Prioritizing the “Public” in Public Benefits for Central SoMa

Photo by Sergio Ruiz

What matters most as San Francisco works to develop a neighborhood plan for the Central SoMa district? The San Francisco Planning Department has spent the last year or so digging deep into this question. According to an analysis by city staff and their consultant, changing zoning rules to allow taller buildings in the Central SoMA plan — when combined with existing fees and requirements — could generate approximately $2 billion for public benefits.

How should those dollars be dedicated?

The planning department’s framework outlines nine major categories of possible priorities for how to spend the $2 billion over the next 25 years: affordable housing, complete streets, environmental sustainability, historic preservation, open space, nonprofit office and community services, production/distribution/repair, schools and childcare, and transit. All of these public benefits (and more) are important to SPUR, to San Francisco and in Central SoMa in particular. However, given the need to prioritize finite public resources, SPUR believes that the most important public investments in Central SoMa are those that will do three things: significantly improve the public realm; benefit all of the neighborhood’s residents, workers and visitors; and improve neighborhood livability. We outlined this position in a letter to the planning department. Here are our top priorities:

33 Percent Housing Affordability

Housing affordability is the crisis of our time, and SPUR has long supported increasing both new housing production overall and the availability of affordable housing. We support the planning department’s proposal that 33 percent of new housing in Central SoMa be affordable. We do want to acknowledge that according to the city’s analysis, this commitment requires dedicating nearly half of the potential funding generated by development in Central SoMa to making new and rehabilitated housing units affordable.

Investment in the Transit Network

Given Central SoMa’s proposed density and its proximity to similarly dense neighborhoods, getting transportation right in this plan is critical. We believe that Central SoMa’s development should make significant investments in transit because of its key location. Many of the transit network’s needed capital and operating investments will originate in or go through the Central SoMa area and would directly serve those who live and work in the neighborhood, as well as furthering the transit goals of the city as a whole.

Redesigning Major Streets

Redesigning all the major streets of the Central SoMa area is key to the success of the neighborhood for all who live, work and travel through it. The streets of Central SoMa are currently designed to allow car traffic to move through the neighborhood quickly — not for the safety and enjoyment of walkers and bikers in the neighborhood. Designing “complete streets” that accommodate and welcome all users is especially important because of the highly visible and tangible nature of the investment. We support funding a complete streets build-out of all the area’s major streets.

New Open Space Opportunities

Open space is also a significant need for the neighborhood. Requirements for new development will create four acres of privately owned public open spaces (POPOS). Existing fees will fund a new playground and a new recreation center for the Central SoMa community. SPUR also believes that a new one-acre public park, similar in scale to nearby South Park, is an investment that will improve the neighborhood and provide open space opportunities for both residents and workers.

A Focus on Sustainability

Sustainability in Central SoMa is a high priority for SPUR. San Francisco has long committed to making this area its first “eco-district,” and the city is working on many fronts to integrate sustainability throughout the plan. SPUR has been and will be supporting many of these efforts, but here we propose two specific ways to invest in sustainability:

  • Build out the public realm to the highest level of sustainability and make the open space and streetscape visibly greener. Priorities would include greening public spaces, planting and maintaining street trees, and incorporating stormwater best practices into the complete streets build-out and all open spaces.
  • Create a Sustainability Innovation Fund that could help tip cutting-edge sustainability investments into the realm of feasibility for private development as well as for public projects. Given ever-shifting baseline environmental requirements set by the state and city, this would be a flexible way to incentivize investments that are appropriately innovative at the time a development is proposed.

Central SoMa has many important areas of need — far more than the potential $2 billion can support — and we applaud the planning department for its work to identify and quantify those needs while keeping economic feasibility in mind. As the city prioritizes public benefits, it is important to remember two things: first, Central SoMa is a unique neighborhood where people already live and work, and even more people will live and work there in the future. Investments must improve the quality of life for everyone. Second, this is a critical location at the junction of our region’s transit network, abutting the densest employment center in the Bay Area. As we have articulated before, the choices the city makes now about how Central SoMa’s grows will influence the future of San Francisco as a whole. Let’s make sure that everyone benefits.

Read SPUR’s letter to the planning department >>
Dig deep into the Central SoMa Plan at SF Planning >>
Read what SPUR has said about the plan before >>
Learn more about why this neighborhood matters >>