July 20, 2005

Board of Supervisors Approves Potrero Hill Land Sale

By Alison Fromme
Special to the Neighborhood Newswire

On July 19 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a plan to allow Potrero Hill homeowner Michael Lanza to buy city-owned land adjacent to his property.

In 2001, Lanza bought an Arkansas Street home and adjacent vacant lot between Arkansas and Connecticut Streets. The lot had no street access, and, according to city agencies, in order to build on it Lanza would need to establish access by paving a significant portion of the adjoining 22nd Street public right-of-way between the two streets, which is currently occupied by community gardens.

Lanza decided that he didn’t want to construct a street through the gardens and build a house that would tower over other Connecticut Street homes, but he still wanted to expand his living space to better accomodate his 1-year-old son, wife, and her parents. “I’d like to have a bedroom for my son,” Lanza said.

Lanza proposed different alternatives to paving over the community gardens and building on the interior lot, and, after many rounds of negotiations with close-by neighbors, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell brokered the current plan amidst opposition from some Potrero residents.

At the hearing, Supervisor Maxwell introduced the issue by saying, “I believe we have two choices before us today: we can approve the [plan], thereby allowing this project to move forward and protecting the open space in the back lot, protecting the community gardens into perpetuity, and funding improvements to the garden. Or we can reject the proposal, adding density to the neighborhood, losing open space, and driving a road through the garden.”

The Board of Supervisors vote allows Lanza to buy a 15- by 111-foot strip of the community gardens adjacent to his property. This parcel, plus the original two lots owned by Lanza, will be joined into one, effectively revoking his right to build another structure on the interior lot. An independent appraiser hired by the city determined that the value of the strip minus the value lost by combining all three lots was $41,500.

The $41,500 from the sale and an additional approximately $54,500 pledged by Lanza will go towards community garden improvements, including paving the adjoining dirt path, installing security lighting, building a greenhouse, and providing compost bins.

“I would not call [the plan] a contentious issue, because contention implies that there has been a lot of opposition, but I will say that it has been a noisy issue, especially in the past six months,” Potrero Hill resident Tony Kelly said during the hearing’s public comment period.

Resident Dirk Hines, who supported the proposal, cited the plan’s potential to reduce crime by adding security lighting, and neighbor Ann DuFrane read a letter of support signed by additional residents. Residents also thanked Supervisor Maxwell for her help in creating a compromise.

The hearing was unexpectedly lopsided, according to Lanza, because neighbors who had opposed the plan throughout negotiations didn’t attend. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time, and we’re really looking forward to moving ahead,” he said.

The plan will now be sent to Mayor Gavin Newsom for approval.