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Planning Department details Transit Center District Plan's taller skyline, funding package and public-realm proposals
Summary
The Planning Department presented the Transit Center District Plan addendum outlining selective height increases including a 1,000-foot Transit Tower site, a revised TDR approach, new impact fees and a Mello-Roos funding component to finance streets, open spaces and the downtown rail extension; public comment emphasized street-level design, tower ground-plane commitments, shadows and funding certainty.
Planning Department staff provided an extensive informational presentation on the Transit Center District Plan and its addendum on April 19, 2012, summarizing urban form, land use, public-realm proposals, TDR adjustments and a multi-part funding strategy to finance streets, sidewalks, transit improvements and open space around the new Transbay Transit Center.
Staff described a surgical approach to zoning and heights in the plan area, proposing a new 1,000-foot height limit at the Transit Tower site and additional nearby sites with heights of 700—600+ feet to create a skyline "crown" centered on the transit center. The plan proposes reclassification to a consolidated C-3 OSD zoning and removal of the current 18:1 maximum FAR limit in favor of height-and-bulk controls.
On financing, the plan updates projected revenues from tiered impact fees and a Community Facilities District (Mello-Roos) that could raise several hundred million dollars, and allocates funds through a plan implementation document for streets, sidewalks, open spaces and a portion of downtown rail extension funding. Staff described a proposed reduction in the TDR obligation (to require TDR up to 9:1 only) while pursuing other ways to expand TDR supply.
Public comment was extensive and diverse: commenters praised the transit focus and potential to fund the downtown rail extension but objected to changes to the tower design and the potential loss of previously proposed public features. Several speakers and commissioners pressed for stronger commitments at the street level, better access to the rooftop park and careful review of shadow impacts.
The Commission scheduled initiation of plan-related general plan, planning code and zoning-map amendments for May 3 and signaled it will review the detailed code package and EIR findings at subsequent hearings.
