January 20, 2006

Stakeholders Attempt to Balance Diverse Goals in the Eastern Neighborhoods

By Alison Fromme
Special to the Neighborhood Newswire

San Francisco expects to add another almost 80,000 residents over the next two decades, enough new inhabitants to populate a medium-sized town. Many, and perhaps most, of these newcomers will be drawn to the City’s eastern neighborhoods – Bayview-Hunters Point, Mission, Potrero, and South-of-Market. The anticipated population increase, coupled with broad land use policy changes, will soon determine the future of these once predominately blue-collar, mixed-use and demographically diverse communities.

Affordable Housing a Pressing Concern
In a City with the highest housing prices in the country, there’s steady pressure on local officials to create affordable homes. In 2004, the median price of a three bedroom San Francisco house was $730,000—a luxury that a family of four earning upwards of $120,000 would have trouble paying for. And many Bayview-Hunters Point and Potrero Hill residents barely make their monthly rents, with little hope of ever owning their own home. About 46 percent of community residents live in State of California-defined poverty.

Between 2001 and 2004, just 2,284 affordable housing units were constructed in San Francisco. About 10 percent of these new homes were located in Bayview- Hunters Point and Potrero Hill, roughly equal to the district’s share of total City population. But chances are, greater amounts of affordable housing will be built in the eastern neighborhoods in the coming years.

Mark Klaiman, owner of Pet Camp, a Bayview-based animal boarding facility, agrees that the City needs more affordable housing, but questions whether it should be concentrated in the eastern neighborhoods. Klaiman is also concerned that an over-emphasis on housing will drive out the City’s remaining “blue collar” businesses.

Many Potrero Hill residents are concerned that growth will disrupt their neighborhood’s existing qualities. In a recent survey, residents cited “development” as the second most serious community issue, after crime. Eighty percent of the survey respondents wanted to preserve Potrero Hill’s “character,” and believed the neighborhood needed expanded green space and larger commercial areas.

“Projects here have been approved on a project by project basis without consideration of proper transit and parking issues,” according to Kepa Askenasy, a Potrero Hill resident and the survey’s sponsor. “So we have an overflow of cars parked on the street, gridlock along 16th Street at rush hour.”

Ideally, Askenasy says, Potrero Hill development would include an expansion of current businesses and two to three-unit housing options. The community’s current density, she says, is about 35 units per acre; projects proposed by developers reach as high 100 units per acre. Such a substantial increase would make the Hill’s density more comparable to North Beach and Russian Hill.

Pushing out businesses such as Parisian Bakery and Potrero Gardens to make room for high-priced condos doesn’t make sense, says Askenasy. The rest of the City depends on services and products created in Bayview and Potrero. The beautiful iron works adorning Pacific Heights’ homes, the top Ferrari mechanic, and the City’s signature beer, Anchor Steam, are all made in eastern San Francisco. “Without these City services, we’d have to drive out to San Leandro for them,” Askenasy says.

“We need to strike a balance between services needed by people and housing,” says Klaiman, pointing out that taxis are one important city service that requires industrial land for parking and maintenance. “Companies that play by the rules should be treated well,” he says, and not have to worry about being pushed out by changing land use laws.

Changing Landscapes
As any Californian knows, change is inevitable. The Third Street Light Rail will bring new transit and land use patterns that will ripple throughout the surrounding neighborhoods, as will the development of Pier 70 and the Hunters Point Shipyard. The question is how best to choose among a variety of futures. To that end, several legislative and regulatory efforts are underway to alter San Francisco’s land use decision-making process and outcomes.

One of the most significant policy tools to control development is through “zoning,” which defines how an individual parcel can be developed, whether it’s for high-density housing or industrial uses. An effort to re-define how best to zone the eastern neighborhoods has been underway since 2003. The current proposal includes three options, with varying degrees of change for the Central Waterfront, the Mission, Showplace Square, and Eastern SoMa.

The most conservative option would retain much of the current zoning that allows light industry, such as repair shops, design studios, concrete works, and catering businesses to remain in the area. On the other extreme, more land would be converted to residential uses. The plan would also increase height and size restrictions in many areas.

The Better Neighborhoods Plus legislation is another effort to address concerns that community values be reflected in new developments. Sponsored by Supervisors Jake McGoldrick and Sophie Maxwell, Better Neighborhoods Plus would require community input and consultation with City agencies before large construction projects are approved. The legislation was created with input from more than 30 individuals and groups, including the Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods, Housing Action Coalition, and San Francisco Urban Planning and Research (see the Neigborhood Newswire article: “Neighborhood Planning Improvements Proposed.”)

Long-range community planning and evaluation of each neighborhood’s unique role in the City are important, according to City planner Jasper Rubin. Such efforts will help avoid “hotspots for a hodgepodge of development.” Development will bring change, Rubin says, but that change should be guided in ways that will enhance the quality of City living.

For more information, visit the San Francisco Planning Department’s website (http://www.sfgov.org/site/planning_index.asp) and the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency’s website (http://www.sfgov.org/site/sfra_index.asp).

This is the first of a series of three articles focusing on land use changes in San Francisco’s eastern neighborhoods.