning Dept coming to speak.
Time is up. Planning Dept coming to speak.
Scott Sanchez from Planning is up. Going over project details briefly. Noting that most of the appeal deals with environmental concerns. Scott notes that Dept of Public Health has jurisdiction. After the appeal, permit process starts. Won't end in entitlement until DPH approves.
Scott: project meets all requirements of HOME-SF.
President Swig: I have no problems with architectural design. But the tank is concerning. Having been involved in real estate, he was involved in acquiring a building with a tank next door. He was worried about the gas tank. [To Planning] what can we do about the tank?
Planning: discussing details of Maher ordinance, which will govern the tank. Appealable part would be the CEQA determination, which wasn't appealed.
Swig: we have a housing emergency. Mayor wants to develop housing as fast as possible, which I support. But when we rush, fears can be overlooked. How does this body get satisfaction with regard to omission of the tank problem?
Planning: "there's no cause for concern," because the appropriate processes have been followed. This appeal holds up the permit process and the agencies responsible for removing the tank
Planning: I don't know what kind of attention can be brought to the issue. The hearing has helped [lol]
Swig: if Public Health does nothing about the tank, can that be appealed?
Planning: the permits can be appealed
Planning: the permits can be appealed
Public comment starting. Mostly YIMBY Action members.
David Scheer, who submitted a ridiculous letter to the Board, is up. "Egregious" abuse of process. In environmental issue, architect misstated work needed to Planning Commission. That's enough to revoke authorization.
David: project reps said there was no opposition at pre-application meeting. But most people reported opposition on the sign-in sheet.
Commissioner Honda: you've been involved in the appeal from the beginning. Why not appeal the CEQA appeal?
David: there's no public notification of the CEQA process. And I only got involved after Mike submitted the appeal.
David: there's no public notification of the CEQA process. And I only got involved after Mike submitted the appeal.
@wafoli is up. "Compelling case" for denying the appeal. Case has been made in a respectful manner. But we have a housing shortage. Not many homes built in the west side, where she lives. Deny the appeal. Appellant has done his homework.
@Bobakkabob37: please deny the appeal. I fought to pass HOME-SF originally, which Mike and his allies opposed. They don't want to see any housing built at all. Showing receipts about Mike from an online article.
@theodore_gordon: Mike really filed this appeal because he doesn't like the building. He's running down the clock on 20 families who could live there. He's afraid of shadows. He didn't come out about the flood risk of building homes on Treasure Island
Theo: Mike also said he wanted to shrink the size of the building. He has stated reasons which don't match the real reasons be opposes the homes.
IRA from YA: we have a housing shortage. Too many projects like this one have endless delays and have been denied. We cannot solve the shortage without more developments. Please allow the project to proceed.
Vadim from the Mission: I have high rent because of the housing shortage. I pay luxury rent for non-luxury housing. The Mission builds 100s of homes in the Mission. But every neighborhood must do its part. We only build homes in poorer neighborhoods.
Vadim: in the Sunset, neighbors can find any reason to deny a project.
Mike Murphy audibly says, "what planet are you from?" Commissioners interrupt Vadim to ask Mike to be respectful.
Mike Murphy audibly says, "what planet are you from?" Commissioners interrupt Vadim to ask Mike to be respectful.
@MikeChenSF: member of Northern Neighbors and YA. I live next to a gas station. It would be nice to have housing there instead. District 2 has not done its part to build housing. Zero BMR units in the last decade. We want District 4 to also do its part.
Mike: the long process makes homes more expensive. Deny the appeal. Appellant may have another day at this board. I'll be here then.
Next speaker: I have no problem with housing in my neighborhood. I have a problem with housing for rich people. Let's make 100% affordable housing. Neither I nor my roommates can afford the rent. Landlord makes rent affordable because they dont want entitled techies to live there
Same speaker: we're obsessed with our large developments. But there are many entitlements which haven't been built. We need to look at what regular people need.
Erica from D4ward: it's notable that people from YIMBY Action who don't live in the neighborhood are speaking here. I opposed HOME-SF and I'm not a Green Party neighborhood.
Erica: I own a building with affordable rent-controlled housing. We want development on the site but the developers didn't work for the community. And we have a special neighborhood that welcomes affordable housing.
Erica: I did not oppose the project when it was a low-level building.
A couple more neighbors. Concerned about the height of the building in Outer Sunset. Parking is a concern, as are the gas tanks.
I just gave comment on behalf of West Side=Best Side.
Another neighbor giving public comment last. He loves the Sunset. The environmental concern came after the fact. "4 stories? That's cool." Slow this thing down. Let the community have more say. They felt blindsided. The gas tank issue gave everyone hope of stopping it.
Mike Murphy coming back to rebut: This project will likely not get built. It's not six homes. It's a financial instrument. Attorney for the LLC is with Pacific Realty. And the LLC hasn't paid property taxes. It'll go up for auction next year.
Uhhh, what
Uhhh, what
Commissioner Honda questioning Mike: the gas station has been there for a while. The last site owner fixed cars, didn't pump gas. When you moved to the neighborhood, you weren't concerned by the gas?
Mike: I didn't know
Honda: so aren't you glad for remediation?
Mike: I didn't know
Honda: so aren't you glad for remediation?
Mike: developers are pulling the wool over everyone's eyes
Commissioner Santa Ana: if project sponsor cleans up the site to the satisfaction of the Dept of Public Health, will your concerns be addressed?
Mike: my environmental concern will be addressed
Mike: my environmental concern will be addressed
Mike adding that he's very upset about the other gas station site which was opened up and rained on, causing pollution
Sponsor is back: project site enrolled in Maher program in 2018. Site remediation plan must be approved before anything can be built or excavated. No risk here of short-circuiting that program.
Swig: there's an allegation that the land owner is a speculator. What's your experience in developing housing? We want to assure the public that you're not a flipper
Landowner is up: I work for people as a contractor. I'm from the neighborhood. I live at 42nd/Noriega. Sometimes I find a property I can work on. I make a living as a contractor—usually remodelling single-family homes
Swig: the concern continues with me because a single-family home is not a complicated apartment building
Landowner: I built a 16-unit building in 1999. This project won't be too big for me.
Honda: size and mass not before us. Gas tanks are. SF is really old, and before electricity the richer families had oil tanks below ground. How does the site remediation plan work for commercial properties? Will the tanks be kept? Encapsulated?
Sponsor: we're waiting for the consultant's analysis. The plan will be customized to this location.
Planning Dept is back.
Scott: every CEQA determination could be appealed to this board. We do then frequently at the Board of Supervisors.
Scott: every CEQA determination could be appealed to this board. We do then frequently at the Board of Supervisors.
Planning: Regarding speculation, Planning Commission can't deny a project based on the identity of the applicant. But the building permit will expire in 3 years to ensure it will actually be built.
Planning: project complied with noticing requirements at the time.
Executive Director Rosenberg: time for a decision.
Commissioner Honda: our previous mayor put together a task force to figure out how to build more homes for low-income people. It's not a housing shortage. It's an affordability shortage. Every neighborhood must add density.
Commissioner Honda: our previous mayor put together a task force to figure out how to build more homes for low-income people. It's not a housing shortage. It's an affordability shortage. Every neighborhood must add density.
Honda: if we don't add more affordable homes, state density bonus will. I reviewed all the letters in the packet. Business owners weren't in there. They fight for the Sunset. Does it bite that density will encroach on our neighborhoods? Yes. But we need higher density.
Honda: six units would be a waste for that lot. People are upset, I get it. But we need more affordable units. Sheriff's came last week because of a project in the Mission to build 214 units—this audience has been more respectful.
Honda moving to deny appeal on basis that the Planning Commission did not err or abuse it's discretion.
