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DENSIFICATION WARNING - Residents Beware

San Francisco residents defeated Mayor Lee's and Supervisor Tang's attempt to rezone all but the Residential Housing-1 and -2 areas under the Affordable Housing Bonus Program (AHBP), a densification idea. AHBP's goal: Increase the permissible density of housing units at the expense of neighborhood character by allowing developers to receive accommodation around existing Planning Code regulations using a "one size fits all" approach. Vigilant neighbors and small business owners held in abeyance the AHBP. Although a 100% AHBP did pass, the rest of the AHBP including its design guidelines haven't been approved yet.

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Neighbors are requesting the UDG, with any other design guidelines which may be under consideration or are being replaced including but not limited to the UDG, the Urban Design Element of the General Plan, any RDGs, or any AHBP design guidelines, be considered concurrently so that the City neighborhoods understand very clearly how each set of guidelines interact…”

With recent state legislation, the City is now focused on liberalizing zoning guidelines that modify the permissible building volume and density. One such attempt to seek to liberalize and leave subject to broader interpretations is the proposed "Urban Design Guidelines" (UDG) which permits waivers to allow the equivalent of spot-zoning by waiver. The UDG also is a clone of the previously introduced AHBP Design Guidelines (AHBPDG). Clarification is needed to determine if the UDG will pre-empt the Urban Design Element of the General Plan.

Further, Planning Staff ("Staff") introduced the "Article 7" reorganization which governs neighborhood commercial districts (NCD). In this, the Control Tables reference "Urban Design Guidelines" with a reference to the existing General Plan's Commerce and Industry Element (CIE) UDG. The UDG reference should be clarified to mean those existing in the CIE vs. the draft UDG document.

Next, Staff has indicated that in 2017, the "Residential Design Guidelines" (RDG), which further delineate the rules for residential development features such as front, side, rear yard setbacks and architectural style, will be revamped. Clarification is needed on its interaction with the other design guidelines.

Apparently, Staff is also proposing changes to the November 2008 draft "Ground Floor Residential Design Guidelines" (GFRDG). These are noted in the UDG document but it cannot be ascertained how this current draft might be changed, if at all. In the 2015 draft AHBPDG, there is a reference to the GFRDG. Clarification is needed on the ultimate disposition of either of these drafts.

Neighbors are requesting the UDG, with any other design guidelines which may be under consideration or are being replaced including but not limited to the UDG, the Urban Design Element of the General Plan, any RDGs, or any AHBP design guidelines, be considered concurrently so that the City neighborhoods understand very clearly how each set of guidelines interacts with the others and with neighborhood or other regional guidelines, too, to avoid "one size fits all" guidelines.

Subject may still be "live" in November. Comment today.

-10/13: "Article 7" neighborhood commercial districts (NCD) reorganization. It references "Urban Design Guidelines." One interpretation of this reference could be UDG application to residential buildings in NCDs. Clarification is needed to not apply to residential buildings.

Info: sf-planning.org/ftp/General_Plan/I5_Urban_Design.htm

Rose Hillson is a planning activist in San Francisco

October 2016

Don’t Turn West of Twin Peaks Into Fawlty Towers!

… let’s use the correct terminology to describe what is really going on here. People who rent rooms to tourists are not “home-sharers.” They are “home-renters.” … Renting rooms to tourists is a commercial activity.

The West of Twin Peaks Central Council, which represents twenty (20) neighborhood associations in western San Francisco, opposes Supervisor David Chiu’s proposed legislation to legalize short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods for the following reasons:

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… let’s use the correct terminology to describe what is really going on here. People who rent rooms to tourists are not 'home-sharers.' They are 'home-renters.' … Renting rooms to tourists is a commercial activity.”

 

• The proposed legislation would amount to a complete rezoning of the entire City.

• Hotels and bed-and-breakfasts would be permitted in all residential neighborhoods, including those that are zoned as RH-1-D (Residential, House, Single-Family, Detached) and RH-1 (Residential, House, Single-Family), thereby jeopardizing residential character.

• Classifying short-term rentals as a “residential use” would make it more difficult for homeowners’ associations to enforce their CC&R’s against businesses in residential neighborhoods.

• This proposal, coming on the heels of the legislation legalizing secondary units throughout the City, would destroy single-family residential character West of Twin Peaks. The proposed legislation would allow tenants to rent their units on a short-term basis, so that instead of knowing who our neighbors are, whether they are homeowners or long-term renters, we would have no idea who was living next door to us, or for how long.The proposal would increase traffic and congestion, as well as pose health and safety issues caused by unregulated rooms. Not long ago we learned of a house that was renting out rooms on a short-term basis and was burning creosote-soaked wood from a redwood deck that had been torn down, as part of a backyard “happy hour” for its guests. We called DBI and the owner claimed to have ceased the operation. Under the proposed legislation, neither the neighborhood association nor the neighbors would have standing to complain about the rental.

• Here is what could happen: Absentee owner (A) rents the house to Tenant (B), and also builds a secondary unit, which s/he then rents to a third person (C), who then rents it short-term to a fourth person (D).If someone comes back at 2:00 a.m. and tries to get into the home, or downstairs apartment, how do the next-door neighbors know whether that person is a tourist or a burglar?

• Short-term rentals may be appropriate in neighborhoods that are already zoned for commercial uses, such as hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, where neither the neighbors nor the neighborhood associations object to such use. They are definitely NOT appropriate in our single-family residential neighborhoods.

The planning staff’s own draft report noted the threat to neighborhood character, as follows:

Neighborhood Character

The Department is also concerned about how short-term rentals are impacting neighborhood character and the quality of life for San Francisco residents. A neighborhood made up of permanent residents has a very different character than a neighborhood where everyone is a transient visitor. While tourists are important for this City’s economy and its cultural identity, it’s primarily the residents of San Francisco that make it a unique and interesting place to visit. Permanent residents have a vested interest in maintaining the unique quality of life in San Francisco. They build community by developing longstanding relationships; help ensure that trash doesn’t accumulate on the sidewalks, and are inherently motivated to be respectful of their neighbors. Many of the complaints that the Department receives about short-term rentals have to do with the hours of activity tourists keep compared to long-term residents with regular nine to five work schedules.

The proposed legislation strikes at the very heart of what it is to be a community. The single-family homes in the residential neighborhoods West of Twin Peaks are part of the fabric of their communities, and they are more than just isolated dwelling units. Families know their neighbors, their children play together, and they watch out for each other. If changes are to be made to protect long-time homeowners who are in financial difficulties, especially seniors, they should be made with the participation of all the members of the community, not by legislative fiat at City Hall, and definitely not for the benefit of real estate speculators and large corporations with no real stake in the community.

Our western residential neighborhoods are useful when elections roll around, or when City Hall wants a new bond measure passed. Then the politicians want to come and speak to us. But no one solicits our views before attempting a massive rezoning that affects us all. It was bad enough when the proposed legislation only applied to secondary units, but now apparently any single-family home can be turned into a guest house, or bed-and-breakfast, without any notice to the HOA, in secret, to protect the owner’s “right of privacy.” Worse, the proposed law defines such use as “residential,” so that HOA’s may not even be able to enforce their own CC&R’s against running a business.

What we have here is a blatant attempt to rezone the entire city, so that the concept of a single-family residential neighborhood will cease to exist. There are very powerful economic interests that either do not care about San Francisco’s single-family neighborhoods or who believe, in good faith, that they should not exist at all, and that San Francisco should become a high-density city like Paris or Manhattan. Those are both great cities to visit, but I would not want to live in either of them. People buy houses in our single-family residential neighborhoods precisely because they are low-density. We have zoning laws for that reason. If the City wishes to change those laws to accommodate more people, then there should be a full and fair debate about what kind of city we want to have, how many people it can hold, both transient and permanent, without further straining public services, and whether every part of the City should allow guest houses and bed-and-breakfasts.

Finally, let’s use the correct terminology to describe what is really going on here. People who rent rooms to tourists are not “home-sharers.” They are “home-renters.” Sharing means giving of what you have to another, not selling to another. Renting rooms to tourists is a commercial activity.

Stop this legislation dead in its tracks. Tell the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors NOT to approve it.

Roger Ritter is the President of the West of Twin Peaks Central Council

September 2014

In-laws Hit the Neighborhoods

secondary unit

On April 18, 2014, Mayor Lee signed into law Supervisor Chiu’s legislation legalizing “existing” secondary units in every neighborhood in San Francisco, regardless of whether those neighborhoods were zoned for multiple dwelling use, or as single-family residential neighborhoods. Thus, with one stroke of his pen, the mayor allowed almost 100 years of zoning laws and residential development policies to be overturned, with no environmental impact report.

To make matters even worse, the legislation is drafted so as to allow existing units to be legalized, whether or not there are actually tenants in those units. Thus, the argument made by the proponents of the legislation that all it does is to bring current tenants “out of the shadows” is simply not accurate. Rather, it allows developers and speculators to buy up homes in single-family neighborhoods, remodel existing units, bring them up to code, and then rent them out to new tenants, thereby increasing neighborhood density, parking problems, traffic, and congestion. The legislation will allow speculators to target the small amount of family-sized housing remaining in the City for subdivision into smaller multi-unit housing, reaping huge profits, and driving more families out of the City.

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Why would anyone put an offer on a home with an already-occupied legal secondary unit … only to learn that such family use …could only be permitted after an expensive eviction proceeding?”

Our District 7 Supervisor Norman Yee worked hard to craft a compromise by which neighborhoods that are zoned RH-1-D (single-family residential-detached) would be exempt from the legislation. His amendment would have protected most of the neighborhoods West of Twin Peaks. However, it failed on a 5-5 tie vote, with Supervisors Yee, Tang, Breed, Farrell, and Wiener voting for it, and Supervisors Avalos, Campos, Chiu, Cohen and Kim voting against it. (Supervisor Mar was absent.) After the amendment failed to pass, the Board of Supervisors approved the legislation by a vote of nine to two. Only Supervisors Yee and Tang voted against the measure. They deserve our thanks for trying to preserve the single-family residential character of our western neighborhoods.

Why does this all matter? Balboa Terrace was developed during the 1920’s as a single-family neighborhood and has remained one ever since. Along with Monterey Heights, St. Francis Wood, Westwood Highlands, and many other residential neighborhoods West of Twin Peaks, it was designed so that people could raise their children in the City, but at the same time enjoy their own homes, with lawns and gardens. Single-family neighborhoods are an important part of the total housing mix of San Francisco and are part of the “density diversity” of San Francisco. They help to preserve the City’s unique urban character, and also prevent the “Manhattanization” of San Francisco; without them nothing would be left in town except cookie-cutter neighborhoods with high-density housing units.

Contrary to the proponents’ arguments, this legislation is not about “granny” or the “in-laws” having a place to live. In fact, the legalization of secondary units is not necessary in order to allow an extended family to live together under the same roof. Secondary living units that do not have their own kitchens or separate entrances are already allowed under current zoning laws. Elderly relatives and adult children can and often do live with their families. Balboa Terrace already welcomes extended families of parents, children and grandparents living together.

Moreover, this legislation will not increase the number of affordable housing units in San Francisco. Rather, it will have many unintended consequences, e.g., increased congestion, the permanent removal of family-sized housing from our housing stock, and the very real possibility that developers and speculators will use the law to create new secondary units and then claim they already existed at the time the law was passed. When homeowners realize that legalizing their currently illegal units removes their control over the footprint of their homes, thereby devaluing their property on the open market, the number of units that actually enter the program will fall well short of expectations. Why would anyone put an offer on a home with an already-occupied legal secondary unit, intending to use that unit as a bedroom for an elderly parent or an adult child, only to learn that such family use would not be permitted, or could only be permitted after an expensive eviction proceeding?

This legislation constitutes a complete rezoning of the entire City, drastically altering the RH-1 and RH-1-D residential zones, and therefore merits a thorough discussion and a full environmental impact report. If the City wants to change almost 100 years of zoning law, it should say so, and do so honestly, after a full and fair debate, and after consultation with the various neighborhood groups that will be affected, not just with a few advocacy groups.

The proponents of this legislation did not approach the West of Twin Peaks Central Council, an umbrella group of 20 neighborhood organizations founded in 1936, during the drafting of this legislation, nor did they attempt to limit the legalization of secondary units to neighborhoods that are already zoned for multiple use so that neighborhood character on the West Side of the City would not be jeopardized. In contrast, Supervisor Wiener’s own legislation to allow legalization of secondary units in part of District 8 is a narrowly-tailored measure that applies only to one neighborhood, not the entire City.

Now it is up to the West of Twin Peaks Central Council and its member organizations, working with homeowners’ associations and with neighborhood groups across the City, to do everything we can to mitigate the damage that this legislation will do, perhaps by filing a lawsuit, or by putting an initiative on the ballot to overturn it at the polls, or by working for its amendment or outright repeal when the composition of the current Board of Supervisors changes. Meanwhile, we should insist that the City vigorously monitor the applications for permits to make sure that only units which actually existed on the date provided for in the legislation are allowed to be legalized. We should also educate homeowners who might be tempted to legalize their secondary units, and remind them of the unintended consequences of such legalization: losing control of their property, deteriorating the quality of their neighborhoods, and shackling subsequent owners with secondary rental units, whether they want them or not.

Roger Ritter is President of the Balboa Terrace Homes Association and VP of the West of Twin Peaks Central Council.

May 2014

Arden Wood Project

Ardenwood Project Plan Ready for Major Step Forward

Ardenwood

“We want to retain as much of this precious urban forest as we can, while adding housing. Going the conventional route would mean plastering the hillside with blocks of housing and cutting down a lot of trees. We don’t want to do that, and the community we’ve heard from doesn’t want that either. And we’re still listening.”

—Former Supervisor Bob Mendelsohn

 

Developers of the Arden Wood Project are in the final stages of their application for an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on property obtained through a subdivision of Arden Wood, a property once entirely owned by the Christian Science Church that has housed a senior citizen facility since the 1930’s. The Church and the current operator, non-profit Arden Wood, Inc., has managed to keep the heavily wooded area intact for over 75 years, but costs associated with renovations at the senior center made subdivision a necessity.
“It doesn’t make sense to buy such a unique piece of property and reduce it to a suburban style landscape,” Republic Urban’s West Coast President Bob Mendelsohn said. “Although the current zoning code allows for 199 units at 40 ft heights, we’re really trying to go in the other direction. In order to do that, we need to build higher to to keep the footprint smaller, and that way we’ll retain 75% of the forest in its current condition. Our plan calls for only 160 units—130 of the units would be located in two mid-rise buildings.

“Keeping the beautiful dense urban forest intact, as much as possible, will require building higher rather than the usual sprawl that characterizes most urban development today. The area’s site with nearby mass transit is appropriate for a Transit Oriented Development (TOD), higher density, taller buildings ,” according to Mendelsohn, who for many years, lived nearby with his family.
According to Mark Nelson, an advisor to the Board of the non-profit, the renovations are estimated to cost $23 million, which prompted the Board to sell off 4.5 acres for development. Nelson is currently developing seven single family houses along 15th and Wawona which he purchased from Arden Wood, Inc. in a separate agreement. The board chose Republic through a series of competitions. The initial choice of the Board failed to go forward, so they initiated a second competition and the development was finally awarded to Republic Urban Properties.

The plans also indicate eight single family homes along 19th, set back with trees and screening vegetation to shield the residences from busy traffic noise along the street. Another house, which currently serves as the Director’s residence, will remain as it is. A lodge is also planned which will serve as work force housing for teachers or firefighters.

Republic Urban has been meeting with various community groups since the agreement was signed in February. Neighbors weighed in with some familiar concerns, including the height of the buildings and the increased traffic on local streets around 18th and Wawona, including the Greater West Portal Neighborhood Association and the West of Twin Peaks Central Council

Due to their input, plans for traffic to and from the project will be limited to 19th Avenue, with minimal use of the gate at 18th and Wawona for staff, according to Mendelsohn. Neighbors frequently noted the problem of egress into 19th would create similar problems to those encountered by residents of The Grove. Driving from The Grove, south toward Stonestown or Sloat, autos must drive north along 19th and execute a U-turn or drive around the block which includes St. Cecilia’s. Recognizing this problem, plans are in the works for a new road that will go to the existing intersection at 19th and Wawona, allowing drivers to head south from into the intersection itself which currently exists, albeit with no entrance from Wawona.
Developers also held early meetings with the Planning Department, St. Cecilia’s and Supervisor Elsbernd. These meetings have been described as informational.
There are no plans, as yet, to break ground, and the planning and entitlement work will likely take another year to 18 months. Construction itself will not begin for at least 2 more years.
Bob Mendelsohn, is the President of Republic Urban Properties, West Coast Division. Headquarters are in San Francisco and San Jose.

 March 2008

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