Peskin Compromise Protects Muni Reform

So Peskin added a provision to his Muni Reform measure that if voters approve will completely overrule the Downtown Parking Initiative. Now Don Fisher realizes that his Parking Initiative is dead, and has promised Peskin not to actively campaign for it – nor to oppose the Muni Reform measure. In exchange, Peskin has offered to submit a modest piece of legislation that may be put on the ballot in February.

In the Western Neighborhoods (as defined by District 1,2,4,7 and 11), current zoning law has a “one-for-one” parking policy. So a developer can build up to one parking space for each new unit of housing, but must get a conditional use for more. The Downtown Parking Initiative would have set “one-for-one” as a bare minimum – making it illegal to build less. Peskin’s compromise guarantees “one-for-one” as a right, while preserving the flexibility to build less – such as if a housing developer wants to build low-income housing along Geary where the tenants don’t own cars.

While this would guarantee “one-for-one” parking in the neighborhoods, Peskin also added conditions for building new off-street parking spaces: they (a) must be consistent with all development standards for the district, (b) cannot result in the removal of a significant tree, (c) cannot adversely affect a bicycle route, and (d) cannot adversely affect a Muni stop or route.

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