Mayor Lurie's PermitSF Initiative: Day 200 Legislation Sneak Peak

The PermitSF Initiative Website

In our previous article, we introduced you to the first 100 days of the PermitSF initiative launched by Mayor Lurie. But there's More!

The Mayor is insisting on 100-day sprints to introduce new legislation and make procedural changes until the permitting system in SF is "fixed." So for Day 200, there's a new batch of legislation heading to the City.

Not all the legislation has been introduced for this sprint yet, but we do have a sneak preview of what's coming.

Ordinance 250806 makes changes to ventilation standards in Article 38 zones to eliminate the need for positive pressure within residential units where compliance is infeasible.

Ordinance 250805 eliminates local requirements for commercial lighting, rooftop mechanical penthouses, driveway/sidewalk load limits, and the local Slope Protection Act. (The changes to the Slope Protection Act will make it MUCH cheaper to do additions and expansions on steep lots when building on a flatter portion of the site)

You'll also see legislation coming soon that:

• Allows parking in people's front yard driveways

  • Because it's absurd to get a planning violation for parking in your own driveway, right?

• Modifies ADU legislation to align with the state, including elimination of the "hybrid" program

  • This has been needed for a LONG time. We can't wait to see how it's being revised.

• Allows residential uses within basements in NCD districts without the need for conditional use approval.

• Allows flexible commercial uses within historic buildings.

• Expands Over-the-Counter (OTC) permit reviews.

  • The city stopped reviewing a lot of projects at the counter, but now they're overburdened doing internal reviews, so we'll see some project reviews return to the counter soon.

• Will allow people to schedule longer OTC appointments for projects.

  • If you need to talk to a specific planchecker for longer than an hour, you'll be able to make an advance appointment.

• Improves the process to add new property addresses.

  • Hopefully they'll fix their database with all the missing addresses!

The PermitSF team also has a call to action - they want to hear from you with your ideas for improving the permitting process.

You can submit your ideas, questions, and feedback online here:

Submit Your Ideas to PermitSF Here

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