Planning commission certifies EIR and approves Whole Foods Market at City Center (2675 Geary)

The Planning Commission certified the Final Environmental Impact Report and approved a conditional use authorization Feb. 1 for a proposed Whole Foods Market at 2675 Geary Boulevard (City Center shopping center), a project that would occupy a long'vacant ~50,000'square'foot space formerly used by Best Buy.

Staff summary and environmental findings: Rachel Schutt, environmental review coordinator, summarized the draft EIR process and explained that the revised project included two rooftop cooling towers; an acoustical analysis in the RTC (responses to comments) concluded that mechanical noise impacts would be reduced to less-than-significant levels with mitigation measures. Schutt recommended certification of the final EIR and adoption of CEQA findings and a mitigation monitoring program.

Project and neighborhood context: Jeff Horn and project representatives noted the site has existing formula retail uses and that adding Whole Foods would activate a long'vacant anchor space. Staff found that adding the store would increase formula retail concentration by about 1.5 percentage points when measured by storefront count and less than 0.5 percent by frontage.

Sponsor commitments and community benefit: The applicant highlighted a First Source hiring agreement targeting local hires for at least 30% of store operations hires, a project labor agreement for construction and a plan to coordinate with the city and community groups on local workforce and e'bike accommodations. Labor representatives and union building-trades leaders testified in support, citing project labor agreements and local-hire commitments.

Commission action: The commission voted unanimously to certify the Final EIR and approve the conditional use authorization for the formula retail grocery use. Commissioners adopted CEQA findings and approved a mitigation monitoring and reporting program for noise and other identified impacts.

Why it matters: The decision allows an established grocery operator to occupy a large, underused retail shell and brings pledges of local hiring and union labor while triggering standard CEQA mitigation for mechanical and noise impacts.