Calvin Welch on the Whole Foods proposal
I haven't seen a public statement by Supervisor Mirkarimi on the proposal, but he probably doesn't want any publicity if/when he takes a stand against it, since it will look like he's supporting the crassest kind of nimbyism by HANC to stop a much-needed market with a good track record from locating in the Haight.
[In today's Chronicle: Mirkarimi supports the Whole Foods project]
Calvin Welch's objections to the "horrid design" are puzzling, since the Lucky Market at Masonic and Fulton has the same design, with condos on top, the market on the ground floor, and parking for both condo residents and shoppers underneath the market. It looks a little clunky, but otherwise what's the problem? The community gets both a market and housing, with off-street parking for the project underneath.
Welch fudges the argument when he describes the project as a "massive seven floor[project] (including the three floors of underground parking," implying that the project is seven stories high, though of course there are three stories of parking underground, and the project is only four stories high above ground.
It's not clear what, if anything, is holding the project up, since it's one that people in the Haight should welcome, regardless of the crude hit-piece mailer on Welch that someone---apparently the property owner---sent out this week (see the Bay Guardian's blog for a discussion of the hit-piece: "Desperate developer lashes out").
Update on Cala Site
By Calvin Welch, HANC Board
April 30, 2008
It has been about two months since the public hearing on the Environmental Impact Report on the proposed condo and Whole Foods development proposal at 690 Stanyan, the site of the old CALA store at Stanyan and Haight Streets. The massive seven floor (including the three floors of underground parking for 176 cars), 205,000 s/f development will be nine times the total size of the previous CALA with nearly four times the off-street parking space of the existing use.
The overwhelming size of the proposed development, its covering of nearly the entire surface site of two lots, its continuation of the Frankenstein design used by the owner at his Haight and Cole Streets property, and the estimated 2,000 car trips a day it will generate, was the subject of a full EIR and also the subject of HANC’s and neighbors testimony about the failure of the EIR to adequately and completely discuss the projects impacts, especially its horrid design and its traffic and parking impacts on public transit, Golden Gate Park and the immediate neighbors, seven of whom provided testimony, along with HANC, opposing these impacts and asking the developer (and the Planning Commission) to change the design and reduce the size of the project.
The approval process for the project requires the approval of a “final” EIR, then the approval of the project and then the approval of a demolition permit for the existing CALA building. For the “draft” EIR that was heard on February 28th to be made “final” all of the comments submitted at the hearing and/or in writing must be answered by the project sponsor.
According to the Planning Department, they have yet to receive these “responses” to the public “comments”. They cannot process the EIR until the developer “responses” have been received. In addition, Ms. Jones of the Planning Department has said that “additional analysis necessary to respond to some of the comments” has also been requested by the department and the developer’s consultants have yet to provide this analysis. The progress on the EIR is thus somewhat stalled, with no time certain as to when the developer will provide the required information.
The question of the project’s design also seems to be in flux with two Planning Commissioners and a senior Planner telling the Voice that the design has been the subject of continued discussion between the department and the developer and that changes can be expected.
It has been about two months since the public hearing on the Environmental Impact Report on the proposed condo and Whole Foods development proposal at 690 Stanyan, the site of the old CALA store at Stanyan and Haight Streets. The massive seven floor (including the three floors of underground parking for 176 cars), 205,000 s/f development will be nine times the total size of the previous CALA with nearly four times the off-street parking space of the existing use.
The overwhelming size of the proposed development, its covering of nearly the entire surface site of two lots, its continuation of the Frankenstein design used by the owner at his Haight and Cole Streets property, and the estimated 2,000 car trips a day it will generate, was the subject of a full EIR and also the subject of HANC’s and neighbors testimony about the failure of the EIR to adequately and completely discuss the projects impacts, especially its horrid design and its traffic and parking impacts on public transit, Golden Gate Park and the immediate neighbors, seven of whom provided testimony, along with HANC, opposing these impacts and asking the developer (and the Planning Commission) to change the design and reduce the size of the project.
The approval process for the project requires the approval of a “final” EIR, then the approval of the project and then the approval of a demolition permit for the existing CALA building. For the “draft” EIR that was heard on February 28th to be made “final” all of the comments submitted at the hearing and/or in writing must be answered by the project sponsor.
According to the Planning Department, they have yet to receive these “responses” to the public “comments”. They cannot process the EIR until the developer “responses” have been received. In addition, Ms. Jones of the Planning Department has said that “additional analysis necessary to respond to some of the comments” has also been requested by the department and the developer’s consultants have yet to provide this analysis. The progress on the EIR is thus somewhat stalled, with no time certain as to when the developer will provide the required information.
The question of the project’s design also seems to be in flux with two Planning Commissioners and a senior Planner telling the Voice that the design has been the subject of continued discussion between the department and the developer and that changes can be expected.
From the Planning Commission's Feb. 28, 2008 agenda:
2006.0460E (S. JONES: (415) 575-9034)
690 STANYAN STREET - Public Hearing on Draft Environmental Impact Report. The 34,400 square foot (sq.ft.) project site is located in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury neighborhood on the northeast corner of the intersection of Stanyan and Haight Streets (Assessor's Block 1228, Lots 005 and 006). The project site is within the Haight Street Neighborhood Commercial District (Haight NCD) and the 40-X and 50-X height and bulk districts, which divide the site on the east and west, respectively. The proposed project would remove the existing development (a vacant Cala Foods store and surface parking) and construct a four-story retail/residential building with a ground-floor specialty supermarket (Whole Foods), 62 residential units on the upper three floors, and a three-level, 176-space subterranean garage with 114 parking spaces for supermarket use, 62 parking spaces for residential use, and 47 bicycle parking spaces. The residential unit mix is proposed to include 26 studio units, 20 one-bedroom units, 15 two-bedroom units, and one three-bedroom unit. The new building would contain approximately 115,400 sq.ft., of which 34,400 sq.ft. would be commercial and 81,000 sq.ft. would be residential. The three-level subterranean parking garage would occupy an additional 90,000 sq.ft., for a total building area of 205,400 sq.ft. The Draft EIR was released January 19, 2008.
690 STANYAN STREET - Public Hearing on Draft Environmental Impact Report. The 34,400 square foot (sq.ft.) project site is located in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury neighborhood on the northeast corner of the intersection of Stanyan and Haight Streets (Assessor's Block 1228, Lots 005 and 006). The project site is within the Haight Street Neighborhood Commercial District (Haight NCD) and the 40-X and 50-X height and bulk districts, which divide the site on the east and west, respectively. The proposed project would remove the existing development (a vacant Cala Foods store and surface parking) and construct a four-story retail/residential building with a ground-floor specialty supermarket (Whole Foods), 62 residential units on the upper three floors, and a three-level, 176-space subterranean garage with 114 parking spaces for supermarket use, 62 parking spaces for residential use, and 47 bicycle parking spaces. The residential unit mix is proposed to include 26 studio units, 20 one-bedroom units, 15 two-bedroom units, and one three-bedroom unit. The new building would contain approximately 115,400 sq.ft., of which 34,400 sq.ft. would be commercial and 81,000 sq.ft. would be residential. The three-level subterranean parking garage would occupy an additional 90,000 sq.ft., for a total building area of 205,400 sq.ft. The Draft EIR was released January 19, 2008.
Labels: Calvin Welch, CEQA, District 5, Neighborhoods, Parking, Planning Dept., Ross Mirkarimi, Whole Foods
posted by Rob Anderson @ 2:01 PM
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