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Board affirms community plan exemption for 340 Bryant; sponsor commits to signalized crosswalk
Summary
The Board of Supervisors affirmed the Planning Department’s community plan exemption for a conversion project at 340 Bryant Street while the project sponsor agreed to fund a signalized crosswalk and other street-safety measures after neighbor concerns about pedestrian safety.
The Board of Supervisors affirmed the Planning Department’s community plan exemption (CPE) for a proposed conversion at 340 Bryant Street, and the project sponsor voluntarily agreed to fund a signalized mid-block crosswalk and related safety improvements after neighborhood concerns about pedestrian access near bridge ramps.
Appellant counsel Thu Hester, representing San Francisco Reasonable Growth, asked the board to send the matter back for further analysis, saying the site is adjacent to freeway on- and off-ramps and “a dangerous site” for pedestrians. Hester and neighbors raised concerns that the project’s pedestrian access points would direct people toward the Sterling Street/Bay Bridge ramp area and that Planning’s figures and early analyses did not fully capture the site complexity.
Kansai Uchida and Sarah Jones of the Planning Department said the site and its conditions had been studied in the Eastern Neighborhoods EIR and that the CPE was appropriate because the project’s impacts are covered by that EIR. Uchida noted the EIR explicitly describes higher vehicle speeds and freeway-connection intersections that are inhospitable to pedestrians in East SoMa and concluded the project does not create new significant impacts beyond those analyzed in the EIR.
John Kevlin, counsel for the project sponsor, said the sponsor has engaged a transportation consultant (AECOM) and voluntarily negotiated a private agreement with neighbors and Supervisor Kim’s office to install a signalized crosswalk, barriers to discourage crossing at the Sterling on-ramp, and other signage. Kevlin said the sponsor will work with SFMTA, Public Works and Caltrans on design and permitting for the improvements and urged the board not to remand the project for more environmental review because doing so would delay safety improvements.
Supervisor Kim moved to affirm the Planning Department’s CPE (item 23) and to table related items; the motion passed in roll call. Kim said she would work with the sponsor, SFMTA and Public Works to expedite design and installation of the signalized crosswalk.
The sponsor’s crosswalk commitment was cited repeatedly by neighbors and supervisors as the primary near-term mitigation for pedestrian-safety concerns; the board’s action affirmed the department’s environmental finding while leaving implementation of the pedestrian measures to the sponsor and the city’s transportation and public-works agencies.
