DZLU January

DZLU MEETING DATE: January 21, 2020

1. ONGOING PROJECT UPDATES

a. 1998 POLK/REVEILLE CAFÉ – This business will open at the former Bel Campo site at Polk and Pacific serving salads, sandwiches and specialty coffee. No official notice has been received, but since the business is replacing a similar business, the project may be permitted “as of right.” A building permit for minor renovations has been issued. Other Reveille Café locations are in North Beach, the Haight, Mission Bay, Castro and Berkeley, as well as a truck/pop-up in Jackson Square on Pacific between Sansome and Battery.

b. 1000 BROADWAY — Several DZLU members who had attended a previous community meeting on this project received a courtesy call from the new owner. RHN had been following the proposed residential project of the previous owner for a number of years. RHN and immediate neighbors will be kept informed of plans as they progress.

c. SFCUU – UNDERGROUNDING UTILITIES – The Telamon Engineering report will be presented to the SF Board of Supervisors soon and the SFCUU Board is currently reviewing the rough draft. Also, the California PUC has been conferencing and including communities around California to potentially rewrite Rule 20A which sets up a fund that allocates a certain percentage of what ratepayers pay to fund undergrounding. SFCUU has actively participated and placed pertinent issues and questions before them. Finally, SFCUU has scheduled a meeting with Mayor Breed’s budget office to repeat its request of funds for the Master Plan.

2. ONGOING POLICY UPDATES

a. LOMBARD STREET – RHN’s Lombard Street Task Force members met with SF Travel this month to discuss how the two organizations could work together using social media outlets to address the issues arising from auto and pedestrian congestion in the neighborhood around the crooked street, as well as advising visitors of related safety issues. SF Travel agreed to review its materials that describe and/or promote Lombard’s crooked street, and members of the Task Force agreed to provide suggested new content for SF Travel to consider.

b. 5G REGULATIONS – After a discussion of the challenges a neighborhood organization faces in determining how it might be involved in the many issues around 5G installations (health, visual impacts, lack of coordination among agencies, federal vs. local controls), it was agreed that DZLU will remain open to receiving information as it becomes available and would continue to advocate that all of the agencies involved with utilities carry out installations in a fully coordinated approach.

c. POSSIBLE COMMERCIAL VACANCY TAX – RHN’s Local Businesses Committee Chair will attend an upcoming Town Hall on Prop D which would impose a vacancy tax on empty storefronts in certain commercial areas of the City, including Polk St. More discussion about the ballot measure and its pros and cons was included in the December 2019 DZLU report.

d. SB 50 AND OTHER HOUSING LEGISLATION – SB 50 moved out of the Rules Committee and faced an end-of-January deadline for passage or the bill would be deemed “dead.” Opponents are concerned with two major issues: (1) the permitting of fourplexes throughout the state overriding local zoning and applying to vacant land, along with a very streamlined approval process; (2) overriding local zoning in job rich, major transit areas. Of the recommendations that RHN had sent to Senator Wiener regarding SB 50 last year, one was addressed in the new version of the legislation which provides for a local-opt out for those jurisdictions that devise their own plan to meet housing objectives, based on regulations to be enacted through the Governor’s office by 2021, thus delaying implementation of SB 50’s provisions to January 2023.
Subsequent to our meeting, the legislation failed to receive the required number of votes in the Senate for passage.

3. NEIGHBOR INQUIRIES – Macondray Lane historic entrance trellis – Ongoing interest has been expressed in preserving this entrance feature. Volunteer efforts by immediate neighbors on the Lane to maintain and preserve it are underway, as well as to care for its landscaping.