Chapter 10 of 12Part IV: Approvals and Permits
For many San Francisco projects the longest and least predictable step is not the building permit but Planning review. This is where the city checks a project against its zoning and design rules and, for many expansions, tells the neighbors. Owners who understand the sequence can plan for it, and it is the part of the process where an experienced architect earns the most. This chapter follows a typical residential project through it.
What Planning reviews
When a project needs Planning review, the applicant files a Project Application. Planning staff review it against the Planning Code, the General Plan, environmental review requirements and the Residential Design Guidelines, and send a plan check letter describing required revisions and missing information. The architect revises the drawings until staff find the project code-compliant.
When is neighborhood notice required?
Planning Code Section 311 requires Planning to notify the neighborhood for certain kinds of work, depending on where the property is and what the project does. Planning’s September 2025 handout divides the city into two cases.
- Inside the Priority Equity Geographies Special Use District, which covers neighborhoods with a higher share of vulnerable residents, most new construction, demolition and building alterations in the listed districts get notice.
- Outside it, only certain scopes do. For single-family homes the handout lists, among others, vertical additions and increases in floor area of at least 25 percent that leave a one-unit building over 3,000 square feet, while a horizontal addition on its own is listed as not requiring notice. Some scopes that add a new dwelling unit, and projects using state streamlining programs, are listed as not requiring notice.
The rules have changed several times in recent years, so do not rely on what a neighbor went through a few years ago. You can check whether a property is inside the Special Use District on Planning’s Property Information Map, and Planning’s counter will answer questions by email at pic@sfgov.org.
The pre-application meeting
For projects that will get 30-day notice and include certain horizontal or vertical expansions or the loss of dwelling units, Planning requires a pre-application meeting with neighbors before the Project Application is filed, and the documentation must be submitted with it. Your architect usually prepares the drawings and runs the meeting. Treat it as useful: concerns raised early can often be solved in the design rather than argued about later.
How the notice works
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Notice materials | Once staff find the project compliant, the applicant submits a reduced plan set of up to 8 sheets at 11 by 17 inches, showing neighbors’ buildings and windows facing the site |
| Mailing | Planning mails the notice to owners and occupants within 150 feet and to Registered Neighborhood Groups; the applicant pays a postage fee |
| Poster | An 11 by 17 inch poster must stay up on the property for the whole 30-day period |
| 30-day period | Neighbors may ask questions or comment; plan changes during the period may require a new notice |
| Declaration of Posting | Submitted by the applicant at the end of the period |
| Approval | If no Discretionary Review is filed, Planning issues a Planning Approval Letter, needed for the building permit application |
Discretionary Review
During the 30 days, any member of the public or a neighborhood group may file a request for Discretionary Review, asking the Planning Commission to take a second look at a project that meets the code. Planning accepts these requests until 5 p.m. on the last day of the notice period. Planning says a hearing typically takes place within 12 weeks after the notice period closes, and that the Commission may approve, disapprove or require changes.
The Commission describes Discretionary Review as a power to be used only in exceptional and extraordinary circumstances. Even so, a filing adds weeks or months to a schedule, which is one reason architects take the pre-application meeting and neighbor conversations seriously.
What an architect does in this stage
- Checks early whether notice and a pre-application meeting apply, so the schedule is right from the start.
- Designs with the Residential Design Guidelines in mind, especially light, privacy and how the addition reads from the street and rear yards.
- Prepares clear notice drawings, including neighbors’ windows, so the notice answers questions instead of raising them.
- Responds to plan check letters and meets with planners when needed.
- Talks with neighbors during the notice period and suggests design changes where they solve a real concern.
Tip: State ADUs that meet the state standards skip Section 311 notice and Discretionary Review entirely. If an ADU is part of your plans, read ADUs and Older Buildings: Two San Francisco Special Cases before settling the design.
After the Planning Approval Letter comes the building permit itself. The next chapter explains the Department of Building Inspection’s review paths: Building Permits at DBI: Over-the-Counter, In-House and Site Permits.