Board affirms certification of 55 Laguna EIR after appellants press preservation alternatives

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on March 4 heard appeals challenging the adequacy of the final environmental impact report (EIR) for the proposed 55 Laguna Street mixed‑use project in Hayes Valley and ultimately affirmed the planning commission’s certification of the EIR.

What the hearing covered: Appellants alleged the EIR and the planning commission’s findings under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) failed to adequately analyze feasible preservation alternatives that would avoid demolition of two contributing historic buildings on the former UC Berkeley Extension campus. Appellants urged the board to order recirculation of the EIR or to require the project sponsor to study a modified preservation alternative that they said would permit the developer’s housing goals while retaining key historic structures.

Appellants’ case: Tamara Colby, representing Save the Laguna Street Campus, said demolition of Middle Hall (the campus gymnasium) and the Richardson Hall Annex would “materially impair and likely cause the delisting” of the property from the National Register of Historic Places. The appellants argued that an alternative that retained Richardson Hall Annex and a portion of…