After an arduous 18-month process, San Francisco’s only Reconstructionist congregation has been granted permission to use its Bernal Heights property for religious purposes.
Or Shalom Jewish Community bought 333 Cortland Ave. in 2022, but the congregation couldn’t legally use most of the space because the main building has been zoned as residential, which prohibits institutional-religious or commercial use.
The San Francisco Planning Commission voted unanimously during a hearing Thursday to approve the congregation’s conditional use authorization application, which recategorizes the building for institutional-religious use and allows Or Shalom to use it for prayer services, education, pastoral care and office space.
Prior to the hearing, the planning commission’s administrative staff recommended against approving the application because the recategorization would technically remove a dwelling unit from the city, despite the fact that no one has lived in the main building for at least 15 years.
“The issue in San Francisco is there’s a housing shortage,” said Sarah Hoffman, an environmental and land use attorney who provided legal counsel to Or Shalom. “There’s not enough housing for people to live in, so the city is really sensitive on the policy level about any project that’s going to take away a housing unit.”
Ahead of the vote, Or Shalom encouraged members to write to the commission in support of the application. The commission received more than 165 messages in favor of approval.
This is the first property that Or Shalom has owned since its founding in 1991.
“This has been a long-held dream for this community for over 30 years to have our own home and to not lease space from this synagogue or this church. So that’s why we put up the good fight,” said Matthew Rudoff, the congregation’s president.
The site holds a two-story Edwardian home built in 1915 and a standalone cottage in the back. The main building includes a first-floor unit, which is currently rented out to a chiropractic practice, and a second-floor unit, which the previous owner illegally converted to a Pilates studio in 2009.
“The upstairs space was once a residential unit, and about 14 years ago the kitchen was removed without a permit to make it into a business space,” said Emma Ramoy, senior project manager at Herman Coliver Locus Architecture, the firm that helped guide Or Shalom through the re-zoning process. “It’s been operating as that ever since, including when Or Shalom bought the building, so we want to formalize that.”
When the chiropractic practice’s lease ends in 2025, the first floor will be turned into a sanctuary.
In addition to allowing institutional-religious use of the space, Or Shalom’s conditional use authorization legalizes renovations made by the previous owner and will allow minor improvements to ensure it meets current fire and building code requirements. The conditional use authorization also stipulates that if Or Shalom ever moves or sells the building, the use categorization will revert back to a residential unit. The second building, a rear, off-street standalone cottage, will remain a residential unit.
According to a 2021 review by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, San Francisco has the longest timelines and some of the highest procedural hurdles in the state for advancing housing projects, which many blame in part for the city’s housing woes. Considering the housing shortage, Hoffman said she usually advises clients not to take on these cases given their minimal chances of success. But Or Shalom’s situation was different, she said, because the congregation’s beneficial presence in the neighborhood outweighs the loss of one potential residential unit.
“The real issue is San Francisco isn’t building enough housing and isn’t providing enough low income housing,” Hoffman said. “Everyone’s upset about the city wanting to allow for denser housing and more affordable housing in areas that have traditionally been single family home and duplex neighborhoods. But until the city really deals with that supply issue, they’re going to continue to tinker with these policies that just make it harder for people to do good things with their property.”
Rudoff said that Or Shalom has no plans to alter the units other than for necessary safety upgrades and will maintain the building’s structure and facade. Or Shalom will continue to rent space from Noe Valley Ministry for prayer services and the children’s religious school until the ground floor becomes available in 2025.
“The next step is to get moved in and start using the office space and then just patiently wait for when the ground floor is available and start planning for that,” Rudoff said.