Draft
This story is a draft. Read how the maps were made, how accurate they are, and what is still under review.
The code is open source under the AGPL-3.0; the story, research and processed maps are licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 for non-commercial reuse. See the project on GitHub, where corrections and contributions are welcome.
Sources
Primary: ordinances, codes, maps and city reports
- Building Zone Ordinance, Ord. No. 5464 (N.S.), City and County of San Francisco, approved Oct. 3, 1921 Owner's scans, SF Planning Department (pipeline/data/raw/1921); SFPL call no. 917.946 Sa52b 1921.
- “Map Designations for Use of Property Zone Maps,” legend and index map, 1921 Owner's scans, SF Planning Department (pipeline/data/raw/1921).
- Zoning Map Book, San Francisco, 1948. David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries Source of the 1948 map images.
- City Planning Code, amended and corrected as of July 1947, pp. 24–27, incl. Sec. 99 (Ord. 4162, approved Nov. 26, 1946) pipeline/data/raw/1948/originals/planning-code.jpg.
- Planning Code with amendments to Dec. 1, 1957, incl. Art. 4.5 off-street parking
- Draft Environmental Impact Report, residential zoning (EE 76.182), Dept. of City Planning, Dec. 13, 1977
- City Planning Code, effective May 2, 1960, and “Summary of Zoning Provisions of the City Planning Code,” March 1, 1960 Owner's scans, SF Planning Department (pipeline/data/raw/1960/originals/1960.pdf, pp. 1–2).
- City Planning Code with amendments to July 10, 1964: summary chart and Art. 2.5 Special Height Districts (Ord. 35-64)
- Zoning map book, amendments to Feb. 2, 1975: use legend and Height & Bulk sheet 1H Owner's scans, SF Planning Department (pipeline/data/raw/1975).
- Final Environmental Impact Report, residential zoning amendments, June 27, 1978 (p. 122)
- Zoning map book (1980 series), legend with RH/RM/RC districts, amendments to Nov. 6, 1978 Owner's scans, SF Planning Department (pipeline/data/raw/1980).
- San Francisco Zoning Maps, introduction (American Legal Publishing / SF Planning), Sept. 2000 Owner's scans, SF Planning Department (pipeline/data/raw/1980 Plus).
- Downtown Plan ordinance, Ord. 414-85, effective Oct. 17, 1985 (Sec. 124 FAR table)
- SF Planning code summary, 2021-010762PCA, Four-Unit Density Exception (Ord. 210-22)
- Ord. 248-23, Housing Production (Board of Supervisors, Dec. 2023)
Secondary: histories, summaries and press
- SF Planning, Housing Affordability Strategies: “Regulation of Housing Development in San Francisco,” 2020
- Planning Code Sec. 252, Classes of Height and Bulk Districts; history note: Ord. 234-72, App. 8/18/72 (third-party mirror)
- SPUR, “High-Rise Hegira,” The Urbanist, July 1, 1999
- Steven Buss, “When did things go wrong in San Francisco?” (Substack)
- SPUR, “Proposition M and the Downtown Growth Battle,” The Urbanist, July 1, 1999
- SF Planning archive, Market & Octavia Area Plan (approved April 2008, effective May 30, 2008)
- SF Planning, Eastern Neighborhoods adoption package, 2008
- SF Planning, “San Francisco Family Zoning Plan” (Board Files 250700/250701; effective Jan. 12, 2026)
- KQED News, report on the Board's 7–4 vote on the Family Zoning Plan, Dec. 2, 2025 KQED article 12065708.
Credits
- 1948 zoning atlas: David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.
- 1921–2000 zoning maps: scanned from the San Francisco Planning Department’s map books on its large-format scanner; the 1921 ordinance is also held by the San Francisco Public Library (call no. 917.946 Sa52b 1921).
- Ordinances, codes and reports: many are digitised by the San Francisco Public Library on the Internet Archive.
- Base map: today’s blocks, built from DataSF parcels and street centerlines.
- Map alignment: sfzmaps, this project’s own georeferencing pipeline. See how the maps were made.
- About and license: sfzoning.com by Steven Bacio for GrowSF (https://growsf.org). © 2026 GrowSF. Code: AGPL-3.0, with the source on GitHub. Content and data: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Provided as is, without warranty, and not an official zoning record. GrowSF™ is a trademark of GrowSF.