Board affirms Marina renovation EIR certification, tables disapproval; supervisor seeks dry‑boat storage study

Supervisor Alioto Pier urged the Board of Supervisors on March 20 to affirm certification of the planning commission’s final environmental impact report for the San Francisco Marina Yacht Harbor renovation project and introduced a separate resolution asking Recreation and Park to study small‑boat dry‑storage options at the harbor.

The certification motion — coupled in the same action with a request to table a separate disapproval motion — went to roll call. An earlier tally recorded eight ayes and three noes. After procedural corrections and a second roll call, the board approved the motion to affirm certification of the final EIR and to table related disapproval items (item numbers referenced on the meeting agenda), and later discussion focused on design and implementation details that will be considered during subsequent design review or hearings.

Why it matters: The final EIR certification clears the planning process to move into project design and permits, while the small‑boat storage study responds to concerns about access, affordability and launch opportunities for smaller craft — issues raised in the appeal that prompted the hearing.

Supervisor Alioto Pier said she had worked with “Mr. Strassner from the Sierra Club” and other stakeholders and that the appellant’s primary concern was dry storage rather than wet slips. She said, “I urge you to confer to affirm the certification of the San Francisco Marina renovation final environmental impact report.” The supervisor said she had met with the appellant, “Mr. Howard representing the Sierra Club,” and with harbor staff including harbormaster Brad Gross and Mary Hobson of Recreation and Park to seek a compromise.

Alioto Pier’s introduced resolution directs Recreation and Park to prepare a feasibility study for a small‑boat project at Marina Yacht Harbor that would provide dry storage, launching opportunities and other small‑boat amenities. The resolution also calls for further review of the Bay Trail near the marina; the supervisor said her office convened stakeholders including representatives from the Association of Bay Area Governments (Yomi Agumbayati, Laura Thompson, Maureen Gaffney) and groups including San Francisco Beautiful and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to discuss trail safety, aesthetics and implementation timelines.

Planning and project opponents had raised the small‑boat storage and Bay Trail issues during an earlier appeal hearing and in public comment. Board members and staff repeatedly distinguished the EIR certification — a determination about whether the environmental review was adequate — from later design approvals, which will address specific layouts, slip counts, and storage locations.

The board’s action affirms the EIR certification and leaves detailed design questions and implementation of small‑boat facilities to subsequent reviews and the feasibility study the resolution requests.