Wasn't sure if this should go here or in the "no shadows shall fall upon boston's grass" thread...
Compromise averts showdown over S.F. shadows
John Cot?,John King, Chronicle Staff Writers
Thursday, February 4, 2010
A compromise has been reached in what was shaping into a fierce political battle over a ballot measure to prevent new buildings from casting shadows on city parks, something Mayor Gavin Newsom said would threaten nearly every major development project planned in San Francisco.
Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, who wrote the measure, told The Chronicle on Wednesday that he planned to pull it from the June ballot after receiving a letter from Newsom that called for a thorough analysis of the impacts that planned skyscrapers and other projects would have on sunlight in parks and public spaces.
"This is what I had been asking for," Chiu said. "What we were wanting all along was to get real data and a real analysis of the shadow impacts of buildings that have been built, the projects that have been approved, and developments in the pipeline."
Chiu's measure would have strengthened Proposition K, approved by voters in 1984, which set strict shadow guidelines but allowed city commissions some flexibility to decide whether to approve buildings. The measure proposed by Chiu would have taken away that discretionary power.
Major projects at stake
Newsom's letter to Chiu and the four supervisors who co-sponsored the measure warned that the proposal threatened projects such as the expansion of the Moscone Center and development of the new Transbay Terminal. Planning Director John Rahaim said it would also affect such projects as the expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the proposed Mexican Museum and even senior housing projects in Chinatown.
"I request that we pause long enough to thoughtfully and thoroughly study this," Newsom wrote. "With hard data in hand, we can then work together to chart the best course forward."
The compromise appears to end, at least for now, a political showdown.
Measure to be yanked
Chiu said he will announce his decision to yank the measure at a hearing today on the issue. Because the measure had been put on the ballot, the wording could not be changed. Chiu's only choice was to move forward with the measure as written or pull it.
Some critics of the measure had accused Chiu and his fellow supervisors of putting an ill-conceived measure on the ballot without understanding its broad ramifications.
Chiu and others said that outcry was a telling indication that planned projects weren't complying with shadow requirements already on the books and that nobody was keeping track.
"That just proves my point - you are creating shadows," Chiu said. "I can't do my due diligence when the Planning Department doesn't have the analysis we're talking about."
Rahaim, the city's planning director for two years, wrote Tuesday in a memo to Chiu that during his tenure, the department "has been extremely cautious in recommendations on plans and projects which impact city parks."
Rahaim said the department had only recently obtained old files to answer Chiu's questions about how many exceptions had been granted to the rules established in 1989 to implement the 1984 voter initiative.
Rules on new buildings
Those rules bar construction of any building higher than 40 feet that casts an adverse shadow on Recreation and Park Department property unless the Planning Commission decides the shadow is insignificant.
It also set strict shadow limits on 14 downtown parks, including allowing for zero new shadows on 11 of those. The Planning Commission, with contributions from the Recreation and Park Commission, has the authority to modify those "shadow budgets" and has done so in select cases to allow for projects with significant public benefit, like affordable housing that shadows Boeddeker Park in the Tenderloin.
Newsom said those shadow budgets have been adjusted only five times over more than 20 years, and generally where only small portions of the park are affected for brief periods of time.
Chiu's ballot measure would have eliminated the discretion to allow even minor amounts of increased shadow and extended the restrictions to Market Street's Hallidie Plaza and United Nations Plaza and a three-block area that includes Yerba Buena Gardens.
It also would have given the supervisors final say over any tinkering with the rules, rather than the commissions that oversee the planning and park departments.
New measure possible
Chiu said he might still introduce a measure on the issue on the November ballot, depending on the results of the joint analysis with the mayor's office. The other supervisors who co-sponsored the measure were Sophie Maxwell, Ross Mirkarimi, Eric Mar and David Campos.
"I think without the debate around this ballot measure we would not have gotten to where we are," Chiu said. "As part of that, we may consider putting something on the November ballot."
E-mail the writers at
jcote@sfchronicle.com and
jking@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
