After an emotional 10-hour hearing exposing the deep divisions over how to address the city’s housing shortage, the San Francisco Planning Commission approved a plan Thursday night to allow for 36,000 new homes on the city’s west side and northern neighborhoods, despite opposition from groups who said the zoning changes would lead to rampant real estate speculation and displacement of small businesses and tenants.
While the zoning changes are likely to evolve in the months to come — the Board of Supervisors has until Jan. 31 to pass the legislation — the vision endorsed by the planning commission in a 4-3 vote could eventually reshape swaths of the city unaccustomed to housing development, from the Sunset and Richmond districts to the Marina and northern waterfront.
The sleepy flats where North Beach gives way to Fisherman’s Wharf — North Point, Bay, Jefferson and Beach streets — could see buildings of six and eight stories. The heavily trafficked Lombard Street, a motel-rich boulevard where Marin commuters motor to and from the Golden Gate Bridge at rush hour, could become home to 14-story buildings. Towers of 24 stories could pop up on Van Ness between Broadway and Sutter Street, while six-story apartment complexes would be allowed along Judah, Noriega and Taraval, the Sunset’s busy streetcar routes.
Hanging over the debate and vote was the heavy hand of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, which for three years has criticized San Francisco’s housing approval and building permitting process, which has historically been among the slowest and most difficult in the state. Under the city’s state-mandated “Housing Element,” passed in 2023, San Francisco is obligated to plan for 36,000 additional units, the majority of which must be in “high-resourced” neighborhoods with solid schools, reliable transit and good convenient retail…