Should San Francisco allow a mega-mall on historic waterfront?

San Francisco's shoreline again faces a serious threat of misplaced development. On the historic Piers 27, 29, and 31 of the northeast waterfront, halfway between the recently restored Ferry Building and Fisherman's Wharf, the San Francisco Port Commission is negotiating to allow construction of a mega-mall. In December it approved a Revised Development Memorandum allowing the project to begin undergoing environmental review.

The city's voter-mandated Waterfront Land Use Plan designates this area for recreation and open space, but with an army of lobbyists and political consultants, national shopping-mall developer Mills Corporation has convinced the commission to grant it the exclusive right to build a 19-acre complex of 37 retail stores, 11 restaurants and cafes, and 10 private office suites, with 400 valet parking spaces on the second floor of the piers.

To make the project more politically attractive, Mills is including and subsidizing a YMCA, an America True sailing school, and a skateboarding plaza. After the four years of controversy that have so far surrounded the project, it is very clear that Mills would pull out of the deal it if it were limited to the recreational uses.

In 1990, San Francisco voters approved an historic ballot measure that protected the city's unique waterfront from an array of aggressive development proposals to build a wall of high-rise hotels and chain stores. Backed by the Sierra Club and a coalition of organizations, Proposition H overcame vigorous opposition from special interests and the city's Port Commission to affirm that "The waterfront of San Francisco is an irreplaceable public resource of the highest value." Prop H banned the building of hotels on the waterfront and put a moratorium on all new projects until a Waterfront Land Use Plan was created. The plan was finished and put into action in 1997.

In addition to violating the spirit and arguably the language of this Waterfront Plan and the state's Public Trust doctrine, the Mills proposal would create a variety of environmental problems, including:

threatening Bay wildlife and water quality. To create the "Marine Sports Basin" between Piers 29 and 31, the project calls for building, at the end of the piers, a "wave attenuation structure" designed to minimize the impact of powerful tides. Biologists are concerned that such a structure could affect the migration path for steelhead and salmon, reduce herring spawning habitat, and significantly elevate bacteria levels around the project.
gridlocking the Embarcadero. With such a heavy retail, restaurant, and office emphasis, the project could increase daily traffic on the already-congested Embarcadero by 20% - an increase of 7,000 vehicle trips a day. The ripple effect would increase traffic up Market Street, at Bay Bridge on- and off-ramps, and all along the Embarcadero.
overloading Muni. Along with the expected increase in driving, studies show that the Mills Project would generate thousands of additional daily Muni trips and completely overwhelm the already-crowded historic F-Line.
blocking bicyclists and pedestrians. The complicated valet-parking scheme would narrow portions of the Embarcadero sidewalk from 29 to 11 feet, strangling pedestrian flow, forcing many pedestrians and joggers into the street, and blocking bicycle lanes.
harming the Historic District. The Mills Project would be directly across the street from the specially-designated "Northeast Waterfront Historic District". The traffic, transportation, parking, and pollution problems would spread into the District.
exposing recreationists to sewage. The project calls for construction of a "Marine Sports Basin", featuring kayaking, rowing, and sailing, adjacent to a Combined Sewage Overflow Structure, where a mixture of raw sewage and stormwater are discharged into the Bay.

Since the demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway and the completion of the Waterfront Plan, the waterfront has finally begun to change for the better. The environmental and neighborhood coalition that worked together to pass 1990's Waterfront Protection measure and tear down the monstrous Embarcadero Freeway has helped this special part of San Francisco's shoreline begin its comeback. But if the Mills project is built as proposed, this stretch of waterfront may be lost for good.

WhatYouCanDo

The Mills Project is currently undergoing the first phase of Environmental Impact Report analysis, with a draft EIR expected by summer. To proceed, Mills will need further approvals from the Port Commission (for the EIR and ultimately the lease) as well as from the Board of Supervisors and numerous other regulatory agencies.

This means that there will be important opportunities for concerned folks to speak up, perhaps before the next Yodeler comes out, but we don't yet know when they will be scheduled. Therefore, join our alert list now, so that we can contact you when the time comes. Contact Cathleen Sullivan at (510)848-0800, ext. 316, or email cathleen -at- sfbaysc.org.

For more information, contact Citizens to Save the Waterfront at savesfwaterfront@aol.com

Jon Golinger, project director, Citizens to Save the Waterfront