Commission approves conversion of parking stalls at 1160 Mission to fleet EV charging; union seeks closer review for delivery uses

The Planning Commission approved a conditional‑use authorization on March 30 to convert 61 publicly accessible parking stalls in an existing garage at 1160 Mission Street to fleet electric vehicle charging, with conditions and clarifications from staff.

Nick Foster of planning staff described the proposal as a change of use from public parking to a non‑retail sales and service use for fleet charging. "In layperson speak, what we're talking about is a four‑story podium garage converting 61 of the 189 publicly accessible parking spaces... to fleet charging," Foster said, noting the garage contains 364 spaces total and that the majority of spaces would remain public or dedicated to the residential tower above.

Sponsor Mike Engelhard of Terawatt Infrastructure said the project is intended to serve fleet vehicles and to free up public chargers for residents. "By making this private for fleet charging... we free public charging for individuals in the city to use," Engelhard said.

Mark Leeson called on behalf of Teamsters Joint Council 7 and argued the application materials included a business slide describing freight and autonomous vehicle charging and urged the commission to treat conversions that effectively support delivery operations with greater scrutiny. "We request that this type of change of use application be pulled off the consent calendar every time it is put on for consent," Leeson said, citing the board of supervisors' partial delivery moratorium adopted in March 2022.

Planning staff and commissioners clarified that approving fleet charging infrastructure does not itself authorize a parcel delivery use, which is a distinct land‑use category requiring a separate conditional‑use authorization. The commission voted to approve the CUA with conditions (recorded as unanimous 6–0).