CASTRO PLANNER September, 2007

Upper Market Planning Effort Begins Sept. 11

The San Francisco Planning Department has informed CAPA that the Upper Market Street Planning Workshop, scheduled for this coming Tuesday, Sept.11 from 6:30 to 9:30 pm, will be held at the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy at 4235 19^th St. (at Collingwood), and not the LGBT Center, as was previously announced.

In the Workshop, made possible with funding secured by Supervisor Dufty, the community can address growth and change in the Upper Market Corridor between Castro and Octavia Streets, focusing on several sites where development is planned and many sites that will be rezoned under the Market Octavia Plan.  Participants will also be able to address development-related issues that are important to Castro and LGBT community, and community support, as expressed in the final plan, will be crucial to developers since most will involve a public approvals process through the Planning Commission. Thus the resulting plan can include goals addressing communities need for retail, space for community institutions, and types of housing, and will shape land use recommendations for retail uses and housing types; propose community improvements; and result in design and development proposals that will express the unique identity of the corridor and its surrounding neighborhoods

Workshop #1 will engage community members and workshop participants towards the development of a common vision for the corridor. Part of the workshop will involve a walking tour of the various sites along Market Street. Sarah Dennis, the Planning Department’s project leader, says that the workshop results and corresponding reports will be formalized into a Design Plan, which will convey the community’s vision and guide the use, character and design of pending development along the corridor.

The workshops will be open for all members of the public to participate, so mark your calendars and make plans to attend, and tell your friends and neighbors. This will be a great opportunity for the Castro community to envision how the Castro can benefit from potential changes over the next couple of years.

The Sept. 11 event will be the first of three planning workshops for Upper Market Street. Each one will have a different focus leading to a complete plan, so all are encouraged to attend all three workshops. CAPA will notify its members when future workshop events are announced.

If you would like more information, you can contact the Planning Department’s representatives for the project - Sarah Dennis at 415-558-6314/Sarah.dennis@sfgov.org , or Abigail Kiefer at 415-575-9065/Abigail.kiefer@sfgov.org. Also check the project website at: www.sfgov.org/site/planning_index.asp, and click on the “Citywide Planning Policy” link.

Planning Harvey Milk Plaza - CAPA Meeting/Mini Charrette for Harvey Milk Plaza and Castro Street

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007, 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Eureka Valley Rec. Center, Blue Room

100 Collingwood at 18^th Street

Following a well-attended SPUR Forum on the status of plans for Harvey Milk Plaza on August 9, CAPA will devote its September 13 meeting to creating a draft plan for Harvey Milk Plaza and Castro Street, using previous efforts such as the 2000 competition and 1997 CAPA charrette as the basis of the plan. CAPA members have consulted with the Planning Dept., Tom Radulovich of the pedestrian advocacy group Livable City, transportation planner Jeff Tumlin and plaza design competition winner Heidi Sokolowsky to explore options for funding and planning significant streetscape improvements for Castro Street, and open space and a memorial at Harvey Milk Plaza.

At the SPUR Forum, David Alumbaugh of the Planning Dept. spoke of several similar neighborhood streetscape and plaza projects, from Columbus Avenue to Mint Plaza to Leland Ave. in Visitacion Valley. Each of these projects represent major investments in better pedestrian environments, enhancing unique neighborhood qualities, a better business climate and, and upgrades to infrastructure and public amenities. But each has found funding from different kinds of sources, including public private partnerships, state funds and matching grants from the city.

Plaza designer Heidi Sokolowsky explained how her design combines functional improvements to transit, sidewalks and traffic patterns with a concept for an interactive memorial to Harvey Milk that engages the community. Joe Curtin of CAPA described the new atmosphere of unity among the various community groups in the Castro, and the renewed awareness of the importance of high-quality public space, especially in light of the potential for significant private investment along Market Street.

CAPA’s next step is to secure funding to create a comprehensive phased schematic plan that will guide future improvements and projects. These projects can be both near term projects such as widening sidewalks on Castro to long term projects like acquiring new space for a larger plaza. In order to effectively present the plan to potential funders, public agencies, community groups and officials, we will need a graphic representation of our ideas, which could include wider sidewalks, modifying traffic patterns, closing the tunnel portals at Collingwood and Market and creating an interactive memorial to Harvey Milk that will be a focal point of the Castro.

The September 13 CAPA meeting will be devoted to a mini charrette in which we will bring all these ideas and more together in both graphic and written formats, as a conceptual design for the improvements. This will be a great opportunity to share your ideas, and explore new ideas for the main street of our community. All CAPA members are invited to join in the planning, so we hope to see you there!