Don't Let New Historical Landmarks Slow Down Housing
San Francisco Planning Department and Supervisor Chan's Office
The San Francisco Planning Department and District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan have proposed to designate 9 Richmond District properties as "Article 10" Historic Landmarks, a designation which makes them harder to turn into new housing by adding environmental review and additional procedural steps.
Grow the Richmond is arguing that 4 of the 9 properties (the Holy Virgin Cathedral at 6210 Geary, the Internet Archive at 300 Funston, Star of the Sea at 4410 Geary and the Jefferson Airplane House at 2400 Fulton) are appropriate for historical landmarking, but that the other 5 (which include the Office Depot at Geary and Arguello) should be removed from the list to minimize the processes needed to build new housing in our neighborhood. This petition will be delivered to SF Planning and Supervisor Chan's office.
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To:
San Francisco Planning Department and Supervisor Chan's Office
From:
[Your Name]
Hello San Francisco Planning Department and Supervisor Chan's Office,
We at Grow the Richmond (a local chapter of SF YIMBY) care about protecting historic landmarks and institutions that make our neighborhood unique, yet historic landmark designation is often a tool that housing opponents use to prevent new developments. The buildings currently being proposed for landmark designation in the Richmond district are a telling example. The list, proposed by Supervisor Connie Chan and the Planning Department, includes buildings with genuine historical significance worth protecting. But it also features several unremarkable sites, such as a Chase Bank, an Office Depot, and 389 Ninth Ave., that would better serve the community as housing.
We are requesting that SF Planning remove all proposed landmarks from the existing list except the Holy Virgin Cathedral (6210 Geary), the Internet Archive (300 Funston), Star of the Sea (4410 Geary), and the Jefferson Airplane House (2400 Fulton). While these properties rise to the level of significance as to merit a landmark designation, we argue that the remaining 5 properties (the Richmond Hall at 301 Clement, the Firehouse at 499 41st, the AT&T building at 389 9th, the Office Depot at 3700 Geary, and the French Hospital at 4121 Geary) do not. Our neighborhood is in the midst of a housing crisis, and we must take any and all steps to make it as easy as possible to build homes for new neighbors.
Thank you,
Grow the Richmond