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Neighbors press city on trees and valve‑building placement as reservoir replacement advances
Summary
City engineers and landscape consultants presented a plan to replace a 10‑million‑gallon reservoir with two buried 5‑million‑gallon tanks and a new valve/pump building; nearby residents urged changes to tree removals and the valve building location and the board asked for additional visuals and darker materials before returning.
City staff and consultants on May 26 presented a concept design to replace the aging Victrace Reservoir at 740 Dolores Drive with two buried five‑million‑gallon reservoirs, a new valve and pump station building, and associated on‑ and off‑site pipeline work.
Paty Price, the case planner, told the Architectural Board of Review the project will modernize aging infrastructure and improve system resilience; acting supervising engineer Kelly Bourke said the reservoir serves about 60,000 people and stressed operational and hydraulic constraints (gravity feed, critical communications facilities onsite and wildfire fuel‑mod zones) that shape the design.
Design details include buried storage tanks with access hatches, a compact valve/pump building at grade, perimeter maintenance and fire access roads, and a landscape plan that replaces up to 55 of roughly 110 onsite trees with a condition to replant 75 trees. The Parks and Recreation Commission and Street Tree Advisory Committee previously reviewed tree removals and recommended replacements; the applicant subsequently revised the planting palette to meet low‑water standards.
Nearby residents spoke during public comment, urging smaller replacement trees or relocation and objecting to the proposed valve building location and its visual effect. One neighbor asked that the single mature Canary palm be preserved; another asked that story poles not be waived without clear visual documentation. Kelly Bourke said the team would study tree relocation, preserve or relocate the palm where feasible, and provide additional renderings showing views from affected properties.
Board members asked for clearer site sections and a neighbor‑focused visual study showing the valve building from proximate yards and windows, and they requested darker wall and roof colors and softened retaining‑wall geometry. On the story pole waiver, staff recommended an administrative finding (finding 3C) that the valve building would not affect a public scenic view; the board agreed to continue the item and requested the applicant return with those additional visual exhibits, expanded planting detail and material samples.
The applicant and board agreed to revisit the valve building materials, retaining‑wall treatments and tree mitigation after producing the requested sections and renderings.
