February 2009Muni Makes Progress with Islais Creek Maintenance SiteBy Halley CornellAfter more than a decade of property acquisition and planning, site preparations are underway for an 8.4 acre, $100 million San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) motor coach storage and maintenance facility, located at Islais Creek. Last October, workers installed a security fence and partially paved the site to help lessen the impact of construction dust on the surrounding neighborhood during what’s expected to be the roughly 30-month long process to build the Islais Creek Operating Division. Once completed, the site, which is bordered on the north by Cesar Chavez Street, on the east by Indiana Street, on the south by Islais Creek, and on the west by the northbound Cesar Chavez off-ramp from Interstate-280, will house 165 alternative-fueled buses and 19 maintenance trucks.
The facility will replace Muni’s Kirkland Division, located at Beach and Stockton streets, according to SFMTA spokesperson Judson True. “We’ve had plans to replace Kirkland with a bigger, state-of-the-art motor coach facility since the early 80s,” True said. The Islais Creek property, formed from a 3.9 acre plot purchased from the Granex Coporation in 1990, and an additional 4.5 acres subsequently transferred from the City and County of San Francisco and purchased or leased from Caltrans, is three times the size of the Kirkland site, which True calls “dramatically outdated.” Islais Creek will incorporate a number of improved technologies in both construction and output, such as low volatile organic compound materials for paint, carpeting, and varnishes; low-flow fixtures for water conservation; water recycling; and biodiesel fueling systems for Muni’s clean fleet. Muni workers will likely be transferred to Islais Creek from the Kirkland site, which will be used for other SFMTA purposes or redeveloped. The Islais Creek facility will include a 64,400-square-foot maintenance and operations building, a 16,200-square-foot fuel and wash facility, and a 1,900-square-foot substation and office building. The largest building will have a south-facing saw-tooth gabled roof unique to industrial buildings in the area, according to architect Robin Chiang of Robin Chiang & Company. That building will house offices for the facility’s employees, and will include break areas oriented toward the creek and an open, two-story lobby that may eventually house a labor museum. “We believe that the idea of sustainability has spread wider than environmental sustainability to economic, social, and other areas,” Chiang said. “The idea of incorporating the museum and the break areas of the workers oriented toward the creek are things that go in the direction of social sustainability. The people who work here don’t have to sit around: they can actually get out and walk all the way around the creek.” The site will also contain a large parking area and 800 by 40 feet of public access, including grasslands and waterfront. Plans for the public space include a promenade, a berm circle of wild grasses and poplar trees, a turf plaza, native shrubbery, a pedestrian and bicycle path, and 340-foot-long abstract sculpture representing one of the liberty ships that used to navigate Islais Creek. Nonprofit Friends of Islais Creek, for whom Chiang also serves as volunteer executive director, was instrumental in working with SFMTA in conceiving the public space. “The project represents a tremendous improvement to the neighborhood and community,” True said. Besides opening access to the waterfront, True claimed that the project will create jobs, improve Muni services, and bring more services and supporting businesses to the area for employees and residents alike. True and Chiang both noted the possibility that the project will be delayed. Although SFMTA has secured most of the funding through state and city bonds, it’s still looking for $27 million. Progress, according to True, will depend on successfully navigating further permitting and property issues, as well as the volatile construction environment that’s been plagued with rapidly changing costs of gasoline, steel, copper, concrete and other materials. According to Chiang, 2011 is a more likely completion date, with site improvements alone – which will include compacting all of the soil on the property – taking time to complete. |
This Month's StoriesResidential Areas Exempt from Parking Meter Plan, According to MTA Official City Hopes America’s Cup Runneth Over Starr King Elementary Leads SF Schools in Improved Test Scores Southside a Center for Metal Harvesting History Lives on Wisconsin Street San Francisco Breweries Chug Water Dogpatch Hosts Design Residency Project Monte Cristo Club Serves-Up Salty Fish UCSF - Mission Bay’s Scientist Dave Morgan Studies Segregation Foreclosure Crises Lingers in Bayview Black Population Continues to Dwindle Bayview Foreclosure Fighters Take a Stand Radio Africa & Kitchen Puts Down Roots in Bayview Downtown High School Teaches Environmental Lessons San Francisco Firefighters Distribute Toys, Just Not Through Chimneys Hill Resident Publishes Book About Apple’s Post-Jobs Future Henry Joseph Judnick 1927 ~ 2011 On-going FeaturesCrime & Safety Report: Potrero Hill Resident Works Cases at District Attorney’s Office
 |
