Supervisors Hear Plan to Close $250M–$390M Eastern Neighborhoods Infrastructure Gap

Chair Malia Cohen convened a hearing to review how the city will fund and implement hundreds of millions in infrastructure improvements identified by the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan. Planning staff told the committee the plan originally estimated $250 million to $390 million in needs over build‑out but that development impact fees alone are now projected to generate about $116 million, leaving a large funding shortfall.

Planning Department staff said impact fees were designed to cover about 30 percent of the identified improvements and to be used to leverage state and federal grants and private in‑kind contributions. Adam Barrett of the Planning Department described the fee formula and the three categories the fees are programmed for — open space, transportation and community facilities — and named priority projects including Seventeenth & Folsom Park, Showplace Square open space and major transportation corridors such as 16th Street and Folsom Street.

Keith Goldstein of the Eastern Neighborhoods Citizen Advisory Committee said the CAC supports development that includes neighborhood improvements but warned that planning’s current revenue projection of roughly $116 million is “far, far short” of the needs assessment and asked the city to consider financing tools such as tax increment/TIFs, community development districts and broader use of property tax growth to fund local infrastructure.

Representatives of the mayor’s Transportation Task Force and the Municipal Transportation Agency outlined parallel efforts to identify transportation capital needs, pursue state and federal grants and propose new local revenue. Monique of the Transportation Task Force summarized a needs assessment that identified roughly $10 billion in city transportation needs, with about $3.7 billion currently resourced and $6.3 billion unfunded; the task force has recommended pursuing a mix of measures, including general obligation bonds, restoring the vehicle license fee to its 2% cap and a possible 0.05 percentage‑point sales tax dedicated to transportation.

MTA staff described projects and pilots intended to improve transit capacity and safety in the Eastern neighborhoods — corridor work on 16th Street and Folsom/Howard, signal upgrades and headway improvements on several lines — and said the agency uses development impact fees to make projects competitive for grants such as OBAG and other federal programs.

City budget staff cautioned about some financing tools. Leo Chi of the Mayor’s Budget Office said the Rincon Hill Infrastructure Finance District (IFD) exists but has not yet been used to sell bonds; he described IFDs as administratively complex and advised evaluating which debt instrument yields the best terms and timing. Planning staff and the capital planning office emphasized that impact fee revenue is lumpy and that multiple sources — grants, bond measures, general fund investment and development agreements — will be needed to close the gap.

Departmental presentations from Recreation and Parks and Public Works outlined how impact‑fee and grant dollars have already been applied to park acquisitions, streetscape projects and repaving work and listed near‑term projects that are at design or construction stages.

Public commenters from Potrero Hill and other neighborhood groups urged the city to deliver promised parks and transit benefits before additional entitlements proceed; the Eastern Neighborhood CAC reiterated calls to direct a greater share of new revenue into neighborhood infrastructure.

The committee took the presentations and public testimony and continued Item 1 to the call of the chair for further follow‑up and analysis, including requests by supervisors for updated pipeline and property‑tax revenue projections and a clearer short‑term funding plan.