SAN FRANCISCO PLANNING DEPARTMENT March 28, 2012 Philip Lesser San Francisco Builders Exchange 555 Laurel Avenue #501 San Mateo, CA 94401 Site Address: Assessor s Block/Lot: Zoning District: Staff Contact: Letter of Determination 850 South Van Ness Avenue 3595/006 RTO-M (Residential Transit Oriented, Mission) 40/X/50-X Tara Sullivan, (415) 558-6257 tara.sullivan@sfgov.org 1650 Mission St. Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94103-2479 Reception: 415.558.6378 Fax: 415.5586409 Planning information: 415.558.6377 Dear Mr. Lesser: This letter is in response to your request for a Letter of Determination regarding the property at 850 South Van Ness Avenue. The subject property is located within an RTO-M (Residential, Transit Oriented, Mission) Zoning District and 40/50-X Height and Bulk District. The request is whether Planning Code Section 158.1 (Non-Accessory Parking Garages in RTO Districts) applies to the subject property. Additionally, the request seeks approval for "controlled non-accessory parking" at 850 South Van Ness Avenue under this Code Section. The subject property is located on the west side of South Van Ness Avenue between 19th and 20th Streets, and is an "L" shaped lot with frontage on Capp Street. The property contains two, two-story buildings (occupied by approximately 11,000 square feet of office uses) that were constructed in 1956: one building is setback substantially from South Van Ness Avenue and the second building is located at the rear of the lot with a frontage on Capp Street. The remainder of the lot is developed with forty-seven (47) off-street surface parking spaces for the office use. The property was previously zoned RH-3 (Residential, Three- Family) until late 2008, when it was rezoned RTO-M (Residential, Transit Oriented, Mission) under the Eastern Neighborhoods Area Plan. The Letter of Determination request states that the 47 existing off-street parking spaces would continue to serve the office use from 5 AM until 5 PM on Monday through Friday, with two spaces reserved for twenty-four hour access, seven days a week, for miscellaneous office use. The proposal is to provide 45 parking spaces for general public use from 5 PM until 2 AM on Monday through Friday, noon until 2 AM on Saturday, and noon until 10 PM on Sunday. The proposed non-accessory parking would be accessed from both Capp Street and South Van Ness Avenue. www,sf planning.org
Philip Lesser March 28, 2012 San Francisco Builders Exchange Letter of Determination 555 Laurel Avenue #501 850 South Van Ness Avenue San Mateo, CA 94401 Off-street parking is regulated in several sections of the Planning Code. The proposed after-hour offstreet parking spaces are not affiliated with the office uses on the site, and therefore are non-accessory parking spaces. Section 209.7 ("Vehicle Storage and Access" in Residential Districts) states that a Conditional Use Authorization is required for any "off-street parking facility to serve a use in any R [Residential] District, when such parking is not classified as accessory parking for such use... This Section goes on to state that criteria contained in Sections 156 ("Parking Lots") and 157 ("Conditional Use Application for Parking Exceeding Accessory Amounts: Additional Criteria") are applicable, and that in RTO Districts, the criteria and requirements of Sections 158.1 ("Non-Accessory Parking Garages In RTO Districts"), 144 ("Street Frontages In RTO Districts"), and 155(r) ("General Standards of Off-Street Parking: Protected Street Frontages") must be met. It is therefore the Zoning Administrator s determination that pursuant to Section 209.7, a Conditional Use Authorization must be granted by the Planning Commission to allow non-accessory parking at 850 South Van Ness Avenue. The Planning Code does not authorize the Zoning Administrator to approve the installation of non-accessory parking through a Letter of Determination. If there is a desire to proceed with a Conditional Use Authorization application for new non-accessory parking, the following Code requirements must also be met: 1. Section 156: Section 156 defines "Parking Lots" and outlines requirements that must be met when a Conditional Use Authorization is required for this use. Section 156(e) states that where there is more than 25 linear feet adjacent to a public right-of-way for 10 or more automobiles, the perimeter shall be screened in accordance with Section 142; Section 156(f) requires any artificial lighting to be directed so that all light falls within the lot; Section 1560) requires that permanent parking lots provide 1 tree per 5 parking spaces and a minimum of 20% of permeable surface (within the interior of the lot); and Section 156(k) requires that the street tree requirements of Section 143 be met. Please refer to this Code Section for more detail about the requirements that must be met. 2. Section 157: Section 157 outlines additional criteria for any application for a Conditional Use Authorization for "parking for a specific use or uses, where the amount of parking provided exceeds the amount classified as accessory parking in Section 204.5 of this Code". Any proposal must demonstrate that the project meets the five criteria. Please refer to this Code Section for more detail. 3. Section 155(r): Section 155 outlines general standards for off-street parking and loading spaces in all districts. Subsection (r) lists streets that are prohibited from new curb cuts due to their nature as protected due to pedestrian, cycling and/or transit-oriented streets. 850 South Van Ness Avenue is not included in this list and therefore this Code Section does not apply. 4. Section 158.1: Section 158.11 outlines the "criteria, considerations, and procedures" which nonaccessory parking facilities in transit-oriented neighborhoods may be reviewed. This Code Section was added to the Planning Code in 2008 and is intended to provide strict criteria for new non- 1 158.1: Non-Accessory Parking Garages in NCT and RTO Districts and the Van Ness and Market Downtown Residential Special Use District. SAN FRANCISCO PLANNING DEPARTMENT
Philip Lesser March 28, 2012 San Francisco Builders Exchange Letter of Determination 555 Laurel Avenue #501 850 South Van Ness Avenue San Mateo, CA 94401 accessory parking garages and lots in certain zoning districts. For non-accessory parking facilities in RTO Districts, there are six criteria that must be met by each proposal. Please refer to this Code Section for more detail about the requirements that must be met. Section 142: Section 144 ("Screening and Greening of Parking and Vehicle Use Areas") outlines the design requirements that off-street parking areas must meet. All parking areas must be screened at the perimeter with fencing and landscaping. Please refer to this Code Section for additional details. In sum, it is the determination of the Zoning Administrator that pursuant to 209.7, a Conditional Use Authorization must be granted by the Planning Commission before the subject property can provide nonaccessory publicly-available parking at 850 South Van Ness Avenue. It must be demonstrated to the Planning Commission that all relevant Planning Code provisions, including those outlined above, are met to justify the granting of a Conditional Use Authorization. APPEAL: If you believe this determination represents an error in interpretation of the Planning Code or abuse in discretion by the Zoning Administrator, an appeal may be filed with the Board of Appeals within 15 days of the date of this letter. For information regarding the appeals process, please contact the Board of Appeals located at 1650 Mission Street, Room 304, San Francisco, or call (415) 575-6880. Sincerely, Scott F. Sanchez Zoning Administrator cc: Tara Sullivan, Planning Department SAN FRANCISCO PLANNING DEPARTMENT
November l8,2011 IDA# ICO31 E J Nc;E RECEIVED Mr. Scott Sanchez Zoning Administrator Planning Department,LIV 1 City and County of San Francisco 1650 Mission Street, Suite 300 CITY & COUNTY OF S.F. San Francisco CA 94103 PLANNING DEPARTMENT Re: Letter of Determination for Non-Accessory Parking at 850 South Van Ness Avenue Mr. Sanchez: The San Francisco Builders Exchange (SFBE), owner of APN 3595 006 with the common address of 850 South Van Ness Avenue seeks the Planning Department s required approval to utilize its parking area for controlled non-accessory parking. Mr. Dan Sider and Mr. Edgar Oropeza of the Planning Department have assisted in the preliminary code research on this matter. This research found that Section 158.1 would guide the determination of the permissibility of this use. After a thorough review of Section 158.1, it would appear that non-accessory parking at 850 South Van Ness Avenue is in accord with both the letter and spirit of this section: Policy 1: Rate Structure of Section 155 (g) shall apply The subject property has fifty lawful parking spaces with electronically operated gating that is additionally secured with surveillance cameras. SFBE intends to make these spaces available from 5:00 pm to 2:00 am for valet parking purposes only. This is fully in keeping with Section 155 (g) which seeks "to discourage long-term parking." Policy 2: Every required off-street parking or loading space shall be located in its entirety within the 1t lines of private property. The proposed non-accessory parking area will be on the existing parking area that is within the lot lines of the private property. Policy 3: In the case of expansion of existing facilities, the facility to be expanded has already maximized capacity... This is not applicable since no expansion of existing facilities is being proposed.
Letter of Determination/ Non Accessory Parking 850 SVN Avenue/Page 2 Policy 4: The proposed facility meets or exceeds all relevant urban design requirements... The proposed facility has two means of egress: one on South Van Ness Avenue and the other on Capp Street. The parking area envelopes the two buildings owned by SFBE. All parking stalls are per code including the requisite handicapped parking stalls. The parking facility is secured by electronic gating, has lighting throughout and surveillance cameras. Policy 5: Project sponsor has produced a survey of the supply and utilization of all existing publicly-accessible parking facilities, both publicly and privately owned, within h-mile of the subject site, and has demonstrated that such facilities do not contain excess capacity, including via more efficient space management or extended operations. Publicly-accessible parking facilities within /2 mile of the subject site: 1. Hoff & 16th Streets 2. 21st & Bartlett Streets 3. Eastside Mid-2300 Block Mission Street (fronted by El Capitan facade) 4. 7th & Folsom Streets The first three lots are at or near full capacity on weekend evenings and whenever special events occur on week nights. They are self-parking oriented. The third lot is being acquired by the Recreation and Parks Department for conversion into public space (per the Eastern Neighborhoods planning process) and affordable housing. Privately-accessible parking facilities within /2 mile of the subject site include mostly vacant corners that have been previously utilized as gas stations. These makeshift parking facilities tend to be temporary uses as property owners go through the entitlement and construction processes to erect multi-store structures that will contain no public parking. Corner parcels currently going through this conversion process include: 1. Northeast corner South Van Ness Avenue & 19th Street 2. Northwest corner South Van Ness Avenue & 16th Street 3. Northwest corner Valencia Street & 19th Street 4. Northeast corner Valencia Street & 20th Street
Letter of Determination! Non Accessory Parking 850 SVN Avenue/Page 3 Policy 6: The proposed facility shall dedicate no less than 5% of its spaces for shortterm, transient use by car share vehicles... SFBE will dedicate three of its fifty parking stalls for such short-term, transient use, carshare vehicles as defined in Section 166. Other Considerations: While the available public parking is shrinking with conversion of temporary parking areas to structures and a public space, the demand for parking, especially valet parking, is rapidly escalating within the V2-mile radius of 850 South Van Ness Avenue. Recently entitled and soon-to-open eating and/or entertainment venues include: 1. 777 Valencia Street (300 occupancy music venue and 2 restaurants) 2. 741 Valencia Street (140 occupancy restaurant - Tacolicious) 3. 740 Valencia Street (Micro Brewery) 4. 550 Valencia Street (4,000 s.f. restaurant - West of Pecos) 5 17 h Street Bowling alley The confluence of shrinking supply and increased demand for public parking within this radius will add to traffic as well as parking congestion. Permitting the existing parking facility at 850 South Van Ness to be utilized as a secure, valet-controlled facility will be extremely beneficial for all who live, work and/or go to that part of San Francisco for cultural, culinary and shopping experiences. The Westside (Capp Street) of the 850 South Van Ness parking is bounded by an empty lot and the SFBE building. Across the street is the egress for the El Capitan parking lot. Thus there should be little to no effect on neighbors. On the eastside (South Van Ness Avenue) there are residential buildings to the north and south of the parking facility. Given the intensity of use of South Van Ness Avenue coupled with the employment of professional valet companies (fully bonded and insured), it is envisioned that nonaccessory parking will not be a nuisance to those neighbors.
Letter of Determination! Non Accessory Parking 850 SVN Avenue/Page 4 If there is anything else that SFBE or I can provide to help the Planning Department reach its determination in this matter feel free to contact me. Respectfully submitted, 4TI~3 D4/01AV Philip Lesser Owner s Representative San Francisco Builders Exchange 555 Laurel Avenue, #501 San Mateo CA 94401 (650) 347-6014 Home Office (650) 346-2903 Cell phnsan(irnsn.com Attachments: Aerial of Subject Parking Facility /2 Mile Radius Map
To see all the details that are visible on the screen, use the Print link next to the map. =;=;:: AM F 4 j4i3. -I. e It 1 el 9 1 I S-~ O ou
777 Valencia Street with 112 Mile Radius Surrounding Site t J I 7 4 A El I ft --r~ pw wr 9 I 4 j _ VIM FT MttZr 11 yl ~ 44 4T1 1 r- io!fl I hi 471 4 240 480 7 1 0 960 Printed: 11 August 2011