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Planning Department and Public Health map health, preservation work as Eastern Neighborhoods planning proceeds
Summary
Staff outlined schedule for revised Eastern Neighborhoods area plans and draft EIR public review; Department of Public Health presented its Healthy Development Measurement Tool and preliminary recommendations; preservation staff summarized ongoing historic resource surveys and interim Landmarks Board review procedures.
Planning Department staff presented an informational update on the Eastern Neighborhoods program and the schedule toward revised area plans and a certified environmental impact report. Project manager Ken Rich said staff expects a public hearing on the draft EIR in August, a revised plan packet in late September and potential Commission action in December. He asked the commission to expect a September briefing on zoning, built‑form and height controls and said the department will continue outreach including neighborhood meetings in September.
Lily Farhang and Rajeev Bhatia of the Department of Public Health described the Healthy Development Measurement Tool (HDMT), a voluntary set of roughly 30 objectives and about 100 indicators that assess health‑related neighborhood conditions (park proximity, grocery access, pedestrian injuries, housing overcrowding). They said the tool is designed to screen baseline conditions, evaluate draft plans against measurable development targets, and produce recommendations to improve health outcomes. DPH has piloted the tool on the Executive Park subarea and is applying it to the Eastern Neighborhoods zoning proposals; preliminary recommendations requested greater specificity on housing (bedroom mix), park programming, childcare, energy‑efficient materials and safe routes to schools. DPH staff said the HDMT is voluntary and intended to reveal trade‑offs and guide cross‑agency implementation steps.
Planning’s historic preservation team outlined contracts and scope for area historic surveys. The department has selected consultants (Page & Turnbull and others) and expects initial survey products — including a completed Central Waterfront update — in the coming weeks, with broader survey results in early 2008. Staff described interim procedures to provide extra Landmarks Board review (e.g., buildings 45 years or older, facade changes or tall new construction near potentially eligible historic resources) while surveys are completed; the Landmarks Board reviewed and endorsed the interim approach with workload concerns noted.
Commissioners asked DPH about applying the HDMT to other areas (Bayview/Hunters Point) and staff said resources and timing constrain immediate expansion but that the approach could be adapted and shared. Commissioners generally praised the HDMT as a tool to make health trade‑offs explicit and requested that planning and public health continue to translate recommendations into concrete plan policies and implementation steps.
The department will incorporate DPH recommendations into revised area plan text and community benefits proposals and bring those back to the Commission in the coming months.
