Proposed North Beach Zoning Changes Have Neighborhood Small Businesses Up in Arms

The article was originally published on https://sfist.com/2025/10/28/proposed-north-beach-zoning-changes-have-neighborhood-small-businesses-up-in-arms/North Beach’s supervisor Danny Sauter is pushing legislation allowing storefronts to merge in that neighborhood, supposedly to fight vacancies. Business owners wonder what he’s talking about, pointing out one of the city’s lowest vacancy rates.   San Francisco has been struggling with retail vacancies since before the pandemic hit, particularly in Union Square and the Van Ness Corridor. One solution SF City Hall is trying to use to address this is the lifting of the formula retail ban in certain parts of town, notably that very Van Ness Corridor.   Separately, in District 3, which is home to the Van Ness Corridor plus North Beach, Polk Gulch