Twenty-Second Street Trail Stair Needs Additional Funds

After a decade of effort, Potrero Hill resident Jennifer Serwer’s quest to build a trail stair on a rocky hillside on the Potrero Hill Recreation Center’s north edge has gained serious momentum. If an additional $5,000 can be raised to fully fund the project, construction of the needed pathway could begin before the end of this year.  

For years locals have braved the gravely 26 percent grade path to access an adjacent community garden and Starr King Elementary School. The trail is the only way to get from Dogpatch to the Recreation Center and the Potrero Annex-Terrace housing complex, which’ll eventually include 1,700 apartments. The track is also a potentially important pedestrian link connecting Hill residents to the Caltrain station, the T-Line, and waterfront. 

The project site, a steep, rocky strip between Connecticut and Missouri streets, has long been perceived, and used, as part of the Recreation Center. When neighbors first approached the Recreation and Park Department about formalizing stairs, they were told that the parcel was an “unaccepted right of way,” a “paper street”, planned but never built. Public Works maps showed the tract as having been transferred to Rec Park, like the community gardens on the right of way just west between Connecticut and Arkansas streets. But no documentation verified the transfer. The unresolved ownership standoff stymied progress for years.

Project advocates eventually discovered a “gotcha”: Public Works code specifies that the adjacent property owner is responsible for their half of an unaccepted right of way. Whether the parcel was transferred formally to Rec Park or not, the department is responsible for it. Rec Park eventually agreed to maintain the stairs once built. The long process of planning and securing necessary agreements could begin.

The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development kicked off the project with a grant that paid for surveys, geotechnical reports, and planning. In 2017 the University of California, San Francisco provided a half million-dollar gift, part of “cushioning grants” awarded for neighborhood improvements as UCSF expanded into Dogpatch. Recently, The Power Station and Hill residents Keith Goldstein and Donna Warrington contributed essential funding. 

RHAA designed the stairs, plans that’ve been approved by Rec Park. The Rec Park Commission is being asked to accept the gift of the constructed stairs from Friends of Potrero Hill Recreation Center. San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ approval, environmental clearance, and municipal permitting processes lie ahead. The project team has set a goal of raising several thousand dollars from the community to ensure the trail steps are built as envisioned. The San Francisco Parks Alliance is the group’s fiscal sponsor; community members are encouraged to help build the stairs.