Supervisors OK Plan to Build Underground Garage in Park

By Carol Dimmick

In November, the S.F. Board of Supervisors put its seal of approval on a controversial plan to build a $50 million, 800-space parking garage underneath the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park.

By an 8 to 2 vote (with Supervisors Chris Daly and Matt Gonzalez objecting), the board approved a ground lease, adopted an ordinance to set parking rates and an environmental report on the project and agreed that the project complied with the city's General Plan and the Golden Gate Park Master Plan.

With the board's approval, construction is expected to begin in the near future. The garage, which has been the subject of contention since voters approved the project in 1998 when they passed Proposition J, was envisioned as a way to provide parking for visitors to the new M.H. de Young Memorial Museum and the California Academy of Sciences.

The measures adopted by the supervisors were the final steps in a two-year public approval process often marred by controversy. Over the past two years opponents and supporters of the garage engaged in a bitter debate over the design of the garage, a transportation plan, the environmental impact report and, finally, over the ground lease for the project.

The most recent battle was fought over the lease arrangement between the City and the Music Concourse Community Partnership (MCCP), a nonprofit philanthropic organization empowered to raise private funds to build the garage.

At the heart of the lease agreement is a bond proposal put forward several months ago as a way to finance the project by MCCP after Warren Hellman, an influential philanthropist and the driving force behind the project, was unable to raise the entire $50 million in private donations needed to build the garage.

To make the bonds an attractive investment, MCCP intends to use the $36 million in private donations raised for the project as collateral for the bond debt.

Opponents argued unsuccessfully against the idea, contending that using bond money to build the garage violates the terms of Prop. J, which mandates that the garage be built with private funds.

The vote was a bitter pill to swallow for opponents of the project, many of whom repeatedly criticized the design of the garage in public meetings.

While both sides frequently struggled to find common ground, opponents and supporters of the project agree that the public's dissatisfaction with the design was a catalyst for change.

One major point of contention revolved around the preservation of three 100-year-old pedestrian tunnels that lead to the Music Concourse. Opponents argued before various commissions that sacrificing the tunnels for a parking garage was not in the long-term interest of the public.

Because of strong public opinion, a popular proposal originally put forth by the Sierra Club influenced the City's decision to preserve two of the tunnels.

Pedestrian Oasis Remains A Contentious Issue

Along with approving the building of an underground parking facility in 1998, voters also approved a package of improvements to the Music Concourse, some of which were shelved when fundraising efforts fell short of the mark.

One of those improvements - turning the concourse bowl into a "pedestrian oasis" - continues to be a contentious issue.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who introduced the legislation to approve the lease and financial arrangements for the garage, also made it clear at the time that he wanted consensus on a plan for a pedestrian oasis.

Peskin convened a committee of stakeholders to study the issue and it came up with four proposals, three of which would ban cars from the concourse bowl - two outright and one allowing cars only during weekday commute hours.

A public meeting held Sept. 11 at the Hall of Flowers to discuss the proposals produced more disagreement than consensus.