Mayor taps Board of Appeals president for Planning Commission

Following the sudden withdrawal of a San Francisco developer from nomination to the Planning Commission, Mayor London Breed has nominated Board of Appeals President Frank Sung Fung to fill the empty seat formerly held by Rodney Fong.

According to a nomination letter filed with the City Clerk last month, Fung will be serving the remainder of Fong’s term, which expires on June 30, 2022. Fung’s appointment still requires approval by The City’s supervisors.

“I am confident that Mr. Fung will serve our community well,” wrote Breed in the letter dated March 22.

The San Francisco Examiner reported previously that Tesseract Capital Group President Derek Flores, who was previously nominated by Breed, withdrew due to family reasons.

A native of Qingdao, China, Fung served in the U.S. Army and later received his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Architecture from U.C. Berkeley.

Fung was appointed to the Board of Appeals by then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein in 1986 and served on the board until 1988.

He was reappointed by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004 and 2008. San Francisco’s late Mayor Edwin Lee reappointed Fung to board in 2012 and again in 2016, with his current term set to expire on July 1, 2020. It is unclear if Fung will have to step down from the Board of Appeals to serve on the Planning Commission.

Last month, Breed also appointed gay Democratic Party activist Reese Aaron Isbell to The City’s rent board, with his term set to end on Sept. 1, 2022.