Zoning Variance Hearing

Provide your public comment

1. You will be given a certain amount of time to provide your comments – you will be alerted when you have 30 seconds remaining.
2. Once your comment time has ended, you will be moved out of sequence and back to listening (unless you disconnect).
3. If you wish to speak on other items, or other comment periods, stay on the meeting line and listen for the next public comment prompt.

If you no longer want to comment

• PHONE: Press * 3 (star 3) to lower your hand
• ONLINE: Click "raise hand" icon again

Hearings are held at City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 408, Fourth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103. The closest accessible BART Station is the Civic Center Station located at the intersection of Market, Hyde, and Grove Streets. Accessible curb side parking has been designated at points along McAllister Street. Accessible MUNI Lines serving City Hall are the 42 Downtown Loop, 9 San Bruno and 6 Haight/Noriega, and the F Line. Accessible MUNI Metro Lines are the J, K, L, M, N, and T. For more information regarding MUNI accessible services, call 311 within San Francisco, (415) 701-2311 outside Bay Area, or TTY (415) 701-2323. American Sign Language interpreters and/or a sound enhancement system will be available upon request by contacting (628) 652-7318 at least 72 hours prior to a hearing. Individuals with severe allergies, environmental illnesses, multiple chemical sensitivity, or related disabilities should call  (628) 652-7550 to discuss meeting accessibility. In order to assist the City’s efforts to accommodate such people, attendees at public meetings are reminded that other attendees may be sensitive to various chemical-based products. Please help the City to accommodate these individuals.

The ringing of and use of mobile phones and other sound-producing electronic devices are prohibited at this meeting. Please be advised that the Zoning Administrator may order the removal of any person(s) responsible for the ringing or use of a mobile phone, pager, or other similar sound-producing electronic devices (67A.1 Sunshine Ordinance: Prohibiting the use of cell phones, pagers, and similar sound-producing electronic devices at and during public meetings).

Government's duty is to serve the public, reaching its decisions in full view of the public. Commissions, boards, councils and other agencies of the City and County exist to conduct the people's business. This ordinance assures that deliberations are conducted before the people and that City operations are open to the people's review.

Personal information that is provided in communications to the Planning Department is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act and the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance. Personal information provided will not be redacted.

Members of the public are not required to provide personal identifying information when they communicate with the Planning Department and its commissions. All written or oral communications that members of the public submit to the Department regarding projects or hearings will be made available to all members of the public for inspection and copying. The Department does not redact any information from these submissions. This means that personal information including names, phone numbers, addresses and similar information that a member of the public elects to submit to the Department and its commissions may appear on the Department’s website or in other public documents that members of the public may inspect or copy.

For more information on your rights under the Sunshine Ordinance (Chapter 67 of the San Francisco Administrative Code) or to report a violation of the ordinance, contact the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force at City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244; phone (415) 554-7724; fax (415) 554-5163; or e-mail at sotf@sfgov.org. Copies of the Sunshine Ordinance can be obtained from the Clerk of the Sunshine Task Force or at the San Francisco Public Library.

Attention: Individuals and entities that influence or attempt to influence local legislative or administrative action may be required by the San Francisco Lobbyist Ordinance [SF Administration Code 16.520 - 16.534] to register and report lobbying activity. For more information about the Lobbyist Ordinance, please contact the Ethics Commission at 25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite #220, San Francisco, CA 94102, telephone (415) 554-9510, fax (415) 703-0121.

For language assistance or to request an assistive device for a hearing, please call (628) 652-7550. Please make requests at least 48 hours in advance of the hearing.

ESPAÑOL: Si desea asistir a la audiencia, y quisiera obtener información en Español o solicitar un aparato para asistencia auditiva, llame al (628) 652-7550. Por favor llame por lo menos 48 horas de anticipación a la audiencia.

中文: 歷史保護委員會議程。聽證會上如需要語言協助或要求輔助設備，請致電628.652.7589。請在聽證會舉行之前的至少48個小時提出要求。

FILIPINO: Para sa tulong sa lengguwahe o para humiling ng Pantulong na Kagamitan para sa Pagdinig (headset), mangyari lamang na tumawag sa 628.652.7589. Mangyaring tumawag nang maaga (kung maaari ay 48 oras) bago sa araw ng Pagdinig.

РУССКИЙ: За помощью переводчика или за вспомогательным слуховым устройством на время слушаний обращайтесь по номеру 628.652.7589. Запросы должны делаться минимум за 48 часов до начала слушания.

Tiếng Việt: Lịch Họp của Ủy Ban. Để được hỗ trợ ngôn ngữ hoặc yêu cầu Thiết Bị Hỗ Trợ Nghe, vui lòng gọi số (628) 652-7589. Vui lòng gọi ít nhất 48 giờ trước phiên điều trần.

Personal information that is provided in communications to the Planning Department is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act and the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance. Personal information provided will not be redacted.

Members of the public are not required to provide personal identifying information when they communicate with the Planning Department and its commissions. All written or oral communications that members of the public submit to the Department regarding projects or hearings will be made available to all members of the public for inspection and copying. The Department does not redact any information from these submissions. This means that personal information including names, phone numbers, addresses and similar information that a member of the public elects to submit to the Department and its commissions may appear on the Department’s website or in other public documents that members of the public may inspect or copy.

The Zoning Administrator typically holds Variance Hearings on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 9:30 a.m., at the San Francisco City Hall, Room 408. City Hall is located at One Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, CA 94102. Hearings are open to the public.

At the hearing, the Project Sponsor (Variance Applicant) will be given 5 minutes to present their case, including relevant testimony and evidence. The hearing room is equipped with a laptop and projector that can display photographs, architectural plans or other drawings and images. Members of the public will be given 3 minutes each to speak on the item. If a member of the public speaks against an item, the Project Sponsor will be given a 3-minute rebuttal.

Persons attending a hearing may comment on any scheduled item. When speaking, please note that a timer is used for each speaker and indicates how much time remains. Speakers will hear a notification indicating that the speaker’s opportunity to address the Zoning Administrator is about to end or has ended.

Please note that some items may appear on the Consent Calendar. These items are considered routine and may be granted by the Zoning Administrator. There is no separate discussion of consent items unless the Zoning Administrator, member of the public or staff so requests, in which event the matter is removed from the Consent Calendar and will be moved to the Regular Calendar on the Agenda.

In addition, the Zoning Administrator may consider a request for continuance to a later date. He may choose to continue the item to the date proposed, to continue the item to another date, or to hear the item on this calendar.

After all the testimonies are submitted, the Zoning Administrator will consider the evidence, deliberate, and either make a decision, take the matter under advisement, or continue the matter in order for additional information to be presented.

Each hearing ends with general public comment, at which time members of the public may address the Zoning Administrator for up to 3 minutes on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Zoning Administrator, except agenda items. With respect to Agenda items, your opportunity to address the Zoning Administrator will be afforded when the item is reached during the meeting.

All agendas of Variance Hearings and recordings (from July 2002 to present) are available on our website.

No decision is final until a Variance Decision Letter is issued. Due to current backlogs, decision letters may take up to 2 months to complete from the date of the hearing. The Zoning Administrator's action to grant or deny a variance application may be appealed to the Board of Appeals within 10 days of the date of the Decision Letter. For more information on how to file an appeal, please contact the Board of Appeals in person at 49 South Van Ness Avenue, Suite 1475, call (628) 652-1150, or visit the San Francisco Board of Appeals website.

If any members of the public would like to receive a copy of the signed Variance Decision Letter via email, please send a request by email addressed to the Planner assigned to the case. The name of the Planner can be found in this Agenda, in the notice that you received in the mail, or in the poster posted on the subject property.

You may protest any fee or exaction subject to Government Code Section 66000 imposed as a condition of approval in accordance with Government Code Section 66020. The protest must satisfy the requirements of Government Code Section 66020(a) and must be filed within 90 days of the date of the first approval or conditional approval of the development referencing the challenged fee or exaction. For purposes of Government Code Section 66020, the date of imposition of the fee shall be the date of the earliest discretionary approval by the City of the subject development.

The Zoning Administrator’s approval or conditional approval of the development subject to the challenged fee or exaction as expressed in its Motion, Resolution, or Discretionary Review Action or the Zoning Administrator’s Variance Decision Letter will serve as Notice that the 90-day protest period under Government Code Section 66020 has begun.

Pursuant to Government Code Section 65009, if you challenge, in court, (1) the adoption or amendment of a general plan, (2) the adoption or amendment of a zoning ordinance, (3) the adoption or amendment of any regulation attached to a specific plan, (4) the adoption, amendment or modification of a development agreement, or (5) the approval of a variance, conditional-use authorization, or any permit, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the Zoning Administrator or Planning Commission, at, or prior to, the public hearing.

If the Zoning Administrator’s or Commission’s action on a project constitutes the Approval Action for that project (as defined in S.F. Administrative Code Chapter 31, as amended, Board of Supervisors Ordinance Number 161-13), then the CEQA determination prepared in support of that Approval Action is thereafter subject to appeal within the time frame specified in S.F. Administrative Code Section 31.16. This appeal is separate from and in addition to an appeal of an action on a project. Typically, an appeal must be filed within 30 calendar days of the Approval Action for a project that has received an exemption or negative declaration pursuant to CEQA. For information on filing an appeal under Chapter 31, contact the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors at City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244, San Francisco, CA 94102, or call (415) 554-5184. If the Department’s Environmental Review Officer has deemed a project to be exempt from further environmental review, an exemption determination has been prepared and can be obtained online. Under CEQA, in a later court challenge, a litigant may be limited to raising only those issues previously raised at a hearing on the project or in written correspondence delivered to the Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission, Planning Department or other City board, commission or department at, or prior to, such hearing, or as part of the appeal hearing process on the CEQA decision.

SF Planning is committed to protecting the privacy rights of individuals and security measures are in place to protect personally identifiable information (PII), i.e. social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank accounts. Members of the public are not required to provide PII to the Commission or Department, as all written submittals and oral communications become part of the public record, which can be made available to the public for review and/or viewable on Department websites. Members of the public submitting materials containing PII are responsible for redacting said sensitive information prior to submittal of documents to Planning.