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Planning commission extends public comment period on 3333 California draft EIR amid preservation and traffic concerns
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Summary
The Planning Commission heard the draft EIR for the 3333 California Street mixed‑use project on Dec. 13, 2018, where staff identified significant, unavoidable impacts to historic resources and transit capacity. Neighbors and preservation groups urged longer review and advanced a full‑preservation neighborhood alternative; commissioners voted 5–1 to extend the DEIR comment period 15 days to Jan. 8, 2019.
Planning Department environmental staff presented the draft environmental impact report for the 3333 California Street mixed‑use project to the Planning Commission during a public hearing on Dec. 13, 2018. The proposal would repurpose the former University of California Laurel Heights campus on a roughly 10.3‑acre site, and the draft EIR analyzed a base project (about 558 housing units, office, retail and child care) and a higher‑density variant (about 744 units).
Kei Zushi, environmental review coordinator, told commissioners that the draft EIR found significant and unavoidable impacts — even with mitigation — for historic architectural resources and transit capacity on the 43‑Masonic route, and for construction noise. Zushi said the EIR examined alternatives including full preservation, partial preservation and a no‑project option. “The draft EIR finds that the project or project variant, even with mitigation, will result in significant and unavoidable impact,” he said.
Project sponsor Dan Saffir (Prado Group) and Lee Lutenski of the Mayor’s Office of Economic & Workforce Development emphasized housing goals, project design elements such as north–south pedestrian connectors and more than five acres of usable open space, and commitments being negotiated for community benefits and adaptive reuse of portions of the existing buildings.
Public commenters ranged from preservation advocates who urged full preservation of the historic Fireman's Fund buildings and their landscaping to neighborhood residents concerned about traffic, lengthy construction timelines and the timing of the DEIR comment deadline over the holidays. Speakers proposed a “community full preservation” alternative that they said could deliver the same number of units more quickly and with far less impact to heritage landscaping.
Multiple neighborhood speakers asked for an extension to the comment period — the DEIR had been published on Nov. 7 with a close date of Dec. 24, 2018 — to allow review through the holidays and to give the community time to prepare a competing alternative. Roger Miles and other longtime neighbors urged the commission to consider the preservation alternatives; others said they could not meaningfully review a complex EIR over the holiday period.
In deliberations, several commissioners noted the EIR is a tool to test alternatives and impacts — and that the preservation and neighborhood alternatives should be carefully analyzed in the final document. On a motion from Commissioner Melgar, the commission voted to extend the public comment period by 15 days, setting a new deadline of January 8, 2019 at 5 p.m.; the motion passed 5–1 with Commissioner Coppell dissenting.
The extension gives staff and the public extra time to submit written comments and to provide supporting materials for alternatives, including the community‑developed preservation option. Staff said all comments received by the extended deadline will be accepted and responded to in the responses‑to‑comments document to be prepared for the final EIR.
