© 2003 - Potrero Neighborhood Boosters Association
Tony Kelly, President
Sometimes, when I tell someone about the Boosters and ask them to come to a meeting, I'm told, “Oh, the Boosters get involved in all that political stuff.” Usually, the speaker who says that isn't excited by “political stuff.” Fair enough. San Francisco often handles its civic issues in tiresome ways. We do what we can to de-mystify the political process (like the zoning and density discussion in this newsletter), and we want to be a resource for Hill residents to learn about what's going on in the City and the Hill, so they can voice their opinions when they choose.
Which leads me to the other complaint I sometimes hear about the Boosters: “they don't agree with me” or “I went one time, and I couldn't agree with what someone said about such-and-such issue.” To which I say: If you don't hear disagreement, you aren't talking to enough people. An association like the Boosters depends on active discussion, occasional argument, and I hope, eventual consensus. By definition, that is a long and messy process; there will be disagreements, and there may be votes taken that you disagree with. But leaving after one argument, or one bad vote, freezes that discussion at the worst time. The Boosters are committed to improving the community through discussion; so more people, more opinions, and yes, more argument, should be seen as a healthy thing. We're going to have a membership drive this fall, to seek more people, more diversity, and more opinions. I can guarantee already that some of our new members will agree with you, and some won't. What is important is that we, as a neighborhood, are committed to listening to each other, and hearing your particular voice, now and later.
Over the past few years, zoning and planning issues have dominated discussions at Booster meetings. One reason for that is that much of the Hill is still the Wild West in zoning terms; anyone can build anything pretty much anywhere. The City's planners have not kept up with the neighborhood over the past decades, and so we have some of the vaguest zoning guidelines in San Francisco.
That vagueness is exactly why we have so many live-work lofts on the Hill, a huge (and vacant) office building at 16th and Kansas, a big hole in the ground at 17th and Kansas, and a number of other ugly or misplaced buildings in the neighborhood.
Two years ago, with the advent of locally-elected Supervisors and more respect from the City toward community opinions, there was a push toward new zoning controls in the eastern neighborhoods (the Mission, SOMA, Potrero Hill, the Bayview). That push led to the current “community-based planning process” and proposed re-zoning for Showplace Square and the Central Waterfront. Now, years later . . . That process is stalled.
Budget limits in the Planning Department will delay staff reports on new zoning proposals until 2004, which means that we probably won't have new zoning in place until 2005. That means that, once again, we have to consider interim zoning controls for our neighborhood, to keep random development forces at bay until permanent zoning is adopted. This long process puts a lot of pressure on a neighborhood; we need to become armchair experts on a host of planning issues, like housing density (see below). More important, we need to continue the ongoing discussion at the root of our zoning questions: what kind of neighborhood we want on Potrero Hill in the future.
The chart shown below gives some idea of what we need to consider. Currently, Potrero Hill has about 10,000 housing units; most of them are single-family homes, duplexes, condos, or apartments in small buildings. As a result, our population density is about 27 housing units per acre; smaller than many neighborhoods north of Market Street (Telegraph Hill, for example, has about 75 units per acre). The denser blocks on the north slope of the hill, like Victoria Mews and the complex at 18/Arkansas Streets, have higher density, but still nowhere near the level of some of the larger and taller developments along the Embarcadero, like Bayside Village.
The new housing planned for Potrero Hill and Showplace Square changes that equation considerably. The current re-zoning plans for Showplace Square coming out of the Planning Department features some preservation of industrial space . . . and the addition of thousands of new housing units, often in buildings that are more dense than anything we currently have on the Hill.
I should be clear here: a dense building is not automatically a bad building. The proposed supermarket/housing project at 450 Rhode Island, for instance, has a lot of community support for its design and its use of the land, and it has a lot of units per acre. But at the same time, dense buildings put more pressure on a neighborhood's growth. As a result, they require more time, consideration, and community input. We desperately need good planning on Potrero Hill, and good planning means neighborhood design as well as building design.
This particular question is coming up now because the Bay West Group (owners of much of Showplace Square) are currently proposing two mixed-use housing developments to replace the Concourse and the building at One Henry Adams Street, with housing densities dramatically higher than anything we have on the Hill. These two projects are being proposed before any new zoning has been approved for Showplace Square; and they are more dense than anything proposed in any of the new housing plans. As a result, they are extreme test cases for the whole idea of large-scale mixed-use housing in that area. We'll be discussing these projects, the question of how much new housing is best, and the crucial details of interim zoning controls, at Booster meetings over the next few months —not because any of us enjoy Planning Department acronyms and jargon, but because the community should have a voice in creating the new neighborhoods that will be growing around us in the coming years.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2002.09166591: 979-981 RHODE IS/20th St. Proposed 3rd floor addition (ht 32 ft hi) & 10 ft rear extension (33 ft rear yard) to existing duplex in an RH-3, 40-X zone. Contact: Julian Banales, Planner, ph: 558-6339.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2002.05227243 & DEMO PERMIT #2002.05227228: 604 RHODE IS/18 St. DEMOLISH existing single family house to build a new 2 story single family house over one car garage 32 ft high w/18 ft deep rear yard in RH-2, 40-X zone. Part of DISCRETIONARY REVIEW hearing Case #2002.0639D on 26 June, 03 Planning Commission. Contact: D Sider, Planner, ph: 558-6697
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2002.05227232 & DEMO PERMIT #2002.05227240: 2005-07 18th & Rhode Is Sts. DEMOLISH existing duplex and garage & replace with a 33 ft high duplex with a 2 car garage and 22 ft rear yd in an RH-2, 40-X zone. Part of DISCRETIONARY REVIEW Case #2002.0639D on 26 June, 03 Planning Commission hearing. Contact: Dan Sider, Planner, ph: 558-6697.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #200207292546: 1115 KANSAS/22th Sts. Propose to build 40 ft high 2 unit bldg over 2 car garage with a 33 ft rear yard on a vacant lot in an RH-2, 40-X zone Contact: Dan Sider, Planner, ph: 558-6697.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW Case #2002.1303E: 1275 and 1301 INDIANA/23/25 Sts. DEMOLISH existing warehouse and build a PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT consisting of 2 bldgs, one (1275 Indiana St) a 5 story (50 ft) over basement bldg w/39 residential units, 80 parking spaces, 2,300.sq ft retail, 10,100 sq ft of PDR (light industrial) use and a 2nd (1301 Indiana St) 5 story (50 ft) bldg over basement w/32 residential units, 73 parking spaces, 2,640 sq ft of retail, 9,200 sq ft. PDR in an M-2, 50-X zone. Contact: Tammy Chan, Planner, ph: 558-5982.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW Case #2003.0351E: POTRERO/HUNTERS POINT UNDERGROUND CABLE Project: Construct an underground conduit beginning at Illinois/21st Sts along Illinois St under Islais Creek, along Cargo Way to Jennings, Evans & Hunters Point Blvd to Hunters Point Power Plant. Contact: R. Ahmadi, Planner, ph: 558-5966.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2003.03180019 : 903 WISCONSIN/Madera Sts. Propose to remove 1980's 2nd floor addition & replace w/new. Existing bldg is a City Landmark, so will require a Certificate of Appropriateness and a Rear Yard Variance Contact: Mat Snyder, Planner, ph: 575-6891.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2003.05023706: 518 MISSOURI/20th Sts. Proposed 3rd story addition (36 feet hi) setback 18'-9" at 3rd level to an existing single family house in an RH-2, 40-X zone. Contact: Julian Banales, Planner, ph: 558-6339.