Park Garage EIR Gets Thumbs Up; City May Ask Voters for More Money to Improve Concourse

By Carol Dimmick

Sweeping aside concerns over the demolition of an historic Beaux Arts-style tunnel in July, the SF Planning Commission certified an environmental report on a controversial plan to build an 800-space parking garage underneath the music concourse in Golden Gate Park.

Proponents of the project say the decision was crucial to keep the project on track for completion in time for the opening of the new M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in 2005, which is being rebuilt following damage caused by the Loma Prieta Earthquake.

"The planning commission's decision was critical. This enables us to continue along the path to completion of the project," said Mike Ellzey, executive director of the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority (GGPCA), the sponsor of the project.

But the 6-1 vote was a major setback for opponents of the $50 million parking garage, who made preservation of three 100-year-old pedestrian tunnels that lead to the music concourse a focal point of their opposition. They argued before the commission that sacrificing the tunnels for a parking garage was not in the long-term interest of the public.

"The issue facing us today is what are we going to leave for our children. You are removing 100-year-old tunnels for a parking garage," said Chris Duderstadt, a member of the Alliance for Golden Gate Park, an organization formed to fight the garage.

Duderstadt argued that the southwest tunnel, the only one of the three that would be torn down to build the garage, is an integral element in the configuration of the music concourse and should be preserved not only for its historic value but because it connects everything south with the concourse bowl.

Under the current plan the tunnel would be torn down, made ADA compliant and rebuilt in an attempt to replicate its look, but with glass doors that open into the underground garage.

But Ellzey countered that he was just carrying out what the voters mandated when they voted for Proposition J in 1998, which approved building a parking facility and authorized other improvements in Golden Gate Park. At the time the garage was touted by supporters as a necessary component to attract visitors to the California Academy of Sciences and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum.

If the project is approved in its current form, the two tunnels at the eastern end of the music concourse will undergo alterations and the 130-foot-long southwest tunnel that connects the park's music concourse with the Shakespeare Garden will be torn down and replaced.

In making its decision to certify the environmental report, commissioners also dismissed concerns that the possible removal of a dozen 100-year-old sycamore trees from the Music Concourse and the traffic impact on neighborhoods adjacent to the park were adequately studied.

Despite the bad blood that has built up over the project during the last three years between supporters and opponents of the garage, Ellzey credits opponents with improving the design of the eastern end of the project that saved two of the historic tunnels. He also said that input from the North Park Neighbors Association led to an improved entrance to the parking garage at 10th Avenue and Fulton Street. Public input has made this a better project, he acknowledged.

City Considers Floating New Bond to Pay for Music Concourse Improvements
San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who recently introduced legislation for the project, called stakeholders to his office in late July to work on a number of outstanding issues that still linger.

He wants the various stakeholders to come to an agreement before the legislative process starts, explained David Owen, an aide to Peskin. Owen said that bicyclists, neighbors, officials from several city departments and the sponsors of the project were among the participants.

According to Ellzey, who met with Peskin, the two main issues that remain unresolved are a traffic circulation plan for the concourse and a source of funding for long-term unfunded mandates in Prop. J that include a bicycle plan, a traffic calming plan and a shuttle service.

The biggest challenge is the extent to which vehicular traffic has access to the concourse bowl, Ellzey explained. He described it as a balancing act between cars, pedestrians and bicyclists.

Ellzey said he recently hired a grant writer to apply for funding, but he acknowledge that discussions are underway to explore the possibility of asking voters to approve a new capital improvement bond to pay for improvements to the concourse. Although Ellzey said he was unable to put a price tag on improvements at this time, he said that a guess would be in the seven to eight figure range.

Critics of the project were quick to dismiss the idea of asking voters to come up with money to pay for part of a project that was supposed to be developed with private donations. They say that revenue generated from the garage should be earmarked to pay for the improvements and not to pay back the debt on the garage.

That violates the intention of Prop. J, which is very specific about what the revenue from the garage should be used for, Duderstadt said.