22nd Street Trail Stair Steps Forward

Friends of the Potrero Hill Recreation Center (FOPHRC), composed of Hill residents who advocate on behalf of the Potrero Hill Recreation Center and Playground, has solicited proposals from licensed landscape architects to convert the concept of a 22nd Street trail stair into construction drawings. The footpath would generally follow the line of a dirt and rock track between Missouri and Connecticut streets, to the north of the Recreation Center. 

After the drawings have been finalized, FOPHRC will pay to submit them for review by the San Francisco Department of Recreation and Parks (RPD). Once RPD has deemed them acceptable the plans will be given to Public Works (PW) to secure a minor encroachment permit. Next, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Commission, a seven-member body appointed by the mayor to four-year terms, must approve the project. Ultimately, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will have to endorse the gift of a completed trail stair to the City. 

According to RPD guidance, the trail stair needs to wrap around the hill, following its contours, and avoid tree roots. It’d consist of wooden box steps filled with compacted material, creating a natural appearance, making it easier for users to traverse the hill’s steep incline. 

The path belongs to Public Works but is an unaccepted public right-of-way. A property owner next to an unaccepted street is responsible for maintaining it to the center of the right-of-way. It’s uncommon for a trail stair to be built on a public right-of-way. 

“Rec and Park is working with Public Works, as well as the Friends of the Potrero Hill Recreation Center and their fiscal sponsor, the San Francisco Parks Alliance, to move this project forward. Currently, we’re working with the SF Parks Alliance on a grant acceptance agreement. Rec and Park will be maintaining [the constructed trail stair]. For the project, we’ll be applying for a minor encroachment permit,” said Daniel Montes, San Francisco Department of Recreation and Parks spokesperson.

Public Works defines a “minor encroachment permit” as one that documents a long-term infringement on another party’s rights. The intrusion is be recorded against the property. The permit is necessary to ensure that RPD, which owns and maintains the Potrero Hill Recreation Center and Playground, has permission to step on Public Works’ rights. 

FOPHRC is a community group, not a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. San Francisco Parks Alliance acts as its fiscal sponsor. SF Parks Alliance also contracts and provides project management on behalf of FOPHRC.

“We are currently trying to determine what requirements the trail stair has to meet. There are jurisdictional issues,” said Julie Christensen, consultant to Friends of the Potrero Hill Recreation Center. Christensen stepped down as Dogpatch & NW Potrero Hill Green Benefit District executive director last year.

FOPHRC held a meeting about the project in May at the Recreation Center. 

“Representatives from RPD, SF Parks Alliance, and the University of California, San Francisco attended along with members of FOPHRC and about a dozen neighbors. Neighbors had great questions and observations. Everyone seemed to go away jazzed about the project. No opposition was expressed. The report to the members of The Potrero Boosters…was likewise very positively received,” said Christensen.

“We are excited to work with the skilled leaders at FOPHRC and the surrounding community to make the 22nd Street trail stair project a reality. Their vision provides important connectivity and transit access to the Dogpatch and Potrero Hill neighborhoods while continuing to expand SF Parks Alliance’s ongoing Blue Greenway initiative. This is an important community-led project in southeast San Francisco. We are proud to support it,” said Gina Kotos, San Francisco Parks Alliance north community manager. 

FOPHRC is hopeful that Public Works will eventually replace the trail stair with a more expensive concrete staircase.

FOPHRC paid for the necessary geotechnical report and survey with a grant from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development’s (MOHCD) Housing Trust Fund – Complete Neighborhoods Program. Hill resident and FOPHRC member Jennifer Serwer provided pro bono concept drawings from Hibiscus Studio, her landscape and design studio. 

UCSF has granted FOPHRC $500,000, to be released once the project has started. 

Whatever the composition, FOPHRC wants the walkway to connect to the existing landing stair next to Potrero Annex between Connecticut and Arkansas streets. That would create safe pedestrian access between The Landing apartment complex at 1395 22nd Street and the Potrero Hill Recreation Center and Playground. 

According to Christensen, Align Real Estate, a City-based developer, is required to build a segment between 22nd and Missouri streets. There’s presently an abbreviated stairway at 22nd Street that runs past The Landing but ends abruptly, unconnected to Missouri Street. Align declined to be interviewed or respond to questions.