Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Stanyan Mixed Use topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Neighbors press Planning Commission over Whole Foods project: design, venting and loading concerns
Summary
Planning staff presented revised Stanyan/Haight mixed-use plans including cooling-tower options and garage ventilation. Neighbors from Haight-Ashbury objected to venting strategy and a proposed street loading zone, urging internal loading and design changes.
Jonas Iommi of the Planning Department presented refinements to the mixed-use project at Stanyan and Haight streets, describing changes to massing, materials and mechanical systems and noting two possible cooling-tower locations driven by structural and seismic concerns. Staff said underground garage ventilation fans would operate only when carbon-monoxide/CO2 thresholds are reached and that vents had been reoriented away from Page Street toward the project interior.
Neighbors and neighborhood organizations strongly objected. Calvin Welch of the Ashbury Neighborhood Council said the proposed fix—venting only when CO2 hits a threshold and directing air toward the new building—is “absurdly inadequate,” adding that venting should not direct fumes toward residents or new neighbors. “If it only goes on when it’s toxic, we should spend a little bit more time dealing with it rather than venting it into the new neighbors,” Welch said.
The Haight Ashbury Improvement Association’s Ted Lowenburg criticized the current design aesthetic and urged continued neighborhood input on materials and façade treatment. Several commissioners and staff debated whether a limited street loading zone on Stanyan—intended to reduce double-parking—would conflict with prior conditioning that barred truck queuing; some commissioners urged the department to coordinate operational hours with DPT and to require staged loading and dock personnel to limit curb impacts.
Staff and the project sponsor said big trucks would be allowed only during specific time windows (for semi-trailers early morning and late afternoon) and that small delivery vehicles could use the internal loading dock; staff committed to revisiting the loading-zone language and to delivering a memo clarifying final loading operations and hours.
The commission did not take a final vote on design but instructed staff to continue working with neighbors and the project team on ventilation, loading operations and architectural refinements.
