{"id":35135,"date":"2024-07-26T13:03:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T20:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=35135"},"modified":"2024-07-26T13:03:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-26T20:03:58","slug":"new-housing-laws-may-threaten-some-of-sfs-most-iconic-buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/07\/26\/new-housing-laws-may-threaten-some-of-sfs-most-iconic-buildings\/","title":{"rendered":"New housing laws may threaten some of SF&#8217;s most iconic buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Keith_Menconi\">By Keith Menconi | Examiner staff writer<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jul 25, 2024\u00a0Updated\u00a023 hrs ago (SFExaminer.com)<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/preservationists-race-to-protect-sfs-historic-buildings\/article_dc717ff6-4a0f-11ef-9ab6-33dde0602305.html#1\"><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/preservationists-race-to-protect-sfs-historic-buildings\/article_dc717ff6-4a0f-11ef-9ab6-33dde0602305.html#1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/4\/69\/469c5700-4468-11ef-bc48-8b7808576620\/669809cc5bab3.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500\" alt=\"Woody LaBounty, President and CEO of SF Heritage\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Woody LaBounty, President and CEO of SF Heritage, in the research library with a historic Sanborn map at the Haas-Lilienthal House in San Francisco on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. SF Heritage\u2019s mission is to preserve San Francisco\u2019s unique architecture.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/preservationists-race-to-protect-sfs-historic-buildings\/article_dc717ff6-4a0f-11ef-9ab6-33dde0602305.html#2\"><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/preservationists-race-to-protect-sfs-historic-buildings\/article_dc717ff6-4a0f-11ef-9ab6-33dde0602305.html#2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/5\/75\/5750aee8-4468-11ef-ae41-07f58891dcba\/669809e861f13.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500\" alt=\"A 1915 Sanborn Map of Battery Street and Pacific Avenue last updated in 1950\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A 1915 Sanborn Map of Battery Street and Pacific Avenue last updated in 1950, in the research library at the Haas-Lilienthal House in San Francisco pictured on Tuesday, July 16, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Old city directories, fire insurance maps first published in 1915, newspaper clippings spanning decades of San Francisco history \u2014 this collection of yellowing, brittle documents spread out atop a stately wooden table tells the century-spanning story of the brick-walled building that has housed the Old Ship Saloon, a venerable local landmark in The City\u2019s Financial District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These days, the Old Ship is a neighborhood restaurant and bar nestled at the corner of Battery Street and Pacific Avenue, but it traces its roots all the way back to the Gold Rush era, when one of The City\u2019s earliest residents began serving drinks out of the hollowed-out side of a beached wooden ship \u2014 one of many vessels to come aground along the shoreline of the rough and tumble neighborhood that would come to be known as the Barbary Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHere\u2019s the actual original permit for the building when it was created after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire,\u201d preservationist Woody LaBounty said, shuffling through the papers. \u201cYeah, building permits were a lot simpler \u2014 like, four pages!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This rare cache of historic documents is housed inside a jam-packed library that makes up much of the third floor of the Haas-Lilienthal House, a towering Victorian that serves as a fitting headquarters for the preservation-advocacy group SF Heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For LaBounty, the group\u2019s president and CEO, the stunning hodgepodge represents more than a collection of historical curiosities. Those musty tomes and creaky cabinets hold key evidence that one day soon could mean the difference between demolition and preservation for hundreds of San Francisco buildings that are considered to be historic but have not yet been formally added to The City\u2019s registry of official landmarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such applications take a lot of documentation. \u201cSo it\u2019s all going into proving the case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many preservationists worry that historic structures that still lack the protection of landmark status have been imperiled by a recent&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sf.gov\/news\/mayor-breeds-housing-constraints-legislation-removes-barriers-new-housing-approved-board\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wave of housing legislation<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/slow-sf-housing-development-triggers-state-streamlining\/article_9f52a62a-380a-11ef-ab1b-4b25606865d2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">that streamlines the process for building permits<\/a>&nbsp;and, in so doing, removes several layers of review that otherwise could have offered opportunities to block demolitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd so you can lose the Old Ship Saloon,\u201d said LaBounty. \u201cLike, wait \u2014 I don\u2019t think we want to lose the Old Ship Saloon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Preservationists both inside and outside of city government argue that since construction permitting has now been streamlined, The City\u2019s heretofore sluggish landmarking process must be sped up as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If The City leaves this long standing backlog of historical work unaddressed, warned Rich Sucre of the San Francisco Planning Department, \u201cwe might be [demolishing] the next Ferry Building, or the next Harvey Milk camera shop at some point, unexpectedly,\u201d referring to two iconic buildings that have already made their way onto the official landmark list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But this&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/citypln-m-extnl.sfgov.org\/Commissions\/CPC\/6_6_2024\/Commission\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">budding plan to ramp up historic reviews<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 still in its early stages \u2014 comes at a moment of heightened scrutiny for preservation efforts, which have come to be seen by some as a disingenuous tactic to thwart new housing developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Advocates for housing growth in San Francisco still harbor bitter feelings from a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/st-francis-wood-earns-historic-designation-sparks-backlash\/article_bff67cf0-02e0-11ed-87c7-e3d2da717575.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2022 preservation fight in The City\u2019s St. Francis Wood neighborhood<\/a>. Ultimately, neighborhood organizers were successful in their bid to win historic status for the tony enclave, made up of expansive properties topped by striking homes, all laid out along an unusual \u201cresidential park\u201d design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Critics of the effort, though, saw only an attempt to skirt Senate Bill 9, the California housing law that abolished single-family zoning. With St. Francis Wood\u2019s historic status now in place, the neighborhood is exempt from SB 9 provisions that would have allowed for the construction of denser lots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2023\/12\/03\/is-historic-preservation-just-another-nimby-tactic-to-avoid-state-housing-laws\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Similar housing fights have popped up elsewhere in California<\/a>&nbsp;as well, including in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/YIMBYs-accuse-wealthy-S-F-neighborhood-of-trying-17137824.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">San Mateo<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/oag.ca.gov\/news\/press-releases\/attorney-general-bonta-puts-city-pasadena-notice-violating-state-housing-laws\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pasadena<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amid concerns that communities had hit upon a winning playbook to circumvent California\u2019s housing laws, pro-housing advocates responded this year by introducing statewide legislation that would require cities to make&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cayimby.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AB-2580-Wicks-Accountability-in-Historic-Preservation-Fact-Sheet.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a full accounting of how local preservation designations will affect state-mandated housing goals<\/a>, and to file periodic reports with the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo it\u2019s basically making sure that cities are aware that the state is watching and that the state knows that historic preservation is being abused to block housing,\u201d said Matthew Lewis, who directs communications for California YIMBY, the advocacy group behind the measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LaBounty strongly opposes the bill \u2014 which is now working its way through the state Assembly \u2014 arguing the threat to housing posed by preservation has been overblown. He also believes the measure unfairly stigmatizes legitimate efforts to preserve buildings treasured by local residents. His own group first emerged&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfheritage.org\/about\/history-of-heritage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in the 1970s in response to the threatened demolition of a number of Victorian houses in the Western Addition<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As he works with the Planning Department to shore up landmark protections, he also hopes to push back against the climate of suspicion he says preservationists now face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf this narrative and this wave continues, and more laws keep getting passed, it\u2019s open season on everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One challenge facing LaBounty: drawing together all the research and documentation needed to make a convincing case that a building is not just old, but historically significant, is specialized, labor-intensive work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s one of the main reasons San Francisco has not carried out such an effort on a broad scale sooner, despite the fact that prior surveys conducted over the decades have identified roughly 1,100 buildings that potentially meet the standards for historic status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The other major challenge is the review process itself, which city officials say takes five months at a bare minimum, requiring sign offs from the Historic Preservation Commission, the Board of Supervisors and the mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the course of a typical year, between five and 10 San Francisco buildings join the ranks of The City\u2019s official landmarks, according to the Planning Department. To get that number up, conservationists have floated the idea of passing groups of buildings through the review process en masse, though Planning Department officials say they are still conferring with other city leaders. The agency is also considering policy changes to cut down on the review time and formulate more objective application requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, San Francisco&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sfplanning.org\/project\/designated-landmarks-and-landmark-districts#designated-landmarks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has granted landmark status to 13 historic districts<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 including Alamo Square, Dogpatch and Telegraph Hill \u2014 and just more than 300 properties, all together accounting for less than 1% of The City\u2019s total housing stock, according to planning officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As The City works to whittle that 1,100 figure down to a more manageable number, officials say they are focusing their efforts on commercial buildings because residential structures already enjoy relatively robust protections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They are also conducting outreach to a number of ethnic and racial communities \u2014 including African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Chinese Americans and Russian Americans \u2014 to make sure San Francisco\u2019s landmarks reflect the full panoply of The City\u2019s famously diverse history. Critics of historic preservation say such efforts have&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arch.columbia.edu\/books\/reader\/503-preservation-and-social-inclusion#reader-anchor-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">often overlooked less affluent, higher density neighborhoods<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Time is of the essence in this work: For now, new construction projects are emerging at only a trickle in San Francisco, held back by stubbornly high industry costs and interest rates. But when the housing industry picks back up, developers will benefit from SB 423, a recently expanded streamlining measure, which now requires the Planning Department to grant permits for most projects on an expedited timeline, so long as they meet The City\u2019s planning code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That streamlined process bypasses review measures that might have otherwise revealed the presence of a historic resource, which could have then triggered further layers of review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In most cases, gaining landmark status would be enough to block an attempt to demolish a structure, or at least significantly slow it down. It also adds additional hurdles for other modifications that might detract from a building\u2019s historic character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But due to California housing laws passed in recent years, that landmark status must now be in place before a project application has been submitted.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hence, the sense of urgency:&nbsp;\u201cWe\u2019re all on borrowed time,\u201d said&nbsp;LaBounty. Once housing construction revives, he wonders,&nbsp;\u201care we going to be ready for the onslaught?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/sf-yimby-coalition-power-grows-ahead-of-november-election\/article_c6e855b4-3417-11ef-ac4f-67fd0dd1c80c.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">San Francisco\u2019s broad pro-development coalition<\/a>&nbsp;seems to be giving this conservation push the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEven people who want to see more housing built, we\u2019re not going to be like, bulldoze the city,\u201d said Jane Natoli, San Francisco organizing director for the national YIMBY Action group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a tool,\u201d she said, referring to landmark protections. \u201cAnd any tool can be used for good or ill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nevertheless, some still fear that even well-intentioned historic preservation could inflict unintended harms \u2014 for instance, creating added barriers that could discourage property owners from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/what-blocks-dreams-of-downtown-office-towers-becoming-homes\/article_52b74154-b6f5-11ee-8788-0bae0b74acd6.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">converting their empty office buildings into new housing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cClearly, The City does have an interest in preserving historic architecture,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, he said, \u201cThe City\u2019s got a much more pressing issue that its tax rolls are collapsing, and it\u2019s struggling across the city with commercial properties that are sitting vacant, that are not going to be full anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sucre, though, pushed back on the notion that conservation and development must inevitably conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJust because you have a historic property doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t build housing,\u201d he said. As one example of a San Francisco property that has been radically reimagined, he pointed to the transformation of Ghirardelli Square from a chocolate factory into a destination shopping spot that also includes a number of apartments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt just means that you have to be more creative with it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd creativity is actually a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Woody LaBounty, President and CEO of SF Heritage, in the research library with a historic Sanborn map at the Haas-Lilienthal House in San Francisco on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. SF Heritage\u2019s mission is to preserve San Francisco\u2019s unique architecture.&nbsp; A 1915 Sanborn Map of Battery Street and Pacific Avenue last&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/07\/26\/new-housing-laws-may-threaten-some-of-sfs-most-iconic-buildings\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35139,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35135\/revisions\/35139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}