Not Another Substack

I’ve heard a lot of confusing misinformation about how the SB-79 transit-oriented development bill will interact with the current Family Zoning rezoning proposal, and did a lot of close reading of the proposed SB-79 legislation.  The summary: SB-79 will not apply to portions of SF covered by the Family Zoning Plan,. We can focus on making the Family Zoning Plan work, without worrying about SB-79 changing it! 🎉 

The details:

See the draft SB-79 legislation here, the proposed zoning map here, and the current height/bulk map here.  

For the portion of SF included in the Family Zoning Plan

Section 65912.161.(b) exempts sites with density equivalent to at least half the SB79 density. The density decontrol and minimum 40-foot height limits proposed by the current rezoning mean that everything under the Family Zoning is exempted from SB79.  

For the seventh revision of the Housing Element in 2032-2041, we’ll need to show that our local zoning produces as much housing capacity as SB-79 would. We don’t need to currently show that threshold, but it’s likely that updated zoning will pass that bar- and we can make tweaks in 2032+ to make sure it complies.

For portions of SF not covered by the Family Zoning Plan: 

Per 65912.161.(b), Parcels within SF could still be affected by SB-79 if
– They are outside of the Family Zoning,
– They are not covered by any other transit-oriented development plan,
– They are within a half-mile of Bart/Caltrain, subway/streetcar, or Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).
– They aren’t zoned for 40ft within 1/4 mile of Bart/Caltrain, 35ft within 1/4mi of subway/streetcar/BRT, 25ft within 1/2mi of subway/streetcar/BRT
– They aren’t zoned for the equivalent of 68 dwelling units/acre within within 1/4 mile of Bart/Caltrain, 50 du/ac within 1/4mi of subway/streetcar/BRT, 40du/ac within 1/2mi of subway/streetcar/BRT 

Looking at the BIG map, the lowest height is 40-X, so all of SF meets the height criteria.

The density criteria are a bit trickier because SB79 is based on dwelling units per acre.  If we assume “standard SF lots” are 25x100ft = 2500sqft = 17.5 lots/acre, the density requirement would demand that sites be roughly: 4-plexes within 1/4mi of Bart/Caltrain, triplexes within 1/4mi of subway/streetcar/BRT, duplexes within 1/2mi of subway/streetcar/BRT.

I’m not familiar enough with SF’s density zoning to know whether there are zones where those requirements would kick in.

Note that conventional bus service is expressly *not* considered for SB79. Bus Rapid Transit with separate bus lanes as defined here is included (e.g. 38R Geary). 

Bottom line: Most of SF will not be affected by SB-79 as currently drafted. Let’s focus on making the Family Zoning work for all!