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Vote Yes on Prop D

Vote Yes on Proposition D on November 4th, 2008—Save Pier 70

Revitalizing Pier 70 is an important component of the Blue Greenway. The passage of Proposition D on San Francisco嚙編 November ballot is very important to ensure that the Pier 70 Master Plan becomes a reality. The Master Plan (see http://www.sfport.com/site/port_page.asp?id=34925) is currently being developed, and the tools that the Pier 70 Charter Amendment will give the Port will streamline the discretionary approval process and provide an optional financing tool to pay for improvements including waterfront parks, remediation of environmental conditions and rehabilitation of the historic buildings.

Pier 70 is a 65-acre Brownfields site on San Francisco嚙編 Central Waterfront. For over 150 years, portions of this site have been used for ship building and repair, or other supporting heavy industrial uses. Now, Pier 70 is poised to become one of the City嚙編 most unique new neighborhoods, preserving the history that helped make San Francisco a world-class waterfront city.

Cleaning up over a century of industrial pollution and revitalizing Pier 70 will provide up to 20 acres of new waterfront open space and a major new segment of the San Francisco Bay Trail for both residents and visitors to enjoy. It will also create as many as 8,000 new jobs and 3 million square feet of mixed-use development, while also preserving dozens of historic structures that help celebrate San Francisco嚙編 maritime past.

To read the complete text of Proposition D, click here.

Frequently Asked Questions About Prop. D

1.	What is Proposition D? A charter amendment on the November, 2008 ballot, that would modify existing city code to provide the Board of Supervisors, Mayor and Port Commission the necessary tools to finance and streamline the approval process for the historic preservation and new development at Pier 70. The measure has no formal opposition, and is endorsed by a variety of organizations and clubs throughout San Francisco.

2.	Why is this charter amendment necessary? Today, in order to develop at Pier 70, 12 discretionary approvals are required from eight different agencies. Because of the extensive amount of time involved, there is a high entitlement risk for potential developers that could discourage quality projects from even entering into the process at all. Reducing the number of discretionary approvals needed will help entice high quality preservation, open space and new development to Pier 70.

3.	How does the optional financing tool work? The proposed charter amendment requires the Port to show, and the Board of Supervisors to find, that Pier 70 lease revenues and property tax growth are not sufficient to pay for waterfront improvements at Pier 70 before seeking new financing from the Board of Supervisors. Then, the Board of Supervisors could provide funding to the Port for parks, historic preservation and other improvements not to exceed 75% of the payroll and/or hotel taxes that the City Controller projects will be generated from the Pier 70 development, for a period not to exceed 20 years.

4.	Even if this proposition does not pass, won’t the Port still be able to develop the property? Yes, but approving Proposition D is critical to ensuring some certainty to the entitlement process, and providing the level of publicly-oriented improvements to the site (like parks) that the public expects. The nationally significant historic resources on the site are in such a massive state of disrepair that is the City and Port do not act quickly to attract a development partner, it is likely that these structures will be lost. Like many major North American cities, including Chicago, New York, Vancouver, and Philadelphia, San Francisco will be able to seamlessly connect Pier 70 with the adjacent neighborhood and community.

Neighborhood Parks Council wishes to thank the San Francisco Foundation, the
Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund and the Hellman Family Foundation for their
generous support of the Blue Greenway.
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