Supervisors approve InterContinental—s in-lieu fee and accept $300,000 gift for Victoria Manalo Draves Park

Supervisor Jane Kim told the Land Use & Transportation Committee on March 20 that after three years of negotiation the InterContinental Hotel and city staff had agreed on an in-lieu payment to address an on-site privately owned public open space (POPOS) that the hotel had been using for private events rather than as a publicly accessible space.

The committee approved language that authorizes an in-lieu fee of $2,600,000 (revised from a prior staff figure of $2,500,000) to cover capital improvements, and an additional $100,000 was added to cover estimated maintenance for lighting over an anticipated 35-year period. Separately, the InterContinental has agreed to provide a $300,000 gift to the San Francisco Parks Alliance to fund activation and programming in Victoria Manalo Draves Park and other underutilized parks in District 6. The Parks Alliance will serve as the fiscal sponsor to distribute the funds, Supervisor Kim said.

Kim reviewed the enforcement history that prompted the settlement. Planning staff and the project sponsor acknowledged the rooftop POPOS had been used for private functions; the sponsor reported 630 days of inappropriate private use between 2008 and February 2, 2016. Staff and the sponsor discussed alternative penalty calculations and negotiated the gift and the in-lieu payment as a remedy and a community benefit, Kim said.

Office of Economic and Workforce Development project manager Anne Topier explained the technical basis for the fee: the code requires 8,600 square feet of on-site open space for the hotel; earlier administrative materials had referenced smaller figures and prior one-time buyouts to Mint Plaza. Topier said staff surveyed nearby plaza hard- and soft-costs (ranges cited from $61 to $432 per square foot) and used comparable measures and local cost data to arrive at a negotiated per-square-foot improvement figure.

Members of the public and neighborhood groups urged approval. Jane Weil (Friends of the Park group) and Heather Phillips described District 6—s tight supply of parks and said lighting and programming at Victoria Manalo Draves Park would expand usable hours and improve safety. Jackie Chavez (San Francisco Unified School District) and other speakers described how better-lit, activated parks support safe routes to school and youth activities.

Planning—s zoning administrator described the department—s enforcement practice: staff investigated POPOS citywide, improved signage requirements, has increased enforcement staffing in recent years, and pursues notices of violation when appropriate; the administrator said the enforcement case for the InterContinental dates back to 2008 and that the recent remedies will also legalize certain tenting structures and abate outstanding violations through the approved process.

The committee first moved the item forward with a positive recommendation and later rescinded that vote to consider an amendment adding the maintenance and gift language. The committee approved the item as amended without objection.