Park Garage Plan Moves Forward; Opposition to Closing Concourse to Traffic

By Carol Dimmick

A last ditch effort to block the building of a controversial 800-space parking garage under the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park failed when the SF Board of Supervisors rejected the appeal of an environmental impact report.

The 8 - 3 vote (with Tom Ammiano, Matt Gonzalez and Chris Daly voting no) to deny the appeal of the environmental document recently approved by the SF Planning Commission came at 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 17 after hours of testimony. The decision cleared the way for the $50 million project to proceed.

The parking garage, which has been the subject of controversy since voters approved the project when they passed Proposition J in 1998, is expected to provide parking for visitors to the new M.H. de Young Memorial Museum and the California Academy of Sciences.

Opponents of the project have 30 days to file an appeal in state court to challenge the environmental document. If no appeal is filed, the supervisors will likely vote on legislation introduced by Supervisor Aaron Peskin to approve a lease arrangement and financing for the project.

The board's decision effectively puts an end to months of wrangling over the adequacy of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prepared by the Planning Department. The report's conclusion was that the garage, which will be built in two sections, would have no significant negative impact on the historic Music Concourse or adjacent neighborhoods.

Opponents of the garage tried unsuccessfully to persuade the supervisors that the report failed to adequately assess the effects of vehicle traffic and that it failed to consider an alternative plan which involved moving the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum and the California Academy of Sciences out of the park.

Although Prop. J called for the garage to be constructed with private funds, philanthropist Warren Hellman, the driving force behind the project, was able to raise only $36 million of the $50 million needed for the project so the garage is now expected be financed with a private offering of tax-exempt bonds. The bonds would be paid off by parking revenue from the garage.

Along with approving the building of an underground parking facility in 1998, voters also approved a package of improvements to the Music Concourse, some of which were shelved when fundraising efforts fell short of the mark.

One of those improvements - turning the concourse bowl into a "pedestrian oasis" - is threatening to become another contentious issue for the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority (GGPCA), the public body responsible for overseeing renovations to the Music Concourse.

Peskin, who introduced legislation to approve a lease and financial arrangements for the garage, also made it clear at the time that he wanted consensus on a plan for a pedestrian oasis.

Peskin convened a committee of stakeholders to study the issue and it came up with four proposals, three of which would ban cars from the concourse bowl - two outright and one allowing cars only during weekday commute hours.

A public meeting held Sept. 11 at the Hall of Flowers to discuss the proposals produced more disagreement than consensus.

Residents from the Richmond and Sunset districts joined with visitors and employees of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum and SF Academy of Sciences to oppose banning vehicular traffic from the bowl.

A contingent of bicyclists who came to the meeting joined several others in proposing an outright ban on vehicles in the Music Concourse.

A presentation before the attendees broke up into groups to discuss the proposals did not include a discussion of a traffic study prepared for the EIR by Wilber Smith Associates that studied the effects of banning vehicles from the concourse bowl.

According to the report, if a ban were enacted, from 300 to 600 vehicles that currently cross the bowl each hour using Tea Garden and Academy drives would have to find alternate routes. The study went on to concluded that significant congestion would likely occur on Middle East Drive as a result of a ban and additional circulation issues on Stow Lake Drive, Park Presidio Boulevard, Crossover Drive and 19th Avenue would likely occur.

Mike Ellzey, executive director of the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority, said he will arrange for a traffic consultant to interpret traffic information and add it later to the EIR.