Supervisors' committee advances $185 million parks bond with waterfront projects after extensive public comment

The Budget & Finance Committee on Tuesday advanced an ordinance to place a $185 million parks and recreation bond before San Francisco voters, forwarding the item as amended to the full Board of Supervisors. The package includes shorefront projects the Port has proposed — enumerated in the ordinance as Warm Water Cove Park, Islais Creek shoreline parks, Heron’s Head Park entrance, the Blue Greenway Trail and related design standards — and funding for other park and trail work across the city.

Rec and Park General Manager Yomi Ogunbayati and the City Attorney reviewed an amendment of the whole and line-by-line changes requested by staff and community groups. The changes clarified repeated language, replaced “grant” with “community opportunity fund” language, specified that projects “identified” by city planning may be categorically exempt under CEQA and added a website-transparency clause requiring monthly updates and an annual Recreation and Park Commission review of the department capital plan.

Supporters called the package necessary to complete the Bay Trail and to provide open space in rapidly densifying eastern neighborhoods. ‘‘A promenade at Fisherman’s Wharf would reconnect San Franciscans to the waterfront,’’ said Karen Bell, director of the Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District, urging supervisors to let voters decide. Corinne Woods, who works on the Blue Greenway effort, said the waterfront projects are “critically important” to the city and to completing trail connections.

Speakers representing neighborhood groups, recreation advocates and the Sierra Club commended staff for outreach and changes to the draft. ‘‘This plan will give us a major leg up on the Bay Trail,’’ Woods said. Business owners at the Wharf and representatives of community benefits districts said improvements would boost local commerce.

Opponents and tenant advocates raised equity and process concerns. Ernestine Weiss, long-time parks advocate, testified that the bond language as drafted could authorize landlords to pass through 50 percent of any resulting property tax increase to residential tenants and said ‘‘they are not going to vote for this under those circumstances.’’ Another speaker alleged a lack of public process and said some port projects had not been subject to adequate community review.

Rec and Park staff told the committee the list of projects is meant to be broad but subject to a multi-step process before dollars are spent: public input, ProSAC (Parks, Recreation and Open Space Advisory Committee) review, and final decisions by the Recreation and Park Commission. City staff also said that where projects are identified as categorically exempt, that determination came from city planning and was added to the ordinance text after review.

The committee did not vote the full bond measure that day; it adopted the amendments presented and forwarded Item 1 as amended to the full board for final consideration.

The full Board of Supervisors will consider the ordinance at a later meeting; the committee record shows continued debate over CEQA classifications, the distribution of projects across neighborhoods and whether the bond’s accountability provisions are sufficiently specific.