potrero view
Photograph by Peter Linenthal

Photograph by Peter Linenthal

Community members examine a model of the Potrero Annex and Terrace redevelopment.

April 2010

Rebuild Potrero Moves Forward

By Michael Condiff

The proposed redevelopment of the Potrero Annex and Terrace housing complexes continues to move forward, with an application for formal environmental review likely to be submitted to the San Francisco Planning Department this month.  Although there’s near universal community support to renovate the public housing development, some Potrero Hill residents are concerned that the planning process hasn’t been adequately transparent or responsive to public comments.

The Annex-Terrace is one of four Southeast San Francisco housing projects being rebuilt through HOPE-SF, a collaboration between the Mayor’s Office of Housing and the San Francisco Housing Authority.  The 606 units on the 33-acre Annex-Terrace site – home to approximately 1,200 people – will be razed, replaced and joined by an additional 800 to 1,100 affordable and market-rate homes. The application for environmental evaluation will trigger an Environmental Impact Review (EIR), a process that requires opportunity for public comment. When the EIR is finalized, the project will be voted on by the San Francisco Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.  A final decision is expected by early 2012, with construction to begin sometime in 2013.

A wild card in the planning process is how the four redevelopment efforts, and associated infrastructure, will be financed.  Current plans depend in large part on sales of market-rate homes to help offset the cost of the affordable units.  But, with a wobbly real estate market, and an over-supply of densely-developed housing complexes stretching from South-of-Market to Bayview, financing remains a critical challenge.  According to Lydia Tan, executive vice president at Bridge Housing, the nonprofit developer leading the project – labeled “Rebuild Potrero” – exact figures for affordable and market-rate homes are still in flux, but each will likely represent roughly a third of the total number of units.  Most of the project’s financial aspects will take shape “when the City has said we’re ready to go. In that regard, this is a pretty typical process. I know people want answers now, but there’s still a lot to be determined here,” said Tan.

Bridge announced its decision to seek the EIR in front of a standing room only crowd at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House in late February.  The nonprofit hoped that the gathering would celebrate a 16-month long planning process that drew in upwards of 500 Hill residents.  Instead, Bridge’s executive team spent much of the evening fielding questions about the project’s readiness to move to the EIR stage, and battling accusations that outreach efforts have been inadequate.  

A group calling itself Responsibly Rebuild Potrero made up about half the crowd and all of the controversy.  “They’ve only involved about two percent of the Potrero Hill community in this process,” said Buck Schmitz, a 19-year Potrero Hill resident and organizer of Responsibly Rebuild Potrero. “I live two blocks away and had no idea this was even going on until someone told me. I’ve talked to hundreds of people and very few of them knew about it. That’s unacceptable. This project will affect the entire community, not just two percent.”

According to Tan, every effort has been made to involve Potrero Hill residents in the planning process.  “We used all the available conduits to get the information out there – distributed flyers, had ads and articles in the newspaper, conducted focus groups and community meetings,” said Tan. “I think we’ve done a responsible job trying to get the word out.”

David Glober, a 14-year Carolina Street resident who has attended more than a half-dozen public meetings on the Rebuild project, said some of the agitation stemmed from Bridge’s framing of the February meeting as a final master plan and celebration.  “It wasn’t the best wording – it’s more of a transition into the next process than final anything – and people got a little worked up over that,” Glober said. “But, to say that they’ve been left out or shut-out of the process…I think that is just not accurate.”

Craig Adelman, deputy director of the Mayor’s Office on Housing, flinched at the suggestion that comprehensive community involvement wasn’t solicited.  “Let’s be real clear:  this was an authentic community effort,” said Adelman. “Some people feel like they haven’t been included and we’re sympathetic to that, but the current plan came out of extensive and thoughtful discussions with hundreds of residents who have been in the process from the beginning. We can’t set that aside and start over because some new viewpoints are entering the game.”

In response to Responsibly Rebuild Potrero, Bridge held a review of the master planning process last month at Starr King Elementary School.  The developer also has scheduled an informational session on San Francisco’s land use and EIR processes, to be held April 24, 9:45 to 11:30 a.m., at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House. Bridge’s land use attorney, Steve Vettel, and its community relations consultant, Dogpatch resident Joe Boss, will provide an overview of the steps involved in the City’s permitting process, review land use and zoning issues and give a detailed description of the EIR process.

The first part of the EIR process, called “scoping,” will assess the proposed plan’s possible environmental impacts and, depending on severity, consider alternatives. At least one public hearing will be held, likely within the next three months.  According to Vettel the EIR process involves extensive scientific and technical analysis, and could take up to a year to complete. Once the final EIR document is published, a hearing will be scheduled before the Planning Commission to provide the public with another opportunity to comment.

Schmitz and other Responsibly Rebuild Potrero members believe that the project should be subject to a pre-application process, in which the City determines whether the circumstances surrounding a proposed project merit further investigation before proceeding. However, according to Vettel that procedure won’t be triggered until Bridge requests land use permits; after the EIR is completed and before final approval by the City.  Responsibly Rebuild Potrero is also concerned about project financing, necessary improvements to the public infrastructure impacted by the development, and a lack of capital or operating support for open spaces.

“I think it’s irresponsible to ask the residents of Potrero Hill to green light a project into environmental review with no business plan, no marketing plan, no solid foundation other than some nice little drawings and this pie-in-the-sky approach that anything is better than what we have now,” said Jeannine Vaughan, an 18-year Hill resident who is active with Responsibly Rebuild Potrero.  “No one could possibly disagree that substandard housing is unacceptable, so they’ve assured us that what’s to come will be better.  Well, it may be worse. You’re talking about nearly tripling the number of homes and stuffing close to 20 percent more people into Potrero Hill. You don’t think that could actually make things worse?”

 “San Francisco and America have a long history of failed urban redevelopment,” retorted Adelman.  “So we don’t subscribe to the theory that anything is better than what’s there right now.  History has proven that theory wrong. What’s applicable in Potrero Hill in particular is that the status quo is generally unacceptable to all parties. Everyone welcomes change, but there’s a reason why this change has been a long time coming: there is no easy solution. We’ve taken 16 months to create a thoughtful and deliberate initiative here. We’re not just throwing stuff at the wall and hoping it sticks.”

Uncertainty about how increased density will affect the community is a flashpoint for all involved, said Tony Kelly, Potrero Hill Boosters Association president.  “There’s a lot of fear of density; it’s one of the core issues,” Kelly said. “There’s high-density all around the Hill, and you can’t have urban development without that being a part of the equation. So, the very open question becomes:  how will the City handle the things that will make a high-density community function? What happens with crime, open spaces, community services and the big one…transportation?”

According to Tan, Bridge is still developing a means to adequately relay density information to the community “so that it’s understandable and has a context to comparable projects that have happened in the world. The thing is, the Potrero project is far and away the most far-reaching we’ve taken on to date. It’s not simply about building housing, it’s about creating a community. There’s really nothing locally to compare it to.”  Tan pointed to North Beach Place, also redeveloped by Bridge, where density modestly increased over a two-block area, from 229 to 341 units.  Crime decreased after that redevelopment, said Tan, in part because of a strong property management team and resident-developed housing rules. She said a similar approach would be taken at the rebuilt Potrero Annex and Terrace.  “It’s imperative that the residents there get involved with shaping acceptable standards,” Tan said. “It’s going to be their community. Once it’s built, they are going to have the greatest affect on how it progresses.”

Bridge is offering a tour of North Beach Place on April 16 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Contact Ben Golvin, Rebuild Potrero’s Community Relations Manager, potrero@bridgehousing.com; 415.321.4011.

 

 Subscribe to The Potrero View

All rights reserved. Copyright © 2006 The Potrero View.

Content on this site may not be archived, retransmitted, saved in a database, or used for any commercial purpose without the express written permission of The Potrero View or its Publishers.