San Francisco General Plan

Amendments

Under the Charter, the Planning Commission is responsible for recommending amendments to the General Plan. After a comprehensive planning process, consultation with commissions and elected officials and public hearings, the Planning Commission will submit amendments to the Board of Supervisors for approval or rejection. The Historic Preservation Commission will recommend a Preservation Element to the Planning Commission and review other amendments that concern preservation upon referral.

General Plan Referrals

General Plan Referrals are required for certain types of proposed City actions. Referrals enable the city to check that proposed changes to the city are consistent with the General Plan’s vision, objectives, and policies.

Per the San Francisco Charter, “the following matters shall be assessed for conformance with the General Plan, prior to passage by the Board of Supervisors:

1. vacation of property or change of use or title of property owned by the City and County of San Francisco;
2. subdivisions of plan within San Francisco;
3. construction or improvement of public buildings within San Francisco;
4. plans for public housing or publicly assisted private housing within San Francisco;
5. redevelopment plans within San Francisco; and
6. other matters as prescribed by ordinance.” 

Process for General Plan Referrals

A written determination of consistency with the General Plan is typically sufficient. However, proposals that are especially complex or are found to be inconsistent with the General Plan require a public hearing and determination by the Planning Commission. More information available here.
 

The General Plan is composed of an Introduction, 10 “Elements” or topic-specific chapters, and 21 geographically specific plans called “Area” or “Sub-Area” Plans.  

The Introduction summarizes the plan’s highest-level goals in six statements.

Approved by voters in 1986, Proposition M requires that the City shall find that proposed alterations and demolitions are consistent with eight priority policies set forth in Section 101.1 of the Planning Code. These eight policies are also included in the introduction.

Elements

In 1941

The Planning Commission decided to formally establish the Planning Department and San Francisco’s first General Plan was adopted by the Commission in 1945.  The Plan was intended to serve as a living document as “the first step in the continuous process of planning.” The plan consisted of three chapters: Transportation and Utilities; Land Use Plan; and Redevelopment of Blighted Areas.

Through the late 1960s and early 1970s

The General Plan was revised, with new plans moving toward halting the spread of freeways, fighting the destruction of redevelopment, and recording principals for urban form. The 1971 Urban Design Plan sought to protect the City’s existing fabric and cultivate human-scale amenities.  Created at a time when most American cities sought to emulate the suburbs, it proposed a radical reinvestment in the urban fabric and urban livability.

In the 1980s

The City began a major effort to sculpt downtown growth while keeping high-rises out of Chinatown, North Beach and the Tenderloin. The resulting Downtown Plan sought to leverage developer’s desire to build towards defined public benefits through impact fees for transit, open space, and child-care. It also required public amenities such as public art and privately-owned public open spaces or POPOS. This effort was followed by growth management in the downtown adjacent neighborhoods with plans for Chinatown, South of Market and Van Ness Avenue.

In the early 2000s

The General Plan was updated with comprehensive plans for urban neighborhoods well-served by transit, shifting the focus to finding more space in mid-rise, mixed-use neighborhoods where new housing could be sustainably integrated into complete neighborhoods. The plans for the Market & Octavia, Central Waterfront, and Balboa Park Station Areas moved street designs away from auto-centric uses, and reinforced pedestrian-oriented buildings similar to the City’s historic building stock.