(See Interpretations related to this Section.)
(a) “Additional office space” shall mean the number of square feet of gross floor area of office space created by an office development, reduced, in the case of a modification, conversion, or demolition, by the number of square feet of gross floor area of preexisting office space which is lost.
(b) “Annual RHNA Affordable Housing Goal” shall mean one-eighth of the eight-year Final Regional Housing Need Allocation for the years 2015-2023 for San Francisco City and County, adopted by the Executive Board of the Association of Bay Area Governments on July 13, 2013, pursuant to California Government Code sec. 65580, for the “Very Low,” “Low,” and “Moderate” categories combined. The total eight-year Final Regional Housing Need Allocation in these categories combined is 16,333 units, which is 2,042 units per year. If future implementation of California Government Code sec. 65580, or any successor statewide mechanism to establish local affordable housing goals, establishes a higher annual allocation for San Francisco for production of units affordable to households earning up to 120 percent of area median income, then such higher annual allocation shall replace the number of units established pursuant to the first sentence of this Subsection (b). However, in no case shall the Annual RHNA Affordable Housing Goal be less than 2,042 units.
(c) “Approval period” shall mean the 12-month period beginning on October 17, 1985 and each subsequent 12-month period.
(d) “Approve” shall mean to approve issuance of a project authorization and shall include actions of the Planning Commission, Board of Appeals and Board of Supervisors.
(e) “City of San Francisco Affordable Housing Development Funding” means any capital development funds or subsidies administered or awarded by the City or County of San Francisco or any entity thereof. Such entities include the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure, any future local redevelopment agency established pursuant to state law, the Port of San Francisco, and all other City or County departments or agencies. Such funds and subsidies include lease or sale of City property at less than market value, state or federal capital development funds administered or awarded by the City, and any other direct or indirect public support for capital development provided to a project. Tax credits, rent subsidies, and the Welfare Property Tax Exemption are excluded from this definition. Fees and exactions that are imposed on the proposed project pursuant to City requirements to fund affordable housing development that are retained or reimbursed for use by the proposed project to build affordable housing as a component of the project are excluded from this definition.
(f) “City’s Affordable Housing Demand Ratio” means 809 housing units affordable to households with household incomes no greater than 120% of Area Median Income per 1,000,000 square feet of new office development, as detailed in the Jobs Housing Nexus Analysis of May 2019 prepared for the City and County of San Francisco by Keyser Marston Associates, Inc., which determined that the Affordable Unit Demand Factor for 1,000 square feet of new San Francisco office development is currently 0.80892 affordable housing units. The City shall update the Affordable Unit Demand Factor at least every five years, and the City’s Affordable Housing Demand Ratio shall be adjusted according to the updated Factor.
(g) “Completion” shall mean the first issuance of a temporary certificate of occupancy or a Certificate of Final Completion and Occupancy as defined in San Francisco Building Code Section 307.
(h) “Disapprove” shall mean for an appellate administrative agency or court, on review of an office development, to direct that construction shall not proceed, in whole or in part.
(i) “Large Cap Maximum” shall mean the portion of the maximum set forth in Subsection (a)(1)(A) that is available to buildings of at least 50,000 square feet in gross floor area of office development.
(j) “New Affordable Housing Unit” shall mean a newly constructed unit with permanent affordability requirements that conform to standards established by the State of California as applicable to the City and County of San Francisco for determination of affordability to households with incomes of up to no more than 120 percent of the Area Median Income.
(k) “Office space” shall mean space within a structure intended or primarily suitable for occupancy by persons or entities which perform for their own benefit or provide to others services at that location, including but not limited to professional, banking, insurance, management, consulting, technical, sales and design, or the office functions of manufacturing and warehousing businesses, but shall exclude the following: Retail use; repair; any business characterized by the physical transfer of tangible goods to customers on the premises; wholesale shipping, receiving and storage; any facility, other than physicians’ or other individuals’ offices and uses accessory thereto, customarily used for furnishing medical services, and design showcases or any other space intended and primarily suitable for display of goods. This definition shall include all uses encompassed within Section 102 of this Code.
(l) "Office development" shall mean construction, modification or conversion of any structure or structures or portion of any structure or structures, with the effect of creating additional office space, excepting only:
(1) Development which will result in less than 25,000 square feet of additional office space;
(2) Development either:
(i) Authorized under San Francisco Redevelopment Agency disposition or owner participation agreements which have been approved by Agency resolution prior to the effective date of this Section, or
(ii) Authorized prior to the effective date of this Section by Agency resolution in anticipation of such agreements with particular developers identified in the same or a subsequent agency resolution;
(3) Any development which is governed by prior law under Section 175.1(b) of this Code, unless modified after the effective date specified in Section 175.1(b) to add more than 15,000 square feet of additional office space. Any addition of office space up to 15,000 square feet shall count against the maximum for the approval period, pursuant to Section 321(a)(2)(B);
(4) Any development including conversion of 50,000 square feet or more of manufacturing space to office space where the manufacturing uses previously located in such space are relocated to another site within the City and County of San Francisco and the acquisition or renovation of the new manufacturing site is funded in whole or part by an Urban Development Action Grant approved by the Board of Supervisors;
(5) Any mixed-residential-commercial development which will be assisted by Community Development Block Grant funds approved by the Board of Supervisors in which all of the housing units shall be affordable to low-income households for a minimum of 40 years and for which an environmental review application and site permit application have been filed prior to the effective date of this ordinance which enacted the provisions of this Section;
(6) Any development authorized pursuant to a Planned Unit Development, as provided for by City Planning Code Section 304, providing for a total of 500 or more additional units of housing, provided such development first received a Planned Unit Development authorization prior to November 4, 1986. Such Planned Unit Development may be amended from time to time by the Planning Commission, but in no event shall any such amendment increase the amount of office space allowed for the development beyond the amount approved by the Planning Commission prior to November 4, 1986.
(m) “Produced” shall mean, with regard to an affordable housing unit, that the housing unit is issued a first construction document, as defined in San Francisco Building Code sec. 107A.13.1.
(n) “Project authorization” shall mean the authorization issued by the Planning Department pursuant to Sections 321 and 322 of this Code.
(o) “Replacement office space” shall mean, with respect to a development exempted by Subsection (g)(6)1 of this Section, that portion of the additional office space which does not represent a net addition to the amount of office space used by the occupant’s employees in San Francisco.
(p) “Retail Use” shall mean supply of commodities on the premises including, but not limited to, stores, shops, Restaurants, Bars, eating and drinking businesses, and Retail Sales and Services uses defined in Planning Code Section 102, except for Hotels and Motels.
(q) “Preexisting office space” shall mean office space used primarily and continuously for office use and not accessory to any use other than office use for five years prior to Planning Commission approval of an office development project which office use was fully legal under the terms of San Francisco law.
(Added by Ord. 414-85, App. 9/17/85; amended by Proposition M, 11/4/86; Proposition C, 6/2/87; Ord. 22-15, File No. 141253, App. 2/20/2015, Eff. 3/22/2015; Ord. 188-15
, File No. 150871, App. 11/4/2015, Eff. 12/4/2015; Proposition E, 3/3/2020, Eff. 4/17/2020; Proposition C, 3/5/2024, Eff. 4/12/2024)
AMENDMENT HISTORY
Introductory paragraph and division (f) amended; Ord. 22-15, Eff. 3/22/2015. Division (j) amended; Ord. 188-15
, Eff. 12/4/2015. Introductory paragraph amended; former divisions (b)-(k) redesignated as (c), (d), (g), (h), (k), (l), and (n)-(q), respectively; new divisions (b), (e), (f), (i), (j), and (m) added; Proposition E, 3/3/2020, Eff. 4/17/2020. Introductory paragraph and division (a) amended; Proposition C, 3/5/2024, Eff. 4/12/2024.
CODIFICATION NOTE
1. So in Proposition E, 3/3/2020.