SAN FRANCISCO REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY MEMORANDUM

TO: San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association

FROM: Stanley Muraoka, Project Manager, Bayview

Hunters Point and India Basin

DATE: September 18, 2002

RE: Pending Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Plan Amendments

Agency staff is currently working collaboratively with the Bayview Hunters Point Project Area Committee on completing the adoption of three Redevelopment Plan Amendments for the Hunters Point, India Basin Industrial Park, and Bayview Industrial Triangle Redevelopment Project Areas. Following is information based on (1) a workshop presentation to the Redevelopment Agency Commission on April 23, 2002 to update the Commission on the ongoing redevelopment planning efforts in the Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Survey Area and (2) ongoing work of Agency staff and the Project Area Committee on clarifying the community vision for seven community-identified economic development activity nodes.

Background

The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco designated "South Bayshore" (a.k.a. Bayview Hunters Point) as a Redevelopment Survey Area on January 3, 1995. Subsequently, on December 12, 1996, the Planning Commission adopted an Amended Preliminary Plan for the Hunters Point Redevelopment Project to include the Survey Area. The December 1996 Amended Preliminary Plan set the following proposed Bayview Hunters Point (“BVHP”) Project Area boundaries: Cesar Chavez Street on the north, U.S. Highway 101 on the west, the shoreline of San Francisco Bay on the west, and the San Francisco County boundary on the south, except for land in the Bayview Industrial Triangle, India Basin Industrial Park, and the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (see Redevelopment Survey Area Map).

After the Agency received the Amended Preliminary Plan from the Planning Department, Agency staff worked closely with a number of persons in the BVHP community, to hold an election in January 1997 to form a Project Area Committee (“PAC”) that would work with the Agency on redevelopment planning for BVHP. Under the California Community Redevelopment Law, a PAC must be formed if a Redevelopment Plan or Redevelopment Plan Amendment will provide the Agency with the power of eminent domain over property occupied by low and moderate income persons. Moreover, the Agency and the community wanted to form a PAC that would work with the Agency in planning the redevelopment of the area. On January 28, 1997, the Board of Supervisors confirmed the election of twenty-one members of the PAC. The PAC also includes members representing the existing Hunters Point Redevelopment Project Area.

Redevelopment Plan Amendments

After the community election in January 1997, the PAC worked on a Community Revitalization Concept Plan with Agency staff and a number of consultants. After conducting many community workshops, a Revitalization Concept Plan was drafted and approved by the PAC in November 2000. Subsequently, the PAC produced an Executive Summary of the Concept Plan in March 2001. The Concept Plan serves as the community’s vision statement that guides the redevelopment planning process, and contains the community's goals and objectives for revitalization of the BVHP area.

Since completion of the Concept Plan, the PAC and Agency staff have been working on redevelopment planning activities that would lead to the implementation of the goals and objectives of the Concept Plan, including amendments of the Redevelopment Plans for the three existing Redevelopment Projects in BVHP: Hunters Point, India Basin Industrial Park, and Bayview Industrial Triangle.

Agency staff and the PAC will recommend that blighted portions of the BVHP Redevelopment Survey Area be added to the Hunters Point Redevelopment Project Area. To determine the appropriate areas to be included in the Redevelopment Project, the Agency has contracted with a plan adoption consultant team, led by Seifel Consulting, Inc. The Seifel Consulting team has completed a preliminary assessment of physical blight conditions within the Survey Area and is set to complete a final blight analysis, including assessment of both physical and economic blighting factors, in the next several months. The outcome of this analysis will be a recommended boundary for the amended Hunters Point Redevelopment Project that will include areas of significant blight. Seifel Consulting will also prepare the Preliminary Report on the proposed Redevelopment Plan Amendments including all fiscal analyses and reasons why redevelopment is needed, and the Final Report to the Board of Supervisors on the proposed amendments.

Concurrent to the amendment of the Hunters Point Redevelopment Project, Agency staff will recommend that land use districts in the India Basin and Bayview Industrial Triangle Redevelopment Project Areas be amended to be consistent with proposed land use and zoning changes in the adjoining Survey Area. In addition, tax increment financing will be instituted for the Bayview Industrial Triangle Redevelopment Project, since no public funding mechanism currently exists to implement this Redevelopment Plan.

To satisfy California Environmental Quality Act environmental review requirements, the Agency entered in to a contract with EIP Associates for completion of an Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) of the proposed Redevelopment Plan Amendments. The EIR will assess environmental effects, such as increased local traffic and noise levels, alteration of public views and building density, and increased demand for public services, and then recommend measures to preclude any adverse effects or mitigate such effects to less than significant levels.

The three proposed Redevelopment Plan Amendments will be supported by amendments of the South Bayshore Area Plan of the City’s General Plan and other City General Plan elements, amendments of the City Planning Code and Zoning Maps, a set of Design Guidelines, the Preliminary Report, and the Final Report to the Board of Supervisors. Each of these documents will be reviewed and considered by the PAC, Agency Commission, and the Board. The target date for adoption of the Redevelopment Plan Amendments is March 2003.

Regarding amendments of the City Planning Code, the Board of Supervisors, in anticipation of the Redevelopment Plan Amendments, adopted two resolutions, one that set up interim NC-3 zoning controls over industrially zoned property directly adjacent to Third Street in the BVHP Redevelopment Survey Area. The companion resolution urged the Redevelopment Agency to amend the Redevelopment Plans for India Basin and Bayview Industrial Triangle to establish land use a development controls consistent with a neighborhood commercial district under the Planning Code.

Bayview Hunters Point Project Area Committee

Throughout this redevelopment planning process, Agency staff has worked closely and collaboratively with the BVHP PAC. The Agency is committed to continuing its partnership with the BVHP. It is significant to note that through the formal election process, the PAC is the legally mandated voice of the community in recommending the Redevelopment Plan Amendments to the Agency Commission and the Board of Supervisors. Upon adoption of the Redevelopment Plan Amendments by the Board, the PAC will assume the role of overseeing the implementation of the Redevelopment Plans.

Major Community Redevelopment Programs

Agency staff and the PAC will recommend that the Redevelopment Plan Amendments establish three major community redevelopment programs: a Housing Program, an Economic Development Program, and a Community Enhancements Program.

Housing Program

The Housing Program will set forth the Agency process for creating new affordable housing units in BVHP. Staff and the PAC will recommend that the Agency adopt a detailed implementation program, the Framework Housing Program, which will be continually consistent with the Citywide Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan and will detail Agency and City action in BVHP. Of significance, Agency staff and the PAC will recommend the maintenance of the existing mix of ownership and rental housing. The Affordable Housing Program will encompass a range of housing types, both rental and ownership, and including multi-bedroom family housing and one bedroom dwellings. Moreover, Agency staff and the PAC will recommend that the affordability target be set at the Bayview Area Median Income (“AMI”), which is lower than the Citywide AMI.

In addition, the PAC and Agency staff will propose a Model Block Single Family Rehabilitation Program that will address repair and improvement of single family homes on a block-by-block basis in the community.

To guide the design and appearance of the new housing construction particularly in mixed use transit-oriented development along Third Street, the PAC and Agency staff will recommend that the PAC, the Agency and the Planning Department establish a set of Design Guidelines.

Economic Development Program

The intent of the Economic Development Program is to facilitate new development that would be expected to directly and indirectly alleviate blight, and thereby stimulate private sector investment and development in the area, and job and entrepreneurial opportunities for local residents. The PAC and Agency staff will recommend that the Economic Development Program focus public investment in community revitalization within seven, community-identified activity nodes, and that the Commission would be authorized to adopt specific Development Programs for all or parts of each activity node, to guide the economic development that will occur within the specific Development Program area.

Key to the success of economic revitalization in BVHP is the Third Street light rail project, which will create numerous opportunities for mixed use and other appropriate transit-oriented development. Another key is the enhancement of the northern route onto the Shipyard, along Evans-Hunters Point Boulevard-Innes Avenue, and establishment of a southern route onto the Shipyard, along an extension of Carroll Avenue from Bayshore Boulevard to Third Street, up Carroll Avenue to Fitch Street, along Fitch Street across a bridge over Yosemite Slough, connecting with Crisp Avenue.

Of particular note, Agency staff estimates that the development of locally owned small businesses within the seven economic development activity nodes would enable the community to take direct action to stop the market leakage, currently estimated at well over $100 million annually. The fostering of local ownership and operation of new business throughout the Third Street corridor and elsewhere in the community, and the associated significant increase in employment of community residents and the concurrent increase in affordable housing units are crucial to increasing the attractiveness of the area for existing residents, to increase the earning power of existing residents and businesses, and to preclude to the extent possible, the flight of existing residents and existing businesses from the area, particularly as outside businesses and new residents endeavor to move into the area to take advantage of economic opportunities, both residential and commercial.

The seven economic development activity nodes include (1) the Northern Gateway Activity Node, centered on Third Street between Islais Creek and Jerrold Avenue; (2) the Town Center Activity Node, centered on Third Street between Jerrold Avenue and Williams – Van Dyke Avenue; (3) the Oakinba Activity Node, centered in the area bounded by Oakdale Avenue, Industrial Way and Bayshore Boulevard; (4) the Southeast Health Center Activity Node, centered on Third Street between Williams – Van Dyke Avenue and Carroll Avenue; (5) the South Basin Activity Node, for the M-1 industrial area from Bayshore Boulevard to South Basin on both sides of Yosemite Slough; (6) the Hunters Point Shoreline Activity Node, centered on Hunters Point Boulevard – Innes Avenue between Jennings Street and Hunters Point Shipyard; and, (7) the Candlestick Point Activity Node, for the Candlestick Point Special Use District (See Economic Development Activity Nodes map).

The seven activity nodes represent an evolution from and a refinement of the four Focus Area Plans that are described in detail in Chapter 5 of the PAC’s Concept Plan: Town Center, Northern Industrial District, Hunters Point Shoreline Area and South Basin District. The Focus Area Plans were the result of numerous community workshops and many hours of community input starting in 1997 and culminating in the Final Draft of the Concept Plan that was adopted by the PAC in November 2000.

(1) Agency staff and the PAC will recommend that economic development in the Northern Gateway Activity Node be focused on mixed-use, residential over commercial projects that will increase business and employment activities in the northern Gateway area of BVHP. New residential would be encouraged in appropriate locations along Third Street to take advantage of the transit-oriented development opportunities presented by the new Third Street light rail line and to bolster existing residential uses in and adjacent to the area. While the focus is on increasing business opportunities, the community desires creation of enough retail and service-oriented commercial businesses and housing units to form a true neighborhood. The community also wishes to promote locally-owned businesses and local entrepreneurship. Agency staff and the PAC propose that land outside of the Evans Node in the Northern Industrial area to the east and west retain permanent Industrial Protection Zone controls, with residential and office uses prohibited, in order to both protect PDR industrial uses and encourage new development to locate within the Gateway area.

This activity node incorporates the northern part of the Town Center Focus Area Plan that, in the Concept Plan, extends from Evans Avenue to Williams Avenue. The Concept Plan vision for this activity node area is characterized by

· A protected historic residential neighborhood, with a range of new infill housing and transit-oriented mixed-use development focused around light rail stations on the Third Street Corridor.

· Local shopping and entertainment venues on Third Street that incorporates and uplifts existing businesses.

· A major business and employment development center in the northern portion of the Town Center, adjacent to the Industrial Park and anchored by Bayview Plaza.

· Transit hubs bringing people to and from Bayview Hunters Point and providing connections to employment, including Muni and CalTrain.

This activity node also incorporates the north central part of the Northern Industrial District Focus Area Plan that, in the Concept Plan, extends from Bayshore Boulevard to Piers 80-92 in the Port of San Francisco. The Concept Plan vision for this activity node area is characterized by

· Maintaining and expanding industry within the area to increase the job base and support the development of entrepreneurial opportunities. Economic development with an ecological emphasis should be the focus; housing development or live-work should not be allowed in industrial areas.

· The promotion of policies and land use decisions that provide job-training, employment and business opportunities to local residents.

· Economic development that fosters clean industry and facilities to improve the quality of life for area residents and workers. Eco-industrial park development and operations principles are called for.

The juxtaposition of the two Concept Plan visions along with the construction of the Third Street Light Rail project creates a remarkable opportunity to build a new San Francisco neighborhood, based on New Urbanism principles and signature transit-oriented development projects, that would break through the barriers posed by incompatible industrial and residential uses, foster improvements to the environment and quality of life for residents and workers, and allow Third Street to fulfill its potential as a neighborhood-serving street.

(2) Development in the Town Center Activity Node is to be anchored by the Town Center block, bounded by Third, Newcomb, Lane, and Oakdale. This block is entirely City-owned and includes the Bayview Opera House owned by the Art Commission, Joseph Lee Gym owned by the RecPark Department, and the former Burnett School owned by the Unified School District. Agency staff, along with staff of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development and other City departments, is working on possible future development of the Town Center block. This block represents the single largest opportunity in BVHP to provide new community space, and would allow for the consolidation of community, educational and training services for the entire community in a central location. Efforts initiated by the Bayview Opera House Board to fully renovate the Opera House building and add classroom and other community space in a new, adjacent facility is a foundation for this City effort. For the blocks that neighbor the Town Center block, there are numerous opportunities to rejuvenate this core commercial area with restaurants, neighborhood stores, and other commercial businesses, and to add new housing units as the opportunity arises, in mixed use (residential-over-commercial) buildings adjacent to Third Street. The community also wishes to promote locally-owned businesses and local entrepreneurship. Currently, the Agency is providing assistance to the Providence Baptist Church, located next door to the Town Center block on Third Street between Newcomb and McKinnon Avenues, on their senior housing project, and working with the San Francisco Housing Development Corporation on a mixed-use affordable housing project at 4800 Third Street (at Oakdale Avenue).

This activity node incorporates the central and southern portion of the Town Center Focus Area Plan that, in the Concept Plan, extends from Evans Avenue to Williams Avenue. The Concept Plan vision for this activity node area is characterized by

· A protected historic residential neighborhood, with a range of new infill housing and transit-oriented mixed-use development focused around light rail stations on the Third Street Corridor.

· Local shopping and entertainment venues on Third Street that incorporates and uplifts existing businesses.

· Projects and land uses that establish the Town Center as a cultural arts destination, with an emphasis on exceptional public art interwoven with infrastructure and buildings. Community destinations and gathering places – including a Farmer’s Market/Community Marketplace, plazas, and locations for festivals, fairs and community events.

· Transit hubs bringing people to and from Bayview Hunters Point and providing connections to employment, including Muni and CalTrain.

· Civic, educational, and community service facilities brought together to form a “mall” on Third Street and along Oakdale.

(3) The PAC seeks the creation of a vibrant commercial center that is compatible with both nearby residential neighborhoods and adjacent light industrial uses within the Oakinba Activity Node. Given the adjacency of the U.S. Highway 101 and major arterials linking City neighborhoods, the availability of relatively large land parcels, and the visibility of the area from the major roadway leading from San Francisco International Airport to downtown San Francisco, the Activity Node is uniquely positioned to accommodate larger-scale, City-serving commercial businesses. However, careful siting and design is required to assure compatibility with surrounding residential and industrial areas.

This activity node incorporates the western part of the Northern Industrial Area Focus Area Plan that, in the Concept Plan, extends from Bayshore Boulevard to Piers 80-92 in the Port of San Francisco. The Concept Plan vision for this activity node area is characterized by

· The promotion of policies and land use decisions that provide job-training, employment and business opportunities to local residents.

(4) The community seeks the creation of a center for medical offices and clinics to serve the entire BVHP community within the Southeast Health Center Activity Node. The medical service center is proposed to be directly adjacent to the Third Street light rail line. Agency staff and the PAC will recommend that activity within this node build upon the proposed expansion of the existing Southeast Health Center, which is owned by the Department of Public Health, by adding private medical offices and support services and businesses to support those services available through the Public Health Department. The Health and Environment Resource Center, using a grant from the Department of the Environment, has initiated predevelopment planning for the Health Center expansion. To take advantage of the opportunities for combining residential and neighborhood retail with medical services, particularly as it relates to providing a complete neighborhood for community elderly persons, the community seeks to focus on building new housing, both senior and multi-family, and encouraging new retail businesses within this activity node in transit-oriented development projects adjacent to Third Street. The community also wishes to promote locally-owned businesses and local entrepreneurship.

This activity node incorporates the central portion of the South Basin District Focus Area Plan in both sides of Third Street. In the Concept Plan, this Focus Area Plan extends from Bayshore Boulevard to Yosemite Slough and South Basin. The Concept Plan vision for this activity node area is characterized by

· An enlarged Southeast Health Center with an Aging Campus, clustered senior services and new senior residential facilities.

· Transit hubs along Third Street bringing people to the Southeast Health Center and Aging Campus with larger-scale mixed-use commercial businesses located along the corridor.

· Community destinations and gathering places – including plazas along the Third Street corridor, a renovated Bayview Park, community gardens and parks extending through the Health Center and Senior Living areas, and a restored and redeveloped Yosemite Slough on State Park land.

· An office “park” area, with medical and other types of office uses bounding the Health Center and buffering adjacent residential from to industrial uses to the southeast.

· A focus on housing for senior living around the Southeast Health Center including assisted-living facilities.

(5) The intent of the community for the South Basin Activity Node, i.e. the remainder of the South Basin area outside of the Southeast Health Center Activity Node, is to encourage transit-oriented development adjacent to Third Street to take advantage of the Third Street light rail line, and to preserve land between Third Street and Bayshore Boulevard, and between Third Street and Yosemite Slough as permanent Industrial Protection Zones, with residential and office uses prohibited. Along the edges of this South Basin Activity Node, where industrial uses become intermixes with residential uses, the community seeks to buffer homes from industry and to add small-scale neighborhood commercial services as the opportunity arises. The community also wishes to promote locally-owned businesses and local entrepreneurship.

This activity node incorporates that part of the South Basin District Focus Area Plan on either side (both west and east) of the Southeast Health Center Activity Node. In the Concept Plan, this Focus Area Plan extends from Bayshore Boulevard to Yosemite Slough and South Basin. The Concept Plan envisions a number of development centers within this activity node, including a large-scale commercial area along Bayshore Boulevard to the west, an eco-industrial park to the east, and a major waterfront park at Yosemite Slough on the eastern shoreline. The Concept Plan vision for this activity node area is further characterized by

· Transit hubs along Third Street bringing people to the Southeast Health Center and Aging Campus with larger-scale mixed-use commercial businesses located along the corridor.

· An office “park” area, with medical and other types of office uses bounding the Health Center and buffering adjacent residential from to industrial uses to the southeast.

· A formalized eco-industrial park in the southeast portion of the district, with defined truck routes linking the Shipyard and the freeway.

· Protected historic residential neighborhoods, with a range of new infill housing and transit-oriented mixed-use development focused around light rail stations.

· Renovation of the Alice Griffith Housing Development, with massive improvements in street layout and infill that reunites the enclave with the rest of the neighborhood.

(6) The Hunters Point Shoreline Activity Node, located along Hunters Point Boulevard and Innes Avenue has two facets. First, there is a residential facet, where the community and the Housing Authority are looking to build new housing on available infill development sites west of Innes Avenue. The Housing Authority intends to again submit an application for Hope VI funds to renovate Hunters View. Agency staff is working with the Housing Authority to include Housing Authority projects in the proposed Hunters Point Redevelopment Plan Amendment, including Hunters View and Alice Griffith, for which the Housing Authority will also be seeking Hope VI funds. Second, for the land lying east of Innes Avenue, the intent of the community is to create a mixed-use neighborhood of small industrial businesses, mixed with neighborhood-serving retail and commercial services and some residential units. This neighborhood would be water-oriented to take advantage of the Hunters Point Shoreline Park that is currently being expanded by the RecPark Department, other City departments and the Trust for Public Land. The Shoreline Park, upon completion, will extend from Heron’s Head Park to Hunters Point Shipyard. The area would be a refuge for artists who may choose to relocate to this area from the Hunters Point Shipyard.

This activity node incorporates the Hunters Point Shoreline Focus Area Plan in the Concept Plan. The Concept Plan vision for this activity node area is characterized by

· Water recreation along the India Basin Shoreline and public access to the waterfront.

· Rehabilitated public housing that ties in physically and architecturally to other residential development in the community.

· New mixed-use residential developments that feature ground floor neighborhood-serving businesses and housing above in appropriate locations on the north side of Innes Avenue.

· New mixed-use development centers with flexible land uses on the PG&E and Ferrari sites that take advantage of these large parcels of land.

· Facilitate and complete the cleanup of hazardous substances from identified contaminated sites, particularly the PG&E site and the Ferrari parcel.

(7) The Candlestick Point Activity Node will accommodate the San Francisco 49ers stadium and mall. The project consists of a new football stadium built on the existing parking lot and a new stadium parking lot on the site of the existing stadium. In addition, there is proposed a new 1.2 million square foot retail shopping mall adjacent to and east of the new stadium. At the point in time when the 49ers have a specific development proposal for the stadium-mall, the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development and the Agency would be involved in the project entitlement process.

In June 1997, San Francisco voters approved Propositions D and F, which defined the new 49ers stadium and proposed mall. Proposition D authorized public financing in the form of lease revenue bonds for the Candlestick Point stadium and related infrastructure (including but not limited to, parking, streets and highways, and water and sewer systems), facilities, structures, equipment and furnishings. Proposition F approved the development of the stadium and mall project, making the necessary General Plan, Planning Code and Zoning Map amendments to amend the height limit to 200 feet for the stadium and 60 feet for the mall, and establishing the Candlestick Point Special Use District.

As stated earlier, Agency staff and the PAC propose that the PAC, the Agency and the Planning Department establish a set of Design Guidelines for the construction of transit-oriented development along Third Street as well as the construction of new building types throughout the community.

Community Enhancement Program

Agency staff will recommend that a Community Enhancements Program be established to improve and enhance community character through beautification of streets, establishment of a Façade Improvement Program, the creation of a Green Streets network, the improvement of existing community and recreational facilities and open spaces, and the construction of new urban plazas and miniparks.

Of significance, staff proposes the adoption of a Framework Open Space Program to guide the improvement, maintenance and programming of Agency and City Recreation and Park Department open spaces in the area. Agency staff has initiated discussions with the Recreation and Park Department on the conveyance of Agency-owned open space parcels in the Hunters Point Redevelopment Project Area, from the Agency to the Recreation and Park Department, in order to bring all the major improved open spaces in BVHP under a single City jurisdiction, pursuant to the proposed Framework Open Space Program.

Agency staff also proposes the adoption of Streetscape Plans for the three major roadways in the community, Third Street, the northern route to the Shipyard, along Evans and Innes Avenues, and a new southern route into the Shipyard.