The Nearly Impossible Path to Opening a Small Business in San Francisco’s District 3

Bakeries, Coffee Roasters & Ice Cream Makers

Want to make a product and also offer it for sale to customers at the same location? This is a “Speciality Food Manufacturing” use.

But, you’re out of luck if you want to open your bakery in North Beach, make ice cream on Nob Hill, or roast coffee on Telegraph Hill. You’ll notice no orange (conditional uses) on the map in District 3, meaning you don’t even have a pathway to fight to open such a business if you wanted to.

See a full list of “Speciality Food Manufacturing” uses.

Pop-Ups

In 2018, San Francisco introduced a new type of temporary use permits, “60-Day Pop-Ups.” This common-sense permit would allow for temporary secondary uses of space.

On paper, pop-ups should be one of the “easier” types of businesses to open today— they require less capital, they allow a simple way to test the waters, and they allow for new concepts that draw curious visitors.

The only problem? My opponent voted against allowing pop-ups in District 3. This means it impossible to open a 60-day pop-up business anywhere in our neighborhoods, from Russian Hill to Union Square to Nob Hill.

Flexible Retail

Want to open an ice cream shop and a greeting card shop under one roof? How about a space that combines an event space, cafe, and bookstore?

Those are both examples of Flexible Retail. They are also both not allowed anywhere in District 3. Many other Districts allow Flexible Retail, but my opponent decided to opt our neighborhoods out of the legislation.

It’s expensive to rent space in San Francisco, and the stakes are high. We should not make it illegal to combine resources to open a space and limit the creative potential of the retail experiences our merchants can offer.

Art Studios & Workshops

It is illegal to open a ceramics studio on Grant Ave, an art gallery on all of Polk Street in D3, or a photo workshop on Hyde Street. Notice that there’s no orange on this map in those commercial areas, so you don’t even have a chance to attempt to open through a conditional use.

These are examples of “Arts Activities.” See a full list here.

Job Training Centers

As more than 100,000 San Franciscans face unemployment, access to job services and retraining services has never been more critical. But, in too many neighborhoods like Lower Nob Hill and the Tenderloin, those services are suppressed by current zoning rules.

Even worse? Many of the areas with the highest unemployment (see image on the right), are the same places where it’s actually the hardest to open a space for job training.

Restaurants

Restaurants require a conditional use permit in much of District 3 — all along Polk Street, in much of Chinatown, on Columbus Ave. and along Grant Ave.

Yes, San Francisco has a lot of restaurants already and balance is important in planning. But is there anything balanced about sending new, hopeful restaurant owners through the broken, lengthy conditional use process?