San Francisco panels push planning-led overhaul of site permits, seek public input on 30-day consolidated review

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Planning Commission and the Building Inspection Commission met jointly on May 11 to review a staff-led plan to reform how the city reviews site permits and to collect public feedback on proposed changes.

Michael Christiansen, principal planner with the city's Permit Center, told commissioners the project would shift intake to the Planning Department using the Accela online portal, publish checklists so applicants know what will be reviewed, and provide one consolidated plan-check letter within 30 days after a complete application. "We want the ability to know on day 29 when we haven't done it yet, and we can start to be proactive and fix that issue," Christiansen said. He said the approach would create a "development review permit" that preserves the same appealable milestone as today's site permit but adds an implementation plan for applicants.

Staff said the change addresses three persistent problems: duplicative intake between agencies, sequential plan checks that can take years, and an aging permit tracking system that limits proactive management. Christiansen cited a staff review that found roughly "96%" of new building projects are processed as site permits and emphasized that the current work flow often leaves applicants without a clear implementation roadmap.

The presentation described how Planning would coordinate preliminary reviews from DBI, Public Works and Fire, using public checklists to define the scope of each agency's review. For other city agencies the plan check would be preliminary and limited; the planning-led letter would compile all comments for applicants to address together. Staff also said they plan to use tools such as Airtable and automated reporting to flag overdue tasks and create management dashboards.

"When somebody applies for a permit, we want them to know what they're getting into and what that process is going to look like," said Elizabeth Waddie, director of current planning, during the question-and-answer period. She said the department aims to begin issuing completeness letters and consolidated plan-check responses within 30 days, consistent with the state's Permit Streamlining Act and the Housing Accountability Act.

Public commenters included architects, builders, small-firm advocates and residents. Representatives of the American Institute of Architects and several local architects praised the move to consolidated digital tools and clearer checklists, while urging that early coordination not translate into extra rounds of detailed review that would overburden DBI staff. "The devil's in the details," architect Christopher Roach said, while David Gast and others urged clear checklists and better coordination with Public Works and Fire.

The Residential Builders Association urged caution. "It is a very, very bad idea to move anything without the process and the tools and the pieces being fixed first," said Sean Kegren, arguing that simultaneous plan checks are unrealistic where projects routinely go through many revision rounds.

Commissioners focused their questions on measurable timelines, who would be the single point of contact for applicants, how many review cycles the city should allow before management intervention, and how the new process would coordinate with PG&E and the Department of Public Works on transformer vaults, street improvements and other right-of-way issues. Staff said the planner assigned to a project would act as the city's point of contact to coordinate reviewers and that management reports could be programmed to flag projects that hit a policy threshold of revision cycles.

Deborah Lutzky of Public Works said DPW is committed to participating in concurrent reviews and to publishing checklists for right-of-way impacts. Staff also said they are working with PG&E and the mayor's office to craft memoranda of understanding and informational materials to reduce late-stage surprises over utility vaults, meter rooms and power upgrades.

DBI deputy director Neville Perera said DBI is retraining staff to limit unnecessary correction cycles and to escalate projects to supervisors or managers after a small number of revisions. "We want to leave enough breadcrumbs for the applicant to let them know these are the things that are going to come up at full construction document stage," Perera said.

Commissioners asked for additional case studies and promised continued joint oversight. Waddie and Christiansen said staff will continue outreach, host targeted summer sessions with stakeholders to walk through example projects, and prepare a legislative package and technology updates. The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is scheduled to conduct a policy and practice review of planning later in the fall, staff noted.

No formal vote or ordinance was taken at the hearing; staff described the session as an outreach step toward developing legislation and system changes. Commissioners said they intend to monitor implementation closely and return for updates once specific checklists, timelines and interoperability details are ready.