City Threatens to Stop Presidio Project

By Carol Dimmick

Supervisor Jake McGoldrick handed Richmond neighbors a new bargaining chip in their dispute with the Presidio Trust over the size of a housing complex planned for the former Public Health Service Hospital when he announced the City has the authority to close-off two streets leading to the 42-acre site.

"The city attorney said we have the right to close off 14th and 15th Avenues and we know how to use our tools," McGoldrick told 60 neighbors who attended a community meeting last month to discuss the project.

McGoldrick, who is in a tight race to retain his seat on the Board of Supervisors, urged attendees at the June 10 meeting to use their political power to "shut down" the project if the Trust does not respond to their demands to reduce the size of the housing complex.

When asked for more details, McGoldrick and Matt Dorsey, press secretary for City Attorney Kamala Harris, declined to answer questions, citing attorney/client privilege.

The city attorney's opinion could prove to be a valuable wild card for the neighbors in their dispute with the Trust if Caltrans continues to block the Trust from building an access road to the site from Park Presidio Boulevard. For months Caltrans has refused to give the green light for a new intersection because of safety concerns.

Claudia Lewis, president of Richmond Presidio Neighbors (RPN), welcomed McGoldrick's support, but refused to say whether her organization intends to ask the City to take steps to close off access to the site.

"We certainly hope the city does not have to take such drastic action. Instead, we hope the Presidio Trust sees our neighborhood's resolve and listens to our members' deep concerns over the direction it is taking," she said.

McGoldrick's announcement is not good news for Trust officials, who are in the middle of sensitive contract negotiations with Forest City Development, the company selected to build the new housing complex.

Craig Middleton, executive director of the Presidio Trust, made it clear that he wants all roads leading to the park to remain open.

"I am opposed to closing any of the gates. We don't want to restrict access to this national park," Middleton said.

Middleton declined to comment on how the development might affect the project, saying he wants to wait until more details are available.

Tension between the community and the Trust erupted earlier this year after Trust officials signaled their preference to build a 350-unit housing complex, the largest of four plans under consideration for the site.

The Presidio Trust, the governing body with responsibility for maintaining the national park, wants to turn the former hospital complex into housing to meet a goal imposed by the federal government of becoming financially self-sufficient by 2013. The project is expected to generate revenue in excess of $1 million a year through leasing fees.

Neighbors, however, say the Trust has yet to make a persuasive case that building a large project, rather than a smaller one, is worth the additional income it is expected to generate because of the negative impact a large project would have on traffic, noise, light and safety in the adjacent neighborhood.

"We feel the Public Health Service Hospital site should not unnecessarily shoulder the burden of making the Trust financially feasible," Lewis told Trust officials at a June 29 meeting to discuss an expanded environmental study of the project.

Although Trust officials insist that a final plan for the site will not emerge until an expanded environmental study is completed and negotiations with the developer are finalized later this year, residents are concerned the project could become the largest residential development north of Market Street, bringing 910 new residents and 600 cars into the area.

At a June 29 meeting the neighbors thanked the Trust for expanding the environmental study to include the alternative of no development at the site, but asked the Trust to do a more thorough job analyzing impacts on the community.

"The traffic analysis must look at a broader geographic area. Crossings of Lake and California Streets with 10th, 11th, 12th, Funston, 16th, 17th and 18th avenues should be studied," said Ron Miguel, president of the Planning Association for the Richmond (PAR).

The Trust is accepting written comments from the public on the scope of the supplemental environmental report through July 7. A draft of the new environmental study should be finished by the end of the summer when another series of public meetings will be held. Trust officials say a final environmental report should be ready by the end of 2004.