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Planning staff previews Transit Center District plan updates, calls for upzoning, streetscape and transit investments
Summary
Staff summarized the Transit Center District draft plan (November 2009), proposing concentration of office and public realm investments around the Transbay Transit Center, up to ~9 million sq ft of additional development (roughly two‑thirds office), sidewalk widening, reduced nonresidential parking, new impact fees and potential Mello‑Roos funding; draft EIR planned for September with hearings in October.
Planning department staff provided an extensive briefing of the Transit Center District Plan and its rationale, with proposed land‑use, urban design, transportation and financing measures intended to capitalize on the Transbay Transit Center investment.
Staff said the plan focuses growth in the southern financial district around the transit center and proposes selective height and density increases on a small number of opportunity sites (illustrative height cone with a Transit Tower at Mission and First Streets), a removal of the existing FAR cap in favor of height/bulk controls, and a strategy to concentrate about 9,000,000 square feet of additional development over a long build‑out horizon (two‑thirds office, leaving room for roughly 1,300 housing units and significant hotel and retail uses). The plan recommends widening key sidewalks to an average of 18–21 feet, adding mid‑block crosswalks, expanding pedestrian connections and prioritizing transit and bicycle circulation. It also proposes cutting nonresidential parking allowances in half in the core and studying an absolute downtown parking cap, and supports congestion pricing as a potential long‑term tool.
On sustainability, staff laid out opportunities for district energy (combined heat and power), recycled water for toilet flushing and irrigation, and other measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For financing, staff described nexus studies underway to support new impact fees and noted that Mello‑Roos and other special tax mechanisms could raise substantial dollars (net present revenues in the low hundreds of millions) to help fund public improvements and the transit center; staff estimated more than $500 million for streets, open space and transportation improvements (excluding the multibillion‑dollar transit center project) and said impact fees might realistically raise more than $100 million toward those needs.
Commissioners asked detailed questions about development phasing, fiscal risk given state redevelopment changes, shadow impacts on the transit center rooftop park, pedestrian sunlight and open‑space quality, FAR and bulk controls, interim uses for vacant sites, and transit/ Muni capacity. Staff said the draft EIR is expected in September with a public hearing in October and adoption hearings targeted for the following February; staff recommended follow‑up hearings on shadow analysis/urban design and on transportation/phasing and nexus study results.
The briefing framed the plan as a 25–30 year strategy that the department says is intended to guide long‑term investment and capture value to fund public improvements while aiming to make the district a ‘world‑class transit‑oriented district.’
