San Francisco Government SmartTranscripts:

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: Hello. Good afternoon, everyone. Meeting will come to order. Welcome to the 01/12/2025, regular meeting of the Land Use and Transportation Committee of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco. I am Supervisor Myrna Melgar, chair of the committee, joined by Vice Chair Supervisor Chyanne Chen and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood. The committee clerk today is John Carroll. I would also like to acknowledge Sous Enos from SFGov TV for staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements?

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Please ensure that you've silenced your cell phones and other electronic devices you may have brought with you into the chamber today. If you have any documents to be included as part of any of today's files, you can submit them directly to me. Public comment will be taken on each item on today's agenda. When your item of interest comes up and public comment is called, please line up to speak along your right hand side of this room. Alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways. First, you may email your comments to me at j o h n. Carrollsfgov dot org. Or you may send your written public comment to our office in City Hall, that is the clerk's office, Room 244, and City Hall's address is 1 Doctor. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, California, 94102. If you submit public comment in writing, I will forward your comments to the members of this committee and also include your comments as part of the official file on which you are commenting. Items on today's agenda are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors' agenda of 01/27/2026 unless otherwise stated.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: Thank you mister clerk please call item number one.

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: Agenda item number one is an ordinance amending the planning code to permit parking of up to two operable vehicles, not including boats, trailers, recreational vehicles, mobile homes, or buses, in driveways located in required front setbacks, side yards, or rear yards. The ordinance affirms the Planning Department's secret determination and makes findings of consistency with the general plan in the eight priority policies of Planning Code Section 101.1, as well as Planning Code Section three zero two.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: Okay thank you so the mayor who is the sponsor of this legislation is still working out some amendments to the legislation and has requested that we continue this item So I will make a motion to continue this item to our next meeting of Monday, January 26, after we take public comment.

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: Thank you, Madam Chair. Land use and transportation will now hear public comment related to agenda item number one planning code changes permitting parking and driveways if you have public comment for this item please line up to speak and come forward to the lectern now.

[Tom Radulovich (Livable City)]: Good morning supervisors Tom Adulovich with livable city As we've discussed before, this ordinance kinda, you know, presented itself as just like a little bit of car populism, right? If you got a driveway, you can park in it. It's a deeply flawed piece of legislation because it does a whole lot more than that. It would allow the creation of driveways to garages that don't exist, neither the garage nor the driveway, in front yards, rear yards, etcetera, all over the city. So basically, it would lead to large scale paving of people's yards. It would also absolve developments. Right now, if you convert living or car space, car storage space off street to a storefront or to living space, you're supposed to seal up the driveway. You're supposed to put the curb back. You're supposed to put in street trees, you know, you're supposed to heal the city. You're supposed to put in a better sidewalk and green the place. It would absolve developers of that responsibility. Now, I think there's a few problems with this. I mean, it will induce a lot of automobile congestion. It will make our city less safe, less walkable than current law. It will actually break a principle that we've had in past plans, which is that as the city grows denser, it should become greener, should become more walkable. We should have a good public realm. Now abundance is kind of a buzzword that we all hear. This is not an abundance approach. Right? It's saying that the city will get denser, but we will no longer have an improved public realm. Let me plant an idea. Let me give you an abundance approach. Where I come from, Los Angeles, the city will the depart water department will give you money to remove your lawn and put in drought risk tolerant landscaping. What if instead of say, what if we said to folks developing property, hey, we want you to build housing. We love housing. It's more important than parking, but we also want you to improve the streetscape, and we will give you grants. We will rebate fees. We will make it worth your while to do this. So we get the improved public realm, and we get the housing that we need. There's a better way forward, a smart way forward, just not this way. Thank you.

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: Thank you for your comments. To the next speaker, please.

[Paul Wurmer (Public Commenter)]: Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is Paul Wurmer. There are some acts that are very hard to follow, but endorsing everything that was just said, I want to say that with respect to maintaining a space. When we first moved into the neighborhood we live in now, there were three Victorians, all with a front guard. Turns out they were all one structure that was subdivided into three lots in the fifties. We ended up buying the middle one. We kept the garden. The other two are now driveways. I've discovered we can get around without a car in San Francisco. So doing things to encourage people to maintain permeable surfaces, planted surfaces, is incredibly important for many, many reasons. Our sewage system is overtaxed. That absolutely helps. The health impacts of greenery are studied and validated everything from removing particulate matter. And if you've seen the latest stuff on PM 2.5 and various diseases and impacts on youth and seniors? I'm a senior, so it concerns me. I have grand nephews and nieces, so it concerns me. I think that we are dealing with a very real problem. And if the amendment that I believe the planning commission suggested, which is you don't get to put in a blind driveway, you don't get to put in a driveway to the backyard, That if you have a garage, then you can use that driveway as parking space. If that garage became a a ADU, then you're not required to surrender your parking space. That is, I think, one incentive. New construction that says, oh, you can do a blind driveway because you're putting in a second unit. I'm not sure that's fair, that's right Speaker's time is or that's productive. Thank you.

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: Thank you for your comments. Do we have anyone else who has public comment for agenda item number one? Madam chair.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: Okay. Public comment on this item is now closed. I would like to make a motion that we continue this item to our meeting of Monday, 01/26/2026.

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: On the motion offered by the chair that this ordinance be continued to January 2026, Vice Chair Chen sorry, 01/26/2026. Chen, I. Member Mahmood, I. Chair Melgar?

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: I.

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: Melgar, I. Madam Chair, there are three ayes.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: That motion passes. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, let's go to item number two, please.

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: Agenda item two is an ordinance amending the building code to create a permit and permitting process for hydrogen fuel station equipment installation and affirming the Planning Department's CEQUA determination.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: Okay. Thank you so much. We have Mr. Hanna here from the Department of Building Inspection for a presentation. Welcome.

[Tate Hanna (Department of Building Inspection)]: Thank you very much. Chair Melgar and supervisors. Tate Hanna, legislative affairs manager at the Department of Building Inspection. A very brief presentation for you today on file number 251024. If we could get the slides up, please. Perfect. Thank you. So this ordinance implements SB fourteen eighteen, or Senate Bill fourteen eighteen, I should say, which is a state law passed in 2024. SB fourteen eighteen requires local jurisdictions to adopt a local ordinance that would create a expedited streamline permitting process for hydrogen fueling stations and their associated infrastructure. This process must also be accompanied by a checklist of all requirements for these stations for plan review and other permitting review processes under SB fourteen eighteen. The ordinance before you seeks to implement that state law, as it will establish a prioritized pathway for review of hydrogen fueling stations. Additionally, the department has worked on a checklist to guide applicants through the process and ensure that if they meet everything on the checklist, then they are going to have to be submitting a complete application, will be reviewed for that permit. The department has requested no amendments, and is recommending support of the ordinance. It was reviewed by our Code Advisory Committee, as well as the Building Inspection Commission on 11/12/2014, respectively, both of which provided unanimous positive recommendations. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: Yes. Supervisor Mahmood.

[Supervisor Bilal Mahmood (Committee Member)]: Thank you, Tate. Do you know any companies that are looking to actually use this permit? What's the demand for hydrogen fuel fueling stations?

[Tate Hanna (Department of Building Inspection)]: I can't speak to the specific companies. I can say there are no hydrogen fueling stations in the city currently. Previously, there were a few. That's no longer the case. The tracking website show there's one, I believe, in South San Francisco, one or two in the East Bay, one in Marin County. So, the whole region has really seen a dip in these stations. A few of them have been closed out. We've not at DBI, we've not received any applications for this. So it's hard to gauge the interest, potentially reestablishing the interest that was there. But right now, it's pretty minimal.

[Supervisor Bilal Mahmood (Committee Member)]: So we had stations before that were closed off?

[Tate Hanna (Department of Building Inspection)]: Correct.

[Supervisor Bilal Mahmood (Committee Member)]: What was the utilization at the time?

[Tate Hanna (Department of Building Inspection)]: I'm sorry, what was that?

[Supervisor Bilal Mahmood (Committee Member)]: What was the level of utilization when they were in place?

[Tate Hanna (Department of Building Inspection)]: That I can't speak to. That's between the station owners and their customers. But I think probably the closing down of those stations speaks to the utilization, unfortunately.

[Supervisor Bilal Mahmood (Committee Member)]: Okay. So if they close down, why prioritize this? I know it's state law, but amongst other priorities, why prioritize this, given uncertain demand?

[Tate Hanna (Department of Building Inspection)]: Sure, yeah. I don't want to speak for the author of the state law. Obviously, local jurisdictions are required to implement this. But I think, intent wise, it's hydrogen fueling is one of many renewable options for certain vehicles. I think there are some particular uses for hydrogen, perhaps long haul trucking or other larger vehicles that the state is still funding and trying to prioritize some hydrogen fueling for. In terms of recreational or sort of individual personal vehicles, it might be a little bit less likely to really expand and grow again. But there still is a clear through line with, I think, some of the city's priorities around greening and renewable resources that are aligned to the state law.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: Okay. Thank you. MTA has a fleet.

[Supervisor Bilal Mahmood (Committee Member)]: That's fleet. That's MTA's support.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: No, I'm just saying

[Supervisor Bilal Mahmood (Committee Member)]: They couldn't use it.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: I don't know what their own fueling looks like. I'm just saying there are vehicles that use hydrogen as fuel. In San Francisco, some of them are ours. Yeah. Okay. Supervisor Chen.

[Supervisor Chyanne Chen (Vice Chair)]: Thank you, Chair Melgar. I just want to thank the Department of Building Inspection for moving forward these legislations. I know that hydrogen fueling stations offer significant environmental benefits, but they also face major challenges. They can be very expensive, and they also unreliable times. And also, there are very limited infrastructures in the city. So, significant technological innovation and government support will be required to make hydrogen economically competitive and also environmentally sound for us to widespread use in passenger cars. For San Francisco, the viability of hydrogen station is really depend in resolving some of these significant challenges. And I know this is a legislation. It's aimed at tackling one piece of this very large questions. It's the permitting of infrastructures. And it's the obligation as a city, given the state law that we require, to streamlining the permitting process for new facilities. So, appreciate you doing this, and I'll be in support for this. Thank you.

[Tate Hanna (Department of Building Inspection)]: Thank you, Supervisor.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: Okay. Thank you. Let's go to public comment on this item. Mr. Clark.

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: Thank you, Madam Chair. Land use and transportation. We'll now hear public comment related to agenda item number two, an ordinance making changes to the billing code for hydrogen fueling station equipment. If you have public comment for this item, please come forward now. And Madam Chair, it appears we have no speakers.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: Okay. Public comment on this item is now closed. I'd like to make a motion that we move this forward with a positive recommendation.

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: On the motion offered by the chair that this ordinance be recommended to the Board of Supervisors, Vice Chair Chen. Chen, aye. Member Mahmood, aye. Chair Melgar?

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: Aye.

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: Melgar, aye. Madam Chair, there are three ayes.

[Supervisor Myrna Melgar (Chair)]: That motion passes. Before we adjourn, I just wanted to remind everyone that we're not meeting next Monday because it is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. So, the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Land Use and Transportation Committee will be Monday, January 26. And, with that, Mr. Clerk, do we have anything else on the agenda?

[John Carroll (Committee Clerk)]: There's no further business. We're adjourned.