San Francisco Waterfront Development Update

Do you follow #sanfrancisco #sanfranciscorealestate and development issues? You might be interested in the below community letter just sent to San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) and the State Land Commission about proposed SF development:

Letter to BCDC & State Lands Commission

Re: The Piers 30-32 and Seawall Lot 330 sites, 

Dear Commission Members:

We are an ad hoc group of San Francisco residents writing to you to express our concern over the proposed developments on Piers 30-32 and Seawall Lot 330.

We support the efforts for proper development of these areas, but in our view the proposed construction on these sites would constitute a serious violation of the Public Trust doctrine and cause irreparable harm to the beauty of the waterfront.

Public Trust

The Public Trust doctrine requires California to protect the public’s interest in tidelands and submerged lands, including their use for navigation, commerce, fishing, public access, recreation, and conservation.

The land in question is held in a public trust and is required to support “maritime commerce, navigation, and fisheries,” to protect natural and cultural resources, or to provide “facilities that attract the public to use the waterfront.”

Generally, to maintain consistency with the public trust doctrine, California must ensure that uses of public trust resources have a public purpose or benefit, and are water-dependent.

It is worth noting that the courts stipulate that “public trust” is not identical with “public use” and a development that is designed for public use would not automatically meet the public trust test. The key part of the test is if the activity must be undertaken at the waterfront and could not be located elsewhere. “Uses that are generally not permitted on public trust lands are those that are not trust use related, do not serve a public purpose, and can be located on non-waterfront property…” [emphasis added]. Thus a public archery facility, or a public golf course, or a public swimming pool would all fail the Public Trust test, regardless of the possible community appeal these ideas might hold.

We believe the existing proposal violates the Public Trust doctrine. Indeed, depending on calculation, some 90% of the proposed development is inconsistent with the Public Trust.

* The pool does not meet the Public Trust threshold as it does not require a waterfront location;

* Residential and general office uses are not trust-consistent uses. Retail may be trust-consistent in certain circumstances. However, the retail and office spaces are not incidental to the development, but total 30,000 sq ft of retail and 376,000 sq ft of office space, something that has never been built on a San Francisco pier;

*Although the BCDC has occasionally approved development projects that were not 100% in compliance, we see no project approved by BCDC that reaches only a 10% level of compliance.

*Indeed, the Public Trust usage in the proposed development is so thin that the developers actually count the perimeter walkway of the project as part of their Public Trust contribution. It is difficult to see these walkways as bona fide “facilities that attract the public to use the waterfront.”

*The proposed development plan calls for the demolition of large sections of the existing piers, which appears inconsistent with the San Francisco Waterfront Special Area Plan, again in violation with the Public Trust doctrine.

Waterfront Aesthetics

The proposed residential towers on Lot 330 would reach 160 feet, making it one of the tallest buildings on the waterfront since Proposition B came into effect, permanently altering the San Francisco skyline.

The proposed towers would violate the urban design principle of sloping heights, which provide for buildings to decrease in height as they near the waterfront. This principle allows the greatest number of Bay residents with a view of the Bay and it also provides the most extensive waterfront view for anyone in the Bay or across the Bay

We share the BCDC view that the Piers in question need redevelopment, but it is essential that Public Trust should be maintained and the beauty of the San Francisco Bay should not be put at risk. We respectfully urge the Bay Conservation and Development Commission and the State Lands Commission to reject the application for this project.