CITIZENS ADVISORY
COMMITTEE
OF THE SURPLUS CITY PROPERTY PROGRAM
CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Meeting Minutes
for
Monday, December 20, 2004 at 4:00 PM
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 408
Present: Chairperson Richard
Lee, Vice-Chairperson James Reilly, Supervisor Chris Daly, Ms. Jill Fox, Mr.
Matthew O. Franklin, Ms. Ana B. Gutierrez and Ms. Noelle Simmons (sitting in
for Mr. Ben Rosenfield)
Absent: Ms. Jamie Armstrong, Mr. Scott Clark, Sister Bernie Galvin and Mr.
Leroy Moore, Jr.
Staff: Mr. Joel Lipski, Ms. Joan McNamara and Ms. Lynn Hua
1. Roll Call
Chairperson Lee called the meeting to order at 4:40 PM. Roll call was conducted and a quorum was recognized, with 7 committee members present and 4 members absent.
2. Approval of Minutes of Last Meeting
A motion to approve the November 15, 2004 meeting minutes was made by Ms. Gutierrez and seconded by Ms. Fox. The committee unanimously approved the motion.
3. Director's Report
Mr. Lipski announced that the next regular meeting (on the third Monday in January) would fall on a holiday and that consequently the meeting would be held the following day which is Tuesday, January 18, 2005 at 4:00 PM. The meeting will be at the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency located at 770 Golden Gate Avenue in the third floor conference room.
Mr. Lipski also reported that there would be two agenda items that need to be acted upon by the Committee at the next meeting. The first item will be the election of a permanent chair and vice-chair since the 90-day term limit for interim officers will have expired. Also, committee members will be asked to draw lots to determine the length of their tenure as committee members, pursuant to a recent Board of Supervisors' action that set the terms for half the appointed members at one year and the term of the other half at two years.
4. Consideration of Main Menu
Items 4(a) Summary of 2003 Surplus Property Report and 4(b) Proposed Program Implementation Schedule:
Mr. Lipski explained that both items 4a and 4b were put on the inaugural agenda by staff, and continued from each of the subsequent meetings. Item 4a was intended to discuss the process that led to the jurisdictional transfer of the 15 properties to the Mayor's Office of Housing. Item 4b was to present to the committee a draft program implementation schedule outlining how committee responsibilities under the Surplus Properties Ordinance would be carried out during 2004. Staff now believes that these items are not particularly relevant anymore, particularly since the process that led to the first 15 transfers of property was unique and the Committee will soon be taking up consideration of next year's Report and the end of 2004 is approaching. Staff suggested that it would be more appropriate to focus attention on the process of developing next year's surplus property report and the schedule for 2005.
Since both items were originally continued by explicit Committee actions, removing them from the agenda would require another explicit Committee action.
Supervisor Daly made a motion to remove items 4a and 4b from the agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Franklin and passed unanimously.
Item 4(c) Broadway/Sansome Site:
Ms. Teresa Yanga, Senior Project Manager at the Mayor's Office of Housing (MOH), informed the committee that staff has been in discussion with the Mayor's Budget Office regarding the $3 million DPW loan obligation that DPW has expected to repay with proceeds from the sale of this site. On behalf of the Mayor's Budget Office, Ms. Noelle Simmons explained that if the Broadway parcel is sold for less than $3 million, the loan obligation would become a general fund liability. She added, however, that the Mayor's Budget Office has requested that the Transportation Authority (to whom the DPW debt is owed) and DPW start investigating financing options for the repayment of that obligation other than the sale of this site.
Mr. Franklin suggested that the committee take action regarding the suitability of the site for affordable housing subject to the financial feasibility of the project in order to help start the process moving to some resolution. Ms. Gutierrez commented that she is conducting extensive research to find funds for development of affordable housing on the site and would like to have some more time to do so before the Committee decides what to do with the site. She expressed a strong reluctance to sell any of the transferred sites and felt that an alternative could be to lease or rent the land to raise revenue. Supervisor Daly commented that it would make sense for the committee to recommend moving forward with affordable housing on the Broadway site and to instruct MOH and the Mayor's Budget Office to work with the Transportation Authority to minimize the land cost.
Public Comment
None
Supervisor Daly made a motion that the Citizens' Advisory Committee declares the Broadway and Sansome parcel as a suitable site for affordable housing development. The motion was seconded by Ms. Gutierrez and passed unanimously.
Item 4(d) 150 Otis Street Site
Supervisor Daly indicated that he would need to recuse himself from item 4d due to a conflict of interest. Staff pointed out that this action would result in the loss of a quorum. In order to avoid the loss of a quorum, Chairperson Lee made a motion to continue 4d to the next meeting and to take up the next agenda item. The motion was seconded by Vice-Chairperson Reilly and passed unanimously.
Item 4(e) 155 and 165 Grove Street Sites
Ms. Joan McNamara, Project Manager from the Mayor's Office of Housing, presented information regarding the suitability of the 155 and 165 Grove Street sites for uses consistent with the Surplus Property Ordinance. The two adjacent sites are located between Van Ness Avenue and Polk Street in the Civic Center Historic District. The 155 Grove St. site is improved by a one-story unreinforced masonry building that is currently being used by the Arts Commission to showcase art exhibitions. The 165 Grove St. site is a vacant lot. Together the parcels total approximately 8,000 sq. ft. and are zoned C3G - Downtown General Commercial. The dwelling density under C3G zoning is one unit for each 125 sq. ft. and the maximum building height is 70 ft.
Assuming that the ground floor and lower areas would have non-residential uses, and assuming typical set asides for open space and circulation, and typical unit sizes, staff estimated that the upper floors of a seven-story building could accommodate approximately 30-35 family units or 53-56 studio or efficiency units.
Ms. McNamara pointed out that the parcels are subject to the Civic Center Master Plan, which is comprised of four significant elements. The first three elements call for maintaining the Civic Center area as a place of cultural and governmental businesses. The fourth element addresses housing, primarily focusing on retaining the housing that is already located in the area. Finally, Ms. McNamara pointed out that the Arts Commission has expressed an interest in developing both parcels for uses associated with the arts.
Supervisor Daly commented that this was the second meeting in which the committee has been informed by other city departments that they have plans for use of a property that has been declared surplus by that department. He inquired as to why other departments are coming to the committee now when the Board of Supervisors has already acted to move a parcel identified as surplus property to MOH's jurisdiction. The departments should have informed the City Administrator who compiled the surplus properties list that their property is not surplus before it went to the Board. He suggested that when the list is updated for the next calendar year, there should be more clarification on the definition of surplus, vacant or underutilized sites.
Mr. Richard Newirth, Director of the Arts Commission, explained that the 155 and 165 Grove Site sites have never been under the Arts Commission's jurisdiction, but have always been listed under the Real Estate Department's jurisdiction. He found out that the parcels had been included on the surplus properties list and transferred to MOH's jurisdiction only after the Board of Supervisors had already acted and the transfer was published in the newspaper. He described the history of the site as the original location of the Arts Commission and its use as a gallery until the Loma Prieta earthquake rendered the building unsafe. He characterized the Commission's current proposal for the sites as a long-term temporary project that would create a "magnet" for visitors to the Civic Center area, including both rehabilitation of the existing building with new office space as well as new gallery space, and outdoor display/exhibit space on that adjacent vacant lot. He indicated that the Arts Commission is poised to embark on a capital campaign to raise the $3 million needed for their proposal over the next 18 months.
Public Comment:
Ms. Victoria Carlisle, of the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, urged the committee to take into consideration the Arts Commission history and longevity at the Grove St. sites and the importance of arts in the community when making their recommendation.
Supervisor Daly inquired if the Lighthouse has taken a position in terms of the suitability of the site for affordable housing or a mixed-use affordable housing with a ground floor art gallery. Ms. Carlisle responded that the agency has not taken a position.
Mr. Rupert Jenkins, Director of the Arts Commission Gallery, commented that the 155 Grove St. site has always been considered the Arts Commission's home. The agency has worked constantly to develop proposals and plans for the site. The building is not vacant and is currently being used for art exhibitions and storage.
Because the scheduled time for use of the Committee meeting room was expiring and another Commission's meeting was scheduled to begin shortly, the Committee discontinued consideration of this item without taking action.
5. Committee Members' Questions and Matters
None
6. Public Comment
Mr. Russell Morine, a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, commented that Habitat has looked at the Bayview and Visitation Valley sites and is interested in working with the committee on developing those sites.
7. The meeting was adjourned at 6:05 PM.