The site of a deadly 2015 fire at Mission and 22nd streets has sat vacant and swampy for ten years, but the landlord whose neglect allegedly caused that fire has been rewarded with permission to build a fancier and more lucrative 10-story replacement.

The usually humdrum proceedings of the SF Planning Commission generally do not end with a packed house of activists screaming “Shame on you all!,” “You’ve been bought off!,” “Go on another vacation, yuppie!,” and “Your justification for voting is the same justification that endorsed Jim Crow!”

Yet that is what happened Thursday afternoon, as the Planning Commission finally got around to their delayed vote and approved a 181-unit apartment building at the 2588 Mission Street (at 22nd Street) vacant lot location with quite a notorious history.

That notorious history is highlighted by a January 2015 fire that took the life of 38-year-old Mauricio Orellana, injured six residents, and displaced 60 residents and 26 small businesses. Mission Local found that landlord Hawk Lou had allowed faulty wiring and inoperable fire alarms. That fire was one of many that led to popular speculation that landlords were torching their own buildings for financial gain.  

Planning Department principal planner Ella Samonsky even admitted during her presentation to the commission that there were concerns over “you know, profiting off gross negligence.” But she added that “the department does not have legal authority to require an increase in the affordability of the project or conversion to 100% affordable development.”

Activists had hoped to force a 100% affordable project onto the site, preferably owned by someone with a less checkered past than Hawk Lou. But instead, the commission approved the development seen above, albeit by a close and contentious 4-3 vote.

That majority cited state laws that say governments have to approve any housing proposals that are compliant with state law and utilize density bonuses, regardless of whatever ugly skeletons the landlord may have in their closet.  

“I hate saying what I’m saying right now,” Commissioner Sean McGarry said before voting to approve the project. “This [project] is going to happen one way or the other. We don’t have somebody who’s going to step in and make this 100% affordable. That’s the reality.”

Furious public commenters railed about the proposed apartment complex for about an hour.

“This commission claims that their hands are tied by state law, and has to approve this project that intensifies gentrification and displacement in the Mission,” commenter Keith Pavlik said. “This project only illustrates that the state law does not serve the interest of the majority, but instead a rich minority of wealthy landlords, developers, and investors.”

Commenter Susan Marsh was more blunt, telling the commission, “When you approve this project, you will be rewarding arson.”

And there was serious dissent among the commissioners over approving this thing.

“This is a very sad situation,” Commissioner Theresa Imperial said. “I’m just going to be frank, I feel like our city did not do enough due diligence to find resources for 100% affordable housing” at this site.

Commissioner Gilbert Williams agreed. “To me this project represents more of the same. It represents unaffordability,” he said. “I know that there’s a state law that’s in effect. I think the state law is wrong.”

But the commission abided by that law.

“I have not seen the pathway to deny the project,” Commissioner Derek Braun pointed out. “There’s a very clear legal framework that applies to the project approval itself here, and that’s what I’m going to be following.”

The upside is that this swampy, long-empty abandoned lot will finally be something again. It will not be 100% affordable housing as Mission activists had hoped, and they will have to settle for 9% affordable housing, basically 17 affordable units. And they will also have to settle for a landlord who they are not fond of running the place.

Related: Landlord Of Mission Building Destroyed By Fire Could Sell For $20 Million [SFist]

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist