FILE NO. 250125
SUBSTITUTED
03/18/2025
ORDINANCE NO. 4 7-25
[Planning Code, Zoning Map - 600 Townsend Street West Special Use District]
Ordinance amending the Planning Code and Zoning Map to establish the 600
Townsend Street West Special Use District, encompassing the real property consisting
of Assessor's Parcel Block No. 3783, Lot No. 008, to allow the legalization of the
longstanding office uses at the site by principally permitting office uses on all floors
and waiving or reducing the bicycle parking, open space, streetscape, Transportation
Demand Management, and impact fee requirements; affirming the Planning
Department's determination under the California Environmental Quality Act; making
findings of consistency with the General Plan, and the eight priority policies of
Planning Code, Section 101.1; and making findings of public necessity, convenience,
and welfare under Planning Code, Section 302.
NOTE:
Unchanged Code text and uncodified text are in plain Arial font.
Additions to Codes are in single-underline italics Times New Roman font.
Deletions to Codes are in strikethrough ilalics Times Ne·,., Romen fm~I.
Board amendment additions are in double-underlined Arial font.
Board amendment deletions are in strikethrough Arial font.
Asterisks (* * * *) indicate the omission of unchanged Code
subsections or parts of tables.
Be it ordained by the People of the City and County of San Francisco:
Section 1. Land Use and Environmental Findings.
(a) The Planning Department has determined that the actions contemplated in this
ordinance comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (California Public Resources
Code Sections 21000 et seq.). Said determination is on file with the Clerk of the Board of
Supervisors in File No. 250125 and is incorporated herein by reference. The Board affirms
this determination.
Supervisor Dorsey
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
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(b) On March 27, 2025, the Planning Commission, in Resolution No. 21712, adopted
findings that the actions contemplated in this ordinance are consistent, on balance, with the
City's General Plan and eight priority policies of Planning Code Section 101.1. The Board
adopts these findings as its own. A copy of said Resolution is on file with the Clerk of the
Board of Supervisors in File No. 250125, and is incorporated herein by reference.
(c) Pursuant to Planning Code Section 302, the Board of Supervisors finds that the
actions contemplated in this ordinance will serve the public necessity, convenience, and
welfare for the reasons set forth in Planning Commission Resolution No. 21712, and adopts
such reasons by this reference thereto. A copy of said Resolution is on file with the Clerk of
the Board of Supervisors in File No. 250125, and is incorporated herein by reference.
Section 2. Background and General Findings.
(a) 600 Townsend Street West (Assessor's Parcel Block No. 3783, Lot No. 008)
and 600 Townsend Street East (Assessor's Parcel Block No. 3783, Lot No. 007) are located
on adjacent lots. 600 Townsend Street West is five stories plus a basement; 600 Townsend
Street East is four stories plus a basement. An arcade and pedestrian bridge connect the two
buildings. As originally constructed, the two buildings contained Production, Distribution, and
Repair Uses.
(b) The building at 600 Townsend Street East was determined to have legally
converted to office use in the 1980s. However, the building at 600 Townsend Street West
converted to Office Use in the 1990s without required authorizations. Since the 1990s, the
Department of Building Inspection has issued numerous building permits for tenant
improvements of the office space at both buildings.
(c) In 2008, both 600 Townsend Street West and 600 Townsend Street East were
rezoned to the Urban Mixed Use (UMU) District as part of the Eastern Neighborhoods Area
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Plan. Office Uses in the UMU District are subject to controls that restrict the amount of office
space in a building relative to the number of building stories. For buildings five to seven
stories in height (including the building at 600 Townsend Street West), Office Uses are limited
to two floors and not permitted on the ground floor.
(d) On November 7, 2019, the Zoning Administrator issued a Letter of Determination
finding that 600 Townsend Street East contained both legal conforming and legal non-
conforming Office Use. However, the Office Use at 600 Townsend Street West was never
legally established under the Planning Code. Consequently, 600 Townsend Street East can
operate office uses on all floors of the building, while Office Use at 600 Townsend Street West
may only be authorized for two floors and is not permitted on the ground floor.
(e) Given 600 Townsend Street West's longstanding operation as an office building, its
permitting history, and its close operational relationship with 600 Townsend Street East,
legalizing all five floors of office space at 600 Townsend Street West would serve the public
interest. To achieve that end, this ordinance creates the 600 Townsend Street West Special
Use District ("SUD"), which makes Office Use principally permitted on all floors of the building.
The SUD also reduces the usable open space requirement for non-residential uses at the site
and waives Class 2 bicycle parking requirements and streetscape and pedestrian
improvements.
(f) The SUD also reduces development impact fees to the levels that would have been
required in 2012 under the Eastern Neighborhoods Legitimization Program (Planning Code
Section 179.1 ), adjusted for inflation per the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers.
The Eastern Neighborhoods Legitimization Program was a time-limited program that enabled
existing uses operating without the benefit of a required permit to obtain those permits, and
fixed certain impact fee rates at those amounts applicable immediately prior to the Eastern
Neighborhoods rezoning. Though the Program expired in 2012, applying these fee rates (in
Supervisor Dorsey
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
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Planning Code Section 179.1 ), adjusted for inflation, is consistent with the treatment of other
legitimized Office Uses in the Eastern Neighborhoods Area Plan.
(g) Additionally, in 2023, the City enacted Ordinance No. 20-23 (Planning Code
Section 403), which provides a time-limited 33% reduction of impact fees for projects that
meet prescribed milestones. The SUD applies the 33% reduction to the adjusted 2012
Eastern Neighborhood Legitimization Program rates, and provides that no further reductions
or offsets are available under the Planning Code.
Section 3. The Planning Code is hereby amended by adding Section 249.10 and
revising Sections 249.45, 803.9, and 838, to read as follows:
SEC. 249.10. 600 TOWNSEND STREET WEST SPECIAL USE DISTRICT.
(a) Location. A special use district entitled the "600 Townsend Street West Special Use
District" ("SUD") consisting of Assessor's Parcel Block No. 3 783, Lot No. 008, is hereby established
for the purposes set forth below. The boundaries of the SUD are designated on Sectional Map No.
SU08 of the Zoning Map.
(b) Purpose. The purpose o{this SUD is to allow the legalization of the longstanding office use
at 600 Townsend Street West.
(c) Controls. The Planning Code shall control except as otherwise provided in this Section
249. 10. If there is a conflict between other provisions of the Planning Code and this Section 249. 10,
this Section 249.10 shall prevail.
(]) Uses.
(A) Office Uses shall be principally permitted on all floors.
(B) Section 803. 9(e) ("Vertical Controls for Office Uses") shall not apply.
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(2) Development Controls. For any proiect that receives an Office Allocation pursuant
to Section 321 after January 1, 2025, and proposes a change o(use to Office within the building as it
exists as of the effective date of this SUD, the following development contra-ls shall apply. These
controls shall also apply in the event the existing building is damaged or destroyed by fire, or other
calamity, or by Act of God, or by the public enemy and is replaced with a substantially similar building.
(A) Open Space. The open space requirement for changes of use to Office
within Eastern Neighborhood Mixed Use Districts in Section 135. 5 shall be a maximum of 2. 600 gross
square feet.
(B) Bicycle Parking. The requirement for Class 2 bicycle parking in Section
155 et seq. shall not apply. All other requirements of Section 155 et seq., including Class 1 bicycle
parking, shall apply.
(C) Streetscape and Pedestrian Improvements. The streetscape and pedestrian
improvement requirements in Section 138.1 shall not apply.
(D) Transportation Demand Management. The Transportation Demand
Management plan and program requirement in Section 169 et seq. shall not apply.
(3) Impact Fees.
(A) Proiects that file a Development Application between January 1, 2025 and
November 1, 2026 to establish an Office use pursuant to this Section 249.10 shall pay only the
following Development Impact Fees under the Planning Code:
(i) Child-care (Planning Code Section 414): $0.99 per gross square foot;
(ii) Jobs-Housing Linkage Program (Planning Code Section 413): $7.94
per gross square foot,· and
(iii) Transportation Sustainability Fee (Planning Code Section 41 lA):
$1.87 per gross square foot.
Supervisor Dorsey
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(B) The Development Impact Fee rates prescribed in this Section 249.10 include
the 33% reduction available under Section 403 and shall not be offset by any further waiver or
reduction.
SEC. 249.45. VISITACION VALLEY/SCHLAGE LOCK SPECIAL USE DISTRICT.
* * * *
(e) Controls in Zone 1. Development in Zone 1 of the Special Use District shall be
regulated by the controls contained in this Section 249.45(e) and the Design for Development.
Where not explicitly superseded by definitions and controls established in this Section
249.45(e) or the Design for Development, the definitions and controls in this Planning Code
shall apply except where those controls conflict with the Development Agreement. The
following shall apply only in Zone 1 of the Special Use District:
*
* * *
(2) Use Requirements.
* * * *
(C) Prohibited Uses. The following uses shall be prohibited within this
Special Use District:
*
*
*
*
(ii) Office, except in existing buildings or as an accessory use to
other permitted uses. The floor controls set forth in Section 803.9@$ for the MUG zoning
designation shall not apply to office use in the Old Office Building or to the existing building
located on Assessor's Block and Lot No. 5100-007;
* * * *
Supervisor Dorsey
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
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SEC. 803.9. COMMERCIAL USES IN EASTERN NEIGHBORHOODS MIXED USE
DISTRICTS.
* * * *
(e) Vertical Controls for Office Uses.
* * * *
(2) Applicability. This subsection 803.9(e) 803.9(/) shall apply to all Office
Uses in the MUG and UMU Districts and all office uses in buildings in the PDR-1-D and PDR-
1-G Districts that are designated as landmarks pursuant to Article 10 of the Planning Code,
where permitted.
* * * *
Table 803.9(8.crl
Total Number of Stories
Maximum Number of
Designated Office Stories
1-story
0 stories ( office use NP)
2 - 4 stories
1-story
5 - 7 stories
2-stories
8 or more stories
3-stories
* * * *
SEC. 838. UMU - URBAN MIXED USE DISTRICT.
Table 838
UMU - URBAN MIXED USE DISTRICT ZONING CONTROL TABLE
Zoning Category
§ References
Urban Mixed Use District Controls
Supervisor Dorsey
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* * * *
NON-RESIDENTIAL STANDARDS AND USES
* * * *
Sales and Service Category
Non-Retail Sales and
§§ 102
p
Service*
Office Uses
§§ 102; 803.9(/tftl_
P(4)
* * * *
* Not listed below
* * * *
(4) Unless located within a historic building per §803.9(c), uses subject to vertical
control of§ 803.9(/tw_.
* * * *
Section 4. Zoning Map Amendment. Pursuant to Sections 106 and 302(c) of the
Planning Code, Sectional Map SU08 of the Zoning Map of the City and County of San
Francisco is hereby amended, as follows:
Description of Property
Special Use District Hereby Created
Assessor's Parcel Block No. 3783, Lot No.
600 Townsend Street West Special Use
District
Section 5. Effective Date. This ordinance shall become effective 30 days after
enactment. Enactment occurs when the Mayor signs the ordinance, the Mayor returns the
Supervisor Dorsey
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
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ordinance unsigned or does not sign the ordinance within ten days of receiving it, or the Board
of Supervisors overrides the Mayor's veto of the ordinance.
Section 6. Scope of Ordinance. In enacting this ordinance, the Board of Supervisors
intends to amend only those words, phrases, paragraphs, subsections, sections, articles,
numbers, punctuation marks, charts, diagrams, or any other constituent parts of the Municipal
Code that are explicitly shown in this ordinance as additions, deletions, Board amendment
additions, and Board amendment deletions in accordance with the "Note" that appears under
the official title of the ordinance.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
DAVID CHIU, City Attorney
By:
Isl Austin Yang
AUSTIN YANG
Deputy City Attorney
n:\legana\as202512500181101824503.docx
Supervisor Dorsey
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Page 9
City and County of San Francisco
Tails
Ordinance
City Hall
I Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
File Number:
250125
Date Passed: April 15, 2025
Ordinance amending the Planning Code and Zoning Map to establish the 600 Townsend Street West
Special Use District, encompassing the real property consisting of Assessor's Parcel Block No. 3783,
Lot No. 008, to allow the legalization of the longstanding office uses at the site by principally permitting
office uses on all floors and waiving or reducing the bicycle parking, open space, streetscape,
Transportation Demand Management, and impact fee requirements; affirming the Planning
Department's determination under the California Environmental Quality Act; making findings of
consistency with the General Plan, and the eight priority policies of Planning Code, Section 101.1; and
making findings of public necessity, convenience, and welfare under Planning Code, Section 302.
April 07, 2025 Land Use and Transportation Committee - RECOMMENDED AS COMMITTEE
REPORT
April 08, 2025 Board of Supervisors - PASSED ON FIRST READING
Ayes: 10 - Chan, Chen, Dorsey, Engardio, Fielder, Mahmood, Mandelman, Melgar,
Sherrill and Walton
Excused: 1 - Sauter
April 15, 2025 Board of Supervisors - FINALLY PASSED
City and County of Sa,1 Francisco
Ayes: 10 - Chan, Chen, Dorsey, Engardio, Fielder, Mahmood, Mandelman, Sauter,
Sherrill and Walton
Absent: 1 - Melgar
Page I
Printed at 10:07 am on 4/16/25
File No. 250125
City and County of San Francisco
Daniel Lurie
Mayor
Pagel
I hereby certify that the foregoing
Ordinance was FINALLY PASSED on
4/15/2025 by the Board of Supervisors of the
City and County of San Francisco.
Angela Calvillo
Clerk of the Board
Date Approved
Printed at 10:07 am 011 4/16/25
