E - Limits on Office Development

This measure would tie proposition M's annual limit on Large Office Projects in San Francisco to the City's affordable housing production. If the City falls short in meeting its Affordable Housing Goals, then the limit would go down by the same percentage as that shortfall. The measure would also require the City to consider, when allocating office space, whether a Large Office Project includes affordable housing and community facilities beyond what the law requires. The City's Planning Commission could grant a new exception from the annual limit for a Large Office Project if: it includes affordable housing, at a ratio of at least 809 units per 1 million square feet of new office space; and the affordable housing is on-site, or located off-site within an economically disadvantaged community. For Large Office Projects in Central SoMa, the Planning Commission could grant another new exception from lower annual limit, up to a total of 1.7 million square feet, if: the project sponsor submitted a proposal to the Planning Department before September 11, 2019; the project includes property to be given to the City for affordable housing, a space for community arts or neighborhood-serving retail at reduced rents, or a public safety facility; and until 15,000 new housing units are built in the wider SoMa neighborhood, the project would not cause the total amount of Large Office Projects approved in Central SoMa after January 1, 2019 to exceed a cumulative limit of 6 million square feet. Any new office space approved using either of these new exceptions would be deducted against the annual limit evenly over a 10-year period, rather than in a singer year.