The Small Business Commission declined July 28 to support Mayor Daniel Lurie’s West Side upzoning plan, in yet another sign that communities fear the impacts on neighborhood commercial areas.

The commission voted unanimously to continue the discussion to a future meeting after most members said the plan lacked adequate protections for small merchants who could be in the path of demolitions.

The Lurie plan allows more height and density in transit corridors in the Richmond, the Sunset, West Portal, the Haight, and other neighborhoods that are considered “well resourced.”

The plan, Principal Planner Lisa Chen told the commission, is aimed at encouraging the creation of more housing—and fulfills a state mandate that the city allow for roughly 80,000 new housing units in the next six years.

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