Sarah Dennis-Phillips appointed as Planning Director

The new San Francisco Planning Director, Sarah Dennis-Phillips, brings decades of planning and real estate experience to the Planning Department.

The Facts

Sarah Dennis-Phillips has been appointed as the new San Francisco Planning Director, succeeding Rich Hillis. Dennis-Phillips has a background in both planning and development, having worked in the Planning Department and as a Senior Director at real estate firm Tishman Speyer. Most recently, Dennis-Phillips served as the Director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. She holds degrees from the University of Virginia and Harvard University in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning.

The Context

Rich Hillis, the previous Planning Director, announced his resignation in May 2025 after a tenure marked by criticism of the slow pace of planning approvals in San Francisco. The Planning Department has been under scrutiny for its lengthy and complex approval processes, which have been described as the slowest in the country.

Dennis-Phillips had a unique road to Director. Rather than repeat the process from last time (a nationwide search that flew in 18 candidates but ultimately landed on Mayor Breed's preferred candidate), instead a closed session of the San Francisco Planning Commission was held for the commissioners to interview Dennis-Phillips, and then vote on her appointment. The Board of Supervisors' three commissioners walked out in protest, while the Mayor's four voted unanimously in favor of her appointment.

The GrowSF take

We are excited to see a new Planning Director with a strong background in both planning and real estate development, alongside an appetite for reform. Dennis-Phillips' experience in the Planning Department and her work at Tishman Speyer will be valuable as she takes on the challenges of leading the department and fixing what is the slowest planning approval process in all of America.

We believe that the Mayor should have the authority to hire and fire Department heads, not be held hostage by unelected commissioners (and yes, we'd feel the same way had any other person won the election, including Aaron Peskin!). This appointment process, while unconventional, is a step in the right direction. According to the San Francisco Charter, the Planning Commission is supposed to put forward three names for the Mayor to choose from, and the Mayor is supposed to appoint one of those three. However, there's nothing in the law that says the Commission must put forward three names at the same time -- putting forward one name at a time is allowed. It's certainly an interesting tactic, and we're glad to have avoided an expensive and divisive dog and pony show.