Union Street Considers More Restaurants, Less Drunks

Cow Hollow: It's been flying under the radar, but on August 11th, the Board of Supervisors will consider a proposal that would tweak current zoning regulations to allow approximately five new restaurants on Union Street. The legislation was introduced last month, and is as follows:

Ordinance amending Planning Code Sections 725.1 and 725.42 of the Union Street Neighborhood Commercial District to provide for a limited number of new full-service restaurant uses that satisfy specific requirements and obtain conditional use authorization, making environmental findings, and making findings of consistency with the General Plan and priority policies of Planning Code Section 101.1. Supervisor Alioto-Pier presented.

In non-legalese, what this means is that under the current set of rules (from 1987), when a Union Street restaurant space is taken over by a non-restaurant space, it's gone, and over the last decade or so, at least five restaurant spaces have been lost. As we understand it, new legislation would, simply, allow for more changes-of-use (possibly five).

Already there are groups of pros and cons brewing on Union Street, but one thing the Union Street neighbors are already adamant about is that the area cannot handle any more bars. So, the legislation—still in the editing process—will have to incorporate/discuss several options to keep the boozey side of the operation under control, be it limiting restaurants to 20% bar seating or making an effort to lure upscale dining destinations, something we're already seeing with Bayside.

Of course, the catch is that, depending on how far said conditions go, we could be looking at a North Beach-esque police state where it becomes very, very difficult to obtain conditional use, but putting that aside for the time being, we put the question to you: two heavies are already en route, but simply put, do you want to see more restaurants pop up on Union Street?
· Legislation Introduced, 6/17 [Board of Supes]
· Cow Hollow Archives [~ESF~]