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SF Planning Code Amends Public Notification for Housing Element Rezoning

  • When: 2025/04/29
  • City: San Francisco
  • State: CA
  • Category: Zoning Code Modification
  • Subcategory: Process updates

This ordinance amends Article 3, Section 333 of the San Francisco Planning Code to revise public notification procedures for zoning hearings and building permit applications, including enhanced notice requirements for Housing Element Rezoning Program proposals. The amendments mandate mail, posted, and online notices with specific content, timing, and multilingual requirements, and introduce a separate 30-day mailed notice and web-based outreach for Housing Element upzonings. It sets a minimum 20-day notification period and specifies content requirements such as project details, hearing information, and instructions for public comment. All notices must comply with the City’s Language Access Ordinance. Posted notices must be 11×17 inches and visible along each 25 feet of street frontage; mailed notices must reach neighborhood organizations, registered individuals, and owners/occupants within 150 feet, including unauthorized dwelling unit occupants. Online notices require digital copies of notices and scaled plans formatted for 11×17 prints. Legislative actions receive online notices for the full notification period; small-area map amendments and interim controls under 30 acres require mailed and, for single lots, posted notices. The new Housing Element Rezoning subsection mandates 30 days’ mailed notice via clear postcards with QR codes linking to maps of proposed capacity increases, sample height and density comparisons, process guides, and in-person information at 49 S Van Ness. Notices must also reach owners, residents, and commercial lessees up to 300 feet from rezoned areas. The Zoning Administrator may waive duplicate notices only when prior hearings have fully covered the scope. The ordinance becomes effective 30 days after enactment.

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