AHF Lawsuit Against City on Hold

An AIDS-related nonprofit suing San Francisco over the city's formula retail rules has agreed to put its lawsuit on hold.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which is based in Los Angeles, has argued that its location at 518 Castro Street should not fall under the city's guidelines for chain stores, but the nonprofit will file this month for a conditional use authorization on the site as formula retail, according to AHF President Michael Weinstein.

The grand opening for the facility, known as AHF Healthcare Center-San Francisco, was in October.

In what many said was an attempt to avoid local formula retail rules, the organization had proposed calling the new spot Castro Pharmacy instead of AHF Pharmacy.

But in a brief phone interview Monday, April 13, Weinstein said, "Because we're applying as formula retail, there's no need to call it by a different name."

AHF agreed to stay the lawsuit because the agency's purpose is to combine the health care center with its nearby pharmacy at 4071 18th Street, "and obviously the legal action is going to take a very long time to resolve itself," he said.

"We felt like it was a good compromise to stay the case" and return to it if "things are not handled appropriately," Weinstein said.

When AHF filed its lawsuit, he said, it was also concerned that "we would not be allowed to move into the clinic space at all." Since it has been able to occupy the location and has been providing services there, though, "that concern went away."

The next case management conference with the court is set for November 11.

Last March, the city's Board of Appeals determined that because AHF operates more than two-dozen pharmacies, it triggered the formula retail rules and was required to seek approval from the planning commission. Under the city rules, any business with 11 or more locations in the U.S. needs to seek a conditional use permit.

Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose District 8 includes the Castro, had said the formerly suggested name change highlighted what he calls a "loophole" in the city's rules. Along with Supervisors David Campos and Eric Mar, Wiener co-sponsored legislation meant to close that loophole. The full board passed the legislation in July, and Mayor Ed Lee signed it into law.

In August, the nonprofit filed its suit against Wiener, the city, and the Board of Supervisors in U.S. District Court for Northern California.

AHF, which in 2012 had a budget of about $165 million, has claimed that Wiener is unfairly targeting it and that, at Wiener's behest, the city has violated its equal protection, due process, and free speech rights.

In a statement he provided Monday, Wiener said, "AHF tried to game our formula retail rules, and we closed the loophole AHF was trying to exploit. A broad coalition of HIV and neighborhood groups supported my legislation. AHF retaliated against me by naming me in its lawsuit," which, he said, has "no merit."

"I will always advocate for our neighborhoods and for enforcing the rules," Wiener said. "I won't be intimidated by an abusive lawsuit."

Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for the city attorney's office, declined to comment.