Mayor Willie Brown's spokesman says his boss may soon name a replacement slate--for the second time--but time may be running out for a committee hearing and then a board vote next Monday, the last meeting before late September. Last month, he removed a list of nominees from contention for fear the city's Board of Supervisors would not approve them.
As it stands the there are only three planning commission members--the three nominated by Board of Supervisors' President Tom Ammiano under the voter-approved Proposition D. Three does not constitute a quorum, however. As a result, the commission has not met since June.
At this week's meeting, Supervisor Aaron Peskin asked that the board prepare to meet next week as both a committee and the board just in case Brown presents a second slate of nominees.
In the meantime, the board spent close to two hours considering appeals on two of the outgoing planning commissioners' decisions. Both projects fell within neighborhood-commercial zoning and involved demolishing smaller buildings and constructing commercial operations on the first floor and several units of housing upstairs. But one on California Street had been approved by the commission over the objection of neighbors, while the other on Geneva Avenue had been denied despite no organized opposition. The losing parties appealed.
The supervisors unanimously overrode the Geneva Street denial, with one member stating he was "almost in disbelief'' that the planning commissioners so often criticized for being too favorable to developers would say no to the project even though staff members had found it acceptable. A vote on the other appeal, in which neighbors around California and Divisadero streets said they worried that yet another restaurant and four new housing units would worsen extremely tight parking conditions and traffic, was postponed so the project sponsor could seek a long-term contract to guarantee off-site parking.
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