Project details
The what, how, why, where, when, and who of this project
What
The purpose of this project is to build small scale, infill mixed-affordable housing in San Francisco.
Specifically the project would add two deed-restricted Below Market Rate (or “BMR”) rental units to be administered by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and two market rate units to the City’s housing stock.
To accomplish this goal, this project is proposing to add one affordable housing unit to the existing building at 4300 17th Street, subdivide the lot, and then construct a three unit, four story building on the newly divided lot, which would contain the second affordable housing unit along with two market rate units.
How
In order to move forward, this project needs special permission from the City in the form of these two “entitlements”:
Variance from the Planning Code. The San Francisco Planning Code has many rules, and while this Project is consistent with the vast majority of those rules it requires variance from the Planning Code in three places: (1) minimum lot size, (2) minimum rear yard setback, and (2) open space.
Conditional Use Authorization. In addition to the requirements of the Planning Code, a Special Use District was recently created to further constrain housing development in the neighborhood. As such, this Project is required to go before the Planning Commission to obtain a Conditional Use Authorization.
The main consideration in granting these entitlements boils down to whether or not the proposed project is consistent with the existing neighborhood and what has been allowed in the past. To that end, what is being proposed here is wholly consistent with what exists in the neighborhood and what the City has allowed in the past:
Consistent in Lot Size
The proposed lots would be 1,458 sqft each. A mere 63 and 128 feet from the subject lot are 832 and 1,210 sqft lots, respectively. Within approximately 1,000 feet there are 27 lots that are smaller than the proposed lots and hundreds that are the same or slightly larger in size.
Consistent in Lot Size Non-Conformity
A review of the closest 564 lots along the 17th Street Corridor reveals that over half are non-conforming lots sizes. Of the 87 lots in the two contiguous Assessor Blocks (2626/2646) that the subject lot is part of, 58 (or 67%) are non-conforming. The proposed lots would be 83% conforming in lot size; consistent in non-conformity with its 564 neighbors.
Consistent in Square Footage of the Units
The new building would include three dwelling units totalling 3,099 sqft of living space. The average living area per unit for the new building would be 955 sqft/unit across all three units, and 1,196 sqft/unit if limited to the two regulation units. The proposed units are small - in the 16th and 28th percentile, respectively - for sqft/unit among the 991 properties in the Special Use District.
Consistent in Building Height
The existing building is at its foundation and roofline the lowest of all 85 homes on both the 17th and Ord Street Assessor Blocks. Because the subject lot is at the bottom of the hill, the new building would be similarly consistent with the descending stair step nature of both 17th and Ord Streets.
Consistent with Similar Variances in the Neighborhood
There are at least 14 lots within a half mile of the Subject Lot that have enjoyed similar lot splits creating substandard lots. Numerous variances unrelated to lot splits but relevant to rear yard setbacks and open space have been granted in the neighborhood, e.g., neighbors two (84-86 Ord St.) and three (80 Ord St.) doors down from Applicant received variances from rear yard setback requirements.
Consistent in Lot Pattern and Shape
There are at least 25 substantially similar corner lots within a half mile of the Subject Lot with a similar pattern of use and intensity - subdivided corner lots with buildings on each - including an example on the same block (2626) and two examples on adjacent blocks. And there isn’t a single example of other half-vacant corner lot adjacent to the right of way within at least 2,500 feet of the subject lot.
Consistent with Other Variances in San Francisco
Over the previous 20 years, 111 variance applications were heard by the City. Of those 99 of 111 (or 89.2%) were granted. Of the 12 applications that were denied, nine were largely due to the loss of affordable housing generally and rent-controlled housing specifically and one involved illegal housing. That means that over the past 20 years 99 out of 101 (or 98%) of variance applications that don’t remove affordable housing or involve illegal housing were approved.
Of the 99 that were granted, 30 of 35 (or 86%) applications that sought variance from Code Sections 121 (lot size) and 134 (rear yard setback), and 135 (open space) were granted.
Of the 99 that were granted, 66/99 (67%) did not add a single unit of housing to the San Francisco housing stock. 20% added one unit, 4% added two units, 5% added three units, and 3% added four units of housing. Of the eight applications that sought to add three or more units of housing 100% were granted. Of the 99 applications that were granted, not a single one added a unit of affordable housing.
Of the 99 that were granted, and data was available, 121 of 131 (92%) had non conforming rear yard setbacks, 50% (65/131) were 33% or less conforming, and 23% (30 of 131) had no rear yard setback at all.
Of the 99 that were granted, and data was available (179 lots), the Project’s proposed lots (1,458 sqft) would be in the 81st percentile if compared to the smaller-of-the-two-lots created by subdivision (91) and in the 65th percentile overall when compared to the entire cohort of subdivided lots (all 179).
There are at least 14 examples of variance-related lot subdivisions within a half mile of the subject lot, including one a mere 137 feet away and another 239 feet away.
Specific to the Conditional Use Authorization, since the passage of the Corona Heights Special Use District was approved, there have been six Conditional Use Authorization applications filed and all six have been approved by the City.
Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the vast majority of existing homes in the Corona Heights Special Use District would require Conditional Use Authorization to be built today; approximately 74% and 66% of existing homes have less than the required 45% rear yard depth, and less than 3,000 sqft of total gross floor area, respectively.
Consistent with Other Conditional Use Authorizations
Why
The short answer is because we desperately need housing in this City. And not just housing but affordable housing. And not just affordable housing but deed-restricted BMR rental units in the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development program. Last year of the 94,058 people that applied for affordable housing in SF only 379 (or 0.4%) were selected.
The longer answer is that this City is profoundly segregated by income and race and that needs to change. Racism and exclusion have been a feature of San Francisco housing policy and the Planning Code since at least as far back as the 1880s. The outcomes of that are now deeply embedded in the current housing crisis we now find ourselves. These inequities have been further exposed by a global pandemic, recession, and summer of social justice protests.
San Francisco has the most restrictive land-use regulations in the county and is the most expensive place to build in the whole world. One of the most expensive and segregated housing markets on the planet is the natural consequence of an artificially constrained housing supply and exclusionary zoning.
One of the most effective ways to cut through these many layers of exclusion is affordable housing. Unfortunately we face a major shortage of affordable housing and what little affordable housing we do have is clustered in a handful of relatively undesirable locations. To add insult to injury, what little racial and income diversity we have in San Francisco also pushed into that same handful of undesirable locations.
Why this kind of project? We should all want to live in a San Francisco where affordable housing is located throughout the City and that our neighborhoods become more, not less, diverse over time.
Where
The Project is located at 4300 17th Street. The property in question is a 2,916 square feet corner lot (2626/014A) zoned multi-unit residential (RH-2). Built in 1953 and vertically expanded in 1960, an existing two-unit residential building currently occupies the eastern half of the subject lot. The existing building has 2,544 sqft of living space across three floors; a rent-controlled dwelling on each of the top two floors and a ground floor with garage, utility, and storage space.
The Property is located on the northwest corner of the intersection of 17th Street and Ord Street in the Corona Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, District 8.
The new building would occupy most of what is now the side yard of the subject lot which is sloped, fenced in, vacant land. The subject lot is unique in that half of it is a large, undeveloped section of land adjacent to the public right of way a mere 0.3 miles, or a five minute walk, from the transit-rich Castro neighborhood mass transportation hub.
When
This Project is currently scheduled to go before the San Francisco Planning Commission on Thursday, October 14th, 2021 at 3:00pm PT
Hearings can last anywhere from two to nine hours with the average virtual Hearing lasting about five hours. The Agenda is made up of six parts and this project will probably appear during part called the “Regular Calendar”. Based on the virtual hearings conducted so far this year, the Regular Calendar usually begins about one hour into the proceedings. According to SF Hearing Procedures, “[p]ublic testimony from proponents of the proposal,” is limited to “a period not to exceed three (3) minutes.”
Who
The person behind this project is me, Scott Pluta. I own the building at 4300 17th Street and live there. I am not a developer. Just a homeowner that cares deeply about matters related to social justice which I’ve learned since moving to San Francisco increasingly means access to affordable housing.
I am originally from Wisconsin, went to college in Chicago, and law school in Virginia. After law school I moved to Washington, D.C. where I worked in the Obama Administration and on both the 2008 and 2012 Obama campaigns as an election attorney focused fighting voter suppression of underrepresented groups. After the Administration I went to work for Elizabeth Warren at the CFPB where I spent five wonderful years designing policies on a range of progressive issues intended to protect consumers and marginalized communities. I moved to SF for a job at Google focused on content moderation policy; specifically to drive positive change in the areas of hate speech, child safety, misinformation, and other speech and abuse-related topics. Importantly I have a dog named Max.
Deep dive into the substance of this Project’s entitlement applications
In order to build affordable housing, this Project requires variance from Sections 121 (lot size), 134 (rear yard setback), and 135 (usable open space) of the Planning Code in order to subdivide the Subject Lot into two legally-distinct lots and a Conditional Use Authorization as necessitated by Planning Code Sections 249.77(d)(1) (gross floor area exceeding 3,000 square feet) and 249.77(d)(4) (less than 45% rear yard depth), both conditions within the Corona Heights Large Residence Special Use District. Click below to learn about the overwhelming analysis presented to the City in support of these entitlement applications and this project.
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