3 ms·

I don't know how SF can call itself a city and not allow greater than four story buildings for most of its area.

by dublinben 11y ago

pbreit 11y ago
Well, for many, that's one of the core appeals of SF.
- jacobolus 11y ago
  I know almost nobody who thinks a “core appeal” of SF is the low density and poor access to transit of the neighborhoods south of I280 or west of Highway 1. All the people I know who live in the western half of the city complain bitterly and incessantly about car traffic and how crappy the bus and light rail are. The charming parts of SF are all the bustling little neighborhoods in the northeast quarter of the city, which have easy walking access to anything you might need. If the low-density areas of SF doubled in density (we’re talking some percentage of 4-story low-rise apartment buildings instead of exclusively single-family homes), along with a commensurate improvement in transit, almost everyone would be thrilled, and the city would be more charming, not less. Here’s a zoning map. http://www.sf-planning.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=9016 http://www.sf-planning.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documen... All the parts that are zoned as one housing unit per lot, with no allowance for commercial uses (RH-1), along with similar zoning throughout the Bay Area, are the cause of our current housing crisis. The name for it is “suburban sprawl,” and it’s a crappy way to organize a society, antithetical to community and to human health. (Not to mention, they are hugely inefficient from a resource-use perspective, and are at a national and international scale causing the destruction of the planet.) It would be lovely if some portion of those were re-zoned to RC-3 or similar.
fra 11y ago
I don't think the 4 story limit is the problem. The vast majority of buildings in Paris are 4 to 5 stories, and they achieve much higher density.

I don't know how SF can call itself a city and not allow greater than four story buildings for most of its area.

pbreit 11y ago

Well, for many, that's one of the core appeals of SF.

jacobolus 11y ago
I know almost nobody who thinks a “core appeal” of SF is the low density and poor access to transit of the neighborhoods south of I280 or west of Highway 1. All the people I know who live in the western half of the city complain bitterly and incessantly about car traffic and how crappy the bus and light rail are. The charming parts of SF are all the bustling little neighborhoods in the northeast quarter of the city, which have easy walking access to anything you might need. If the low-density areas of SF doubled in density (we’re talking some percentage of 4-story low-rise apartment buildings instead of exclusively single-family homes), along with a commensurate improvement in transit, almost everyone would be thrilled, and the city would be more charming, not less. Here’s a zoning map. http://www.sf-planning.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=9016 http://www.sf-planning.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documen... All the parts that are zoned as one housing unit per lot, with no allowance for commercial uses (RH-1), along with similar zoning throughout the Bay Area, are the cause of our current housing crisis. The name for it is “suburban sprawl,” and it’s a crappy way to organize a society, antithetical to community and to human health. (Not to mention, they are hugely inefficient from a resource-use perspective, and are at a national and international scale causing the destruction of the planet.) It would be lovely if some portion of those were re-zoned to RC-3 or similar.

fra 11y ago

I don't think the 4 story limit is the problem. The vast majority of buildings in Paris are 4 to 5 stories, and they achieve much higher density.