CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
OF THE SURPLUS CITY PROPERTY PROGRAM
CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
___________________________________________________________
Special Meeting Minutes
for
Tuesday, January 17, 2006 at 5:00 PM
city hall
1 dr. carlton b. goodlett place, room 408
Present: Chair richard lee, Vice Chair James Reilly, Mr. Jay bradshaw, Supervisor Chris Daly, Mr. Bruce Engle, Ms. lori bammerger (sitting in for Mr. Matthew O. Franklin), Sister bernie galvin, Ms. Ana B. Gutierrez and Mr. leroy moore, Jr.
Absent: Ms. Jamie Armstrong, Mr. Scott clark, Ms. Jill Fox and Ms. Noelle Simmons
Staff: Mr. Joel Lipski, Mr. Scott Madden and Ms. Lynn Hua
- Roll Call
Chair Lee called the meeting to order at 5:05 PM. Roll call was conducted and a quorum was recognized, with four members absent. Mr. Moore arrived at 5:10 PM and Supervisor Daly arrived at 5:30 PM.
2. Approval of Minutes of Last Meeting
A motion to approve the December 19, 2005 meeting minutes was made by Mr. Bradshaw and seconded by Ms. Gutierrez. The committee unanimously approved the motion.
3. Director’s Report
Mr. Lipski announced that the next regular meeting (on the third Monday in February) would fall on a holiday and that consequently the meeting would be held the following day, which is Tuesday, February 21, 2006.
4. Consideration of Main Menu
(a) Election of Permanent Officers
Sister Galvin thanked Mr. Lee and Mr. Reilly for the great job they did serving as Chair and Vice-chair on the Committee. Sister Galvin nominated Mr. Reilly for Chair. The nomination was seconded by Mr. Bradshaw and unanimously passed.
Ms. Gutierrez nominated Mr. Bradshaw for Vice-chair. The nomination was seconded by Sister Galvin and unanimously passed.
There was no public comment on item 4(a).
(b) Draft Recommendation from Committee to the Board of Supervisors
Mr. Scott Madden, of the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH), explained to the Committee that under Section 23A.9 of the City’s Administrative Code, the Citizens’ Advisory Committee (CAC) is required to submit an annual report to the Board of Supervisors on the Committee’s recommendations for the disposition of the surplus city properties reviewed the previous year.
Mr. Lipski apologized that staff mistakenly left Mr. Bradshaw’s name off the report and would correct the error in the final revision.
I. The CAC recommends that the following surplus City properties be sold and urges the Board to appropriate the proceeds of sale to fund activities consistent with the Ordinance priorities:
341 Corbett, Junipero Serra @ Shields, Lawton & 20th Ave., 301 Wilde @ Alpha
Mr. Madden explained that the above properties have been submitted for Planning Department General Plan Referrals by the Department of Real Estate (DRE) and the requests are still pending. Upon completion of the referrals, legislation requesting authorization to sell the properties would be submitted to the Board of Supervisors.
395 Justin Dr., San Jose @ Cuvier, San Jose @ Milton, 949 Vermont St.
The Committee has recommended that the above properties be sold; however with the advice of DRE, MOH believes that the costs associated with selling the properties may prove to be more than their potential value as is the case for very small properties or those with very limited number of likely interested buyers.
Sister Galvin commented that the CAC’s recommendations for the properties were to use the proceeds from the sale for development of affordable housing and not other activities consistent with the Ordinance, which could mean a number of different things.
Mr. Bradshaw made a motion to revise the language to read “The CAC recommends that the following surplus City properties be sold and urges the Board to appropriate the proceeds of sale to fund the construction of housing for the homeless in San Francisco”. The motion was seconded by Mr. Moore and unanimously passed.
II. The CAC recommends MOH issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the purpose of developing housing for homeless persons on the following properties:
150 Otis St., 155 Grove St.
Supervisor Daly recused himself from the 150 Otis Street item due to a conflict of interest. In order to move the agenda along and have Supervisor Daly participate in the discussion, Chair Reilly requested that 150 Otis Street be moved to the end of the agenda and to discuss 155 Grove Street next. There was no objection from the committee or the public.
155/165 Grove Street
Mr. Madden explained that historically the 155 Grove Street site has been used for art exhibits by the Arts Commission. At the CAC hearing regarding potential development of the site, many interested parties indicated that the Arts Commission had been developing their own plans for development of the site. The CAC requested that MOH draft an RFP for a mixed-use development that would include arts-related uses on the ground floor and housing for homeless, formerly homeless and very low-income people on the upper floors. The CAC also requested that MOH explore the feasibility of leasing the parcels for exclusive cultural uses that could generate ongoing revenue for housing development at other locations.
Currently, the Arts Commission is exploring the feasibility of raising funds for an arts-only development. MOH considered issuance of an RFP premature in the absence of a consensus regarding appropriate ground floor uses and an absence of appropriate funding to support ground level development. Additional information is needed to determine potential uses and financing sources for the site. When the process is completed, MOH would present its recommendation for disposition of the site to the Board of Supervisors at a later date.
Supervisor Daly commented that there is very limited number of opportunity sites on the surplus properties list and 155 Grove Street is probably the second most compelling site for housing development. He felt strongly that MOH should issue an RFP for the purpose of developing housing for formerly homeless person on the property. Supervisor Daly commented that he has been in discussion with community development corporations that have expressed an interest in developing the site. He is frustrated that an RFP has not been issued yet and that there has not been any progress with the site.
Sister Galvin asked for clarification as to whether the report is supposed to be from the CAC or from both the CAC and MOH. Mr. Lipski responded that the report is intended to represent the CAC’s recommendations with comments by MOH on the status of the properties. Sister Galvin felt that the comments by MOH in the report did not accurately reflect the CAC’s position and recommendations. She suggested that the status portion and any comments by MOH be in a separate document.
Supervisor Daly made a motion to remove the status portion of 155 Grove Street from the report. The motion was seconded by Mr. Bradshaw and passed.
III. Properties transferred or recommended to be transferred from MOH to other city jurisdictions: Geneva & Ocean, Roosevelt Way@ Henry.
Geneva & Ocean
Mr. Madden explained that for the above property, the CAC has concurred with MOH’s recommendation to transfer jurisdiction of the site back to the Department of Public Works because the pedestrian bridge supports on one end of the parcel made it inappropriate for development.
Roosevelt Way @ Henry
The above property was transferred by Ordinance #230-05 dated September 20, 2005, to the Recreation and Park Department.
A motion made by Mr. Lee to accept the language as presented by staff in the report was unanimously passed.
Mr. Bradshaw made a motion that the status portion for all the properties be removed from the report. The motion was seconded by Moore and unanimously passed.
There was no public comment on item 4(b).
5. Committee Members’ Questions and Matters
None
6. Public Comment
None
Public Comment Closed
7. The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 PM.