Neighbors Have Problems with V.A. Research Center

By Carol Dimmick

Once again politics is about to become a contact sport in San Francisco as Richmond neighbors, angry over what they say is the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) willingness to ignore public process requirements, will soon present the VA with a list of demands.

Fueling the acrimony is a 200,000-square-foot research center the VA is planning to build on its Fort Miley site at Clement Street and 42nd Avenue. The new facility will sit on a three-acre parcel of land that is currently a parking lot.

Neighbors contend the VA is going ahead with the project even though critical studies, which they say the VA has side-stepped for years, are not complete.

Ron Miguel, president of the Planning Association for the Richmond (PAR), an influential watchdog organization made up of 1,600 households in the Richmond District, says the VA has turned a blind eye to community concerns for years while developing the site.

"We have no institutional master plan even though PAR has requested this for years. We have requested a parking and traffic study and we don't have it. You are putting the cart before the horse on this one," Miguel said at a Jan. 8 community meeting sponsored by the VA to discuss the new research center.

Miguel is busy putting the final touches on a list of demands the community believes the VA must agree to implement before they go ahead with the project, including the removal of a majority of the temporary buildings that have been at the site for decades. The demands include:
* Develop a comprehensive five-year master plan for the site;
* Agree to preserve historic buildings and landscaping identified in a preservation study currently underway;
* Take a pro-active position on parking and transportation issues plaguing the community;
* Limit the size of the new research facility to what is standard in the neighborhood.

Sheila Cullen, director of the VA Medical Center, declined to comment on specific items on the list of demands, but she issued a statement through her spokesperson.

"If we receive a list of demands from our neighborhood coalition it will be given a serious review," Cullen said.
Cullen said the VA has held quarterly meetings about the new research center to get the neighbors' input and will continue to do so in the future. She also said the VA is in the process of developing a master plan and a traffic study is underway. She encouraged the public to access the preliminary report on historic preservation at the VA's website at www.NCIRE.org.

Political Support for Neighbors Builds
Neighbors say they are concerned that the VA will, once again, move forward with the project and ignore mitigation measures the community is asking for.

To make sure this does not happen, neighbors say they want the VA to commit, in writing, to complete critical studies and implement the other measures now. Political support for the neighbors' position seems to be building, with Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, whose district includes the VA site, throwing his support to the neighbors.

"These concerns are legitimate concerns by the neighbors and they have to be addressed. If the VA doesn't, I will oppose the new research center. I hope it doesn't come to that," McGoldrick said.
Calls to Rep. Nancy Pelosi's office were not returned, but a spokesperson indicated in an interview that Pelosi was aware of the neighbors' concerns.

New $48 Million Research Center Triggers Latest Dispute
The latest dispute was triggered almost two years ago when the community learned that the VA wanted to build the large research facility on a three-acre parcel in the northwest corner of its Fort Miley campus. The 29-acre VA site is bordered on three sides by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area with its entrance fronting the Seal Rock neighborhood at the end of Clement Street.

Nancy Horner, chief of planning for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), said at the Jan. 8 meeting that she has concerns about parking, traffic and historic preservation. Horner said her agency would monitor the project closely to evaluate how it might impact the experience of visitors coming to the Ft. Miley land.

"(The new facility) sits in a very sensitive area. We will continue to monitor it. We have concerns," Horner told the VA.

The new $48 million research center is a joint venture with the Northern California Institute for Research and Education (NCIRE), a nonprofit medical research institute that would provide funding for the project.

Paul Volberding, M.D., chief of medical services at the VA and former member of the SF Health Department, told neighbors at the January meeting that having a modern research center is necessary to attract and keep the best faculty. At the meeting neighbors said they are not against the new center, but they want to make sure the VA takes the appropriate steps before it designs and builds the facility.

Because a history of mistrust has built up between the VA and the community, many residents now look upon the VA as a big federal agency that is insensitive to the needs and concerns of the neighborhood.

"There is a real fear of encroachment on the part of the VA by the neighborhood and the national park," said Amy Meyer, a Sunset District resident and vice chairman of the Advisory Commission for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.