Commissions set and raise park shadow limits for Maritime Plaza and Sue Bierman Park

The Recreation & Park Commission and Planning Commission on July 29 reviewed a technical shadow analysis for the proposed 530 Sansom Street project and adopted actions to accommodate the development's new shadow on two nearby public parks.

Chris Towns, a planner with the Recreation and Park Department, summarized the analysis and the 1989 memo that established absolute cumulative limits (ACLs). He told commissioners Maritime Plaza currently has about 67.88% existing shadow and the project would add about 0.71% TAAS under the commercial variant (about 0.69% for the residential variant), concentrating new shadow on Maritime Plaza West in late-afternoon hours. For Sue Bierman Park the calculated increase is about 0.0001% and would only affect a narrow western strip, Towns said.

Recreation & Park commissioners voted in favor of adopting and recording separate budgets to raise Maritime Plaza's ACL and to set an ACL for Sue Bierman Park. Planning Commissioners then considered the shadow findings and voted 4-2 to adopt shadow findings and to raise/set the ACLs (Tanner, Diamond, Fung and President Koppel in favor; Imperial and Moore opposed). Commissioner comments cited trade-offs between preserving sunlight for park users and enabling a new, modern fire station and public-realm improvements proposed by the project sponsor.

Commissioners who opposed the ACL change said even a small percentage increase could further shade an already heavily shadowed Maritime Plaza and urged extra scrutiny about access and long-term vibrancy. Supporters pointed to project promises such as shared-street improvements on Merchant Street, potential maintenance contributions to Maritime Plaza, and the public benefit of a new fire station.

Next steps: The adopted shadow findings become part of the project's entitlement record and will be included in the motions and conditions as the planning commission proceeds to other approvals.