AMENDED IN BOARD
FILE NO. 180319
7/24/2018
ORDINANCE NO. 213-18
[Planning Code - Cannabis Retail and Medical Cannabis Dispensaries in Chinatown]
Ordinance amending the Planning Code to prohibit Cannabis Retail and Medical
Cannabis Dispensaries in the Chinatown Mixed Use Districts; 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 italics Times Ne,,v Romanf<mt.
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. Environmental and Land Use 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 Section 21000 et seq.). Said determination is on file with the Clerk of the Board of
Supervisors in File No. 180319, and is incorporated herein by reference. The Board affirms
this determination.
(b) On ___ , the Planning Commission, in Resolution No. __ , adopted findings
that the actions contemplated in this ordinance are consistent, on balance, 1..vith the City's
General Plan and eight priority policies of Planning Code, Section 101.1 . The Board finds that
the actions contemplated in this ordinance are consistent. on balance. with the City's General
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Plan and eight priority policies of Planning Code Section 101.1. For this purnose. the Board
relies on the General Findings in Section 2 of this ordinance. as well as the General Plan
compliance findings set forth in the Planning Department's Executive Summary of these
Planning Code amendments prepared for the Planning Commission's June 14. 2018 hearing.
which findings t+he Board adopts these findings as its own. A copy of said Resolution the
Planning Department's Executive Summary is on file with the Clerk of the Board of
Supervisors in File No. 180319, and is incorporated herein by reference.
(c) Pursuant to Planning Code, Section 302, the Board of Supervisors finds that these
Planning Code amendments will serve the public necessity, convenience, and welfare for the
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reasons set forth in Section 2 of this ordinance and the Planning Department's Executive
Summarv of these Planning Code amendmentsPlanning Commission Resolution No. __ _
and the Board incorporates such reasons herein by reference. A copy of said Resolutionthe
Planning Department's Executive Summary of these Planning Code amendments is on file
with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors in File No. 180319, and is incorporated herein by
reference.
Section 2. General Findings.
(a) In 2017, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted regulations governing
the manufacture, sale, and distribution of adult use of cannabis, following approval by
California voters in 2016 of Proposition 64, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of
Marijuana Act. By passing Proposition 64, California joined other states, including Nevada,
Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Maine, and Massachusetts, in legalizing the adult recreational
use of cannabis.
(b) While the legalization of cannabis for medicinal and recreational use serves the
public good by, among other things, making cannabis more accessible to patients in need,
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addressing the disparate impacts of decades of racially-biased criminal justice and law
enforcement systems, reducing prison populations, and generating tax revenue for
reinvestment in public education and environmental, social and medical programs, the impact
of the booming cannabis industry on real estate prices and on existing, vulnerable
communities in San Francisco has not yet been assessed.
(c) According to the San Francisco Chinatown Area Plan, the Chinese American
community in San Francisco is the oldest and second largest in the entire United States.
According to 2015 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, San Francisco's Chinatown is also one
of the City's densest neighborhoods, wherein two-thirds of residents, many of them elderly
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and/or immigrants, live in Single Room Occupancy (SRO) housing. As the cost of housing
continues to soar, the number of families living in Chinatown SROs has grown. In many
instances, Chinatown SR Os are occupied by multiple generations of families making well
below the City's median household income.
(d) At the core of San Francisco's Chinatown Area Plan are incentives to further
Chinatown's function as a center of civic, religious, and political organization, as well as a
specialized shopping area for the broader Bay Area Chinese population. In part because of
policies enacted by the City, Chinatown has managed to maintain a dense concentration of
institutional land uses, including space for Family and District Associations, a number of
health and social service agencies, and a diverse array of Chinese-owned and -operated
active commercial uses.
(e) San Francisco's Chinatown has also faced and resisted ongoing pressures from
office and co-working space, financial institutions, and other uses that contribute to rent
increases and displace smaller retail and community-serving institutions. The framework for
expansion of cannabis retail in Chinatown may also increases competition for leases on the
ground and upper floors throughout Chinatown's mixed-use districts. Since the successful
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legalization of medicinal and recreational cannabis in states such as Colorado and
Washington, the rapid expansion of cannabis retail and manufacturing has created an
unprecedented boost for the commercial real estate industry. Landlords and property owners
in those states have commanded two to three times the pre-existing commercial rental rates
from cannabis retail tenants.
(f) The emergence of well-capitalized uses amid the ongoing construction of the
Central Subway Chinatown Station and other needed infrastructure improvements has
created a particularly fragile economy for community-serving retail in Chinatown. Several
businesses have closed under the combined pressures of construction-driven street closures,
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consequent lulls in foot traffic, and speculative rent increases. In isolated instances,
commercial tenants have received notice of their rents doubling, rendering ongoing business
in Chinatown impossible. The impact of increased competition for valuable retail space in
Chinatown risks devastating the existing retail environment in Chinatown, and, in turn, driving
irreparable gentrification and displacement of historically lower income commercial tenants
and the resident immigrant communities they serve.
(g) The dense living environments of Chinatown SROs present additional sensitivities
and vulnerabilities to the influx of medicinal and recreational cannabis use. SROs have
historically been the only affordable housing for new immigrants, families, seniors, and
workers in Chinatown. Many of the buildings are old and their walls thin, allowing for
secondhand smoke of any form to be an ongoing nuisance to adjacent tenants. As SRO
housing is increasingly made available to upwardly mobile urban professionals with more
disposable income, the familial bonds and communal considerations of this form of housing
are disappearing.
(h) While medicinal or recreational cannabis will still be readily accessible even if it is
not permitted to be sold within Chinatown's mixed use districts, the cultural and communal
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considerations of Chinatown's immigrant and lower-income populations have yet to be
addressed through language-appropriate and culturally sensitive educational and outreach
efforts. The City and County of San Francisco has an interest in and an obligation to facilitate
the accessible and responsible use of cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use, and it
has a simultaneous obligation to ensure that the industry grows and matures in a way that
respects the diverse cultural fabric of the City's existing communities. These interests and
obligations are not rendered inconsistent by a prohibition on medicinal and retail cannabis
uses along the sensitive corridors and alleyways of San Francisco's historic Chinatown.
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Section 3. The Planning Code is hereby amended by revising Sections 803.2, 810,
811, and 812, to read as follows:
SEC. 803.2. USES PERMITTED IN CHINATOWN MIXED USE DISTRICTS.
A use is the specific purpose for which a property or building is used, occupied,
maintained, or leased. Whether or not a use is permitted in a specific Chinatown Mixed Use
District is set forth, summarizedL or cross-referenced in Sections 810.1 through 812.96 of this
Code for each district class.
(a) Use Categories. The uses, functions, or activities, ,,vhich that are permitted in each
Chinatown Mixed Use District class include those listed in Table 803.2 below by zoning
control category and numbered and cross-referenced to the Code Section containing the
definition.
TABLE 803.2 USE CATEGORIES PERMITTED IN THE
CHINATOWN MIXED USE DISTRICTS
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Section Number
No.
Zoning Control Categories for Uses
of Use
Definition
* * * *
1803.2.75
leannabis Retail
w 890.125
* * * *
(C) Accessory Uses. Subject to the limitations set forth below and in
Sections 204.1 (Accessory Uses for Dwelling Units in R Districts) and 204.5 (Parking and
Loading as Accessory Uses) of this Code, a related minor use which is either necessary to the
operation or enjoyment of a lawful Principal Use or Conditional Use or is appropriate,
incidental, and subordinate to any such use, shall be permitted in Chinatown Mixed Use
Districts as an Accessory Use when located on the same lot. Any Use not qualified as an
Accessory Use shall only be allowed as a Principal or Conditional Use, unless it qualifies as a
temporary use under Sections 205 through 205.2 of this Code.
No use in a Chinatown Mixed Use District will be considered accessory to
a Principal Use which involves or requires any of the following:
* * * *
(vii) Cannabis Retail that does not meet the limitations set forth in
Section 204.3(a)(3)as defined in Section 890.125 ofthis Code.
* * * *
(D) Temporary Uses. Uses not otherwise permitted are permitted in
Chinatown Mixed Use Districts to the extent authorized by Sections 205, 205.1,_ or 205.2 of
this Code, except that Temporary Cannabis Retail Uses shall not be permitted in Chinatown Mixed
Use Districts.
* * * *
Supervisors Peskin; Kim, Tang, Fewer, Safai
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SEC. 810. CHINATOWN COMMUNITY BUSINESS DISTRICT.
* * * *
Table 810
CHINATOWN COMMUNITY BUSINESS DISTRICT ZONING CONTROL TABLE
* * * *
No.
Zoning Category
§ References
Chinatown Community Business
Controls by Story
1st
2nd
3rd+
Retail Sales and Services
* * * * * * * *
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
§§ 202.2(a),
b--B
Cannabis Retail
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Institutions
* * * * * * * *
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
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* * * *
SEC. 811. CHINATOWN VISITOR RETAIL DISTRICT.
* * * *
Table 811
CHINATOWN VISITOR RETAIL DISTRICT ZONING CONTROL TABLE
* * * *
No.
Zoning
§ References
Chinatown Visitor Retail Controls
Category
Retail Sales and Services
* * * *
* * * *
* *
Supervisors Peskin; Kim, Tang, Fewer, Safai
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
* *
* *
by Story
1st
I
2nd
I
3rd+
* *
I* * * *
I* * * *
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§§ 202. 2(a),
~
Cannabis Retail
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890 . .J 2:§
Institutions
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
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SEC. 812. CHINATOWN RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL
DISTRICT.
* * * *
Table 812
CHINATOWN RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL DISTRICT
ZONING CONTROL TABLE
* * * *
No.
Zoning Category
§ References
Retail Sales and Services
* * * *
I* * * *
* * * *
§§ 202.2(a),
w
Cannabis Retail
890. 12:§
Institutions
Supervisors Peskin; Kim, Tang , Fewer, Safai
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Chinatown Residential
Neighborhood Commercial
Controls by Story
1st
2nd
3rd+
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
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Page 8
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
* * * *
Section 4. Effective Date. This ordinance shall become effective 30 days after
enactment. Enactment occurs when the Mayor signs the ordinance, the Mayor returns the
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 5. 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:
DENNIS J. HERRERA, City Attorney
By
~~,,
PETER R. MILJANICH
Deputy City Attorney
n:\Jegana\as2018\1800492\01292075.docx
Supervisors Peskin; Kim, Tang , Fewer , Sa f a i
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City and County of San Francisco
Tails
Ordinance
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
File Number:
180319
Date Passed: September 04, 2018
Ordinance amending the Planning Code to prohibit Cannabis Retail and Medical Cannabis
Dispensaries in the Chinatown Mixed Use Districts; 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.
July 16, 2018 Land Use and Transportation Committee - RECOMMENDED
July 24, 2018 Board of Supervisors - AMENDED, AN AMENDMENT OF THE WHOLE
BEARING SAME TITLE
Ayes: 9 - Cohen, Brown, Kim, Mandelman, Peskin, Ronen, Safai, Stefani and Yee
Excused: 2 - Fewer and Tang
July 24, 2018 Board of Supervisors - CONTINUED AS AMENDED ON FIRST READING
Ayes: 9 - Cohen, Brown, Kim, Mandelman, Peskin, Ronen, Safai, Stefani and Yee
Excused: 2 - Fewer and Tang
July 31, 2018 Board of Supervisors - PASSED ON FIRST READING
Ayes: 8 - Cohen, Fewer, Kim, Peskin, Safai, Stefani, Tang and Yee
Noes: 3 - Brown, Mandelman and Ronen
September 04, 2018 Board of Supervisors - Fl NALLY PASSED
City and County of San Francisco
Ayes: 8 - Cohen, Fewer, Kim, Peskin, Safai, Stefani, Tang and Yee
Noes: 3 - Brown, Mandelman and Ronen
Pagel
Printed at 9: 52 am on 915118
' .
File No. 180319
London N. Breed
Mayor
City qnd County ofSa11 Francisco
Page2
I hereby certify that the foregoing
Ordinance was FINALLY PASSED on
9/4/2018 by the Board of Supervisors of the
City and County of San Francisco.
Angela Calvillo
Clerk of the Board
1 / llf /201~
Date Approved
Pri11ted at 9:52 am 011 915118
