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In cooperation with:
Transbay Joint Powers Authority
San Francisco Redevelopment Agency

The Planning Department has received funding from the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to draft a comprehensive plan for the area around the Transbay Terminal, including mechanisms to direct any increased development value to help fund the construction of the Transit Center Program in addition to other public improvements. This Plan will build on the City’s renowned 1985 Downtown Plan that envisioned the area around the Transbay Terminal as the heart of the new downtown. Consistent with the Transbay Redevelopment Plan, which focuses mostly on public properties south of the Transit Center along Folsom Street, this new effort will focus on both private properties and properties owned or to be owned by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority around the Transit Center itself.

The City adopted the Urban Design Element of the General Plan in 1971 and the Downtown Plan in 1985, laying the groundwork for the downtown San Francisco we know today: a compact, walkable and dynamic urban center and a dramatic skyline set against the natural backdrop of the city’s hills. The Downtown Plan established the growth of the downtown south of Market Street, with its core of greatest density and greatest heights around the Transbay Terminal. At the time, the Embarcadero Freeway created a sharp southern edge to the downtown south of Howard Street. Since the elevated freeway’s removal, the City has undertaken several major planning efforts for new downtown neighborhoods (including Rincon Hill and Transbay) and infrastructure investments (Transbay Transit Center). These changes, as well as the fact that significant growth has happened in the 20 years since the Downtown Plan was adopted, demand a new look at the land uses, urban form and public realm of the downtown core. This planning effort is intended to shape the next generation of downtown growth; it will build on the core cherished principles of city building at the heart of the Urban Design Element and Downtown Plan.

In early 2006, a Mayor’s Interagency Working Group reviewed development assumptions in the existing Transit Center Program to determine the appropriate planning response to this facility in the heart of downtown San Francisco and to assess ways of securing additional funding for the Program. This brief assessment concludes that raising certain height limits and increasing development potential in the area would be consistent with the City’s vision for the Transit Center district. It identifies a potential for generating additional funds for the Program through increased tax increment, land sales, and assessments, which would result from such changes in controls of land use and urban form. The Working Group also identified the possibility for air-rights development at the 4th/King rail station and yards to provide additional funding for the Program.

Objectives

• Build on the Urban Design Element and Downtown Plan, analyze modifications to the downtown form based on new Transbay and Rincon Hill plans and recent development.
  
• Capitalize on major transit investment with appropriate land use response in the downtown core.
  
• Set guidelines and standards to build a high-quality public realm and provide public amenities.
  
• Generate more revenue for the Transbay Transit Center project and other public improvements.

The Project

The Transit Center District Plan will build on the City’s renowned 1985 Downtown Plan that envisioned the area around the Transbay Terminal as the heart of the new downtown. This new effort will analyze land use and urban form responses to the maturation of the southern side of downtown since 1985 and the infrastructure investments now planned. Following detailed analysis and computer simulation (e.g. urban form, shadow, wind, circulation), the study will produce new planning policies and controls for land use, urban form, building design, and public realm improvements for private properties as well as for properties owned or to be owned by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority in and around the adopted Transbay Redevelopment Project Area and Transbay Terminal. The study will also propose a mechanism for directing some financial benefit from any increases in development opportunity to the construction of the Transit Center Program and other public amenities and infrastructure in the area.

The preliminary boundaries of the study area for the Transit Center District Plan are roughly Market Street on the north, Main Street on the east, Clementina Street on the south, and New Montgomery Street on the west.

Notice to Project Sponsors in the Transit Center District Plan Area and Vicinity - 125 kB

Project Schedule and Public Process

A well-attended public meeting was held at Golden Gate University on April 30, 2008. Click here to view the powerpoint presentation from that meeting. The presentation covered initial findings and proposals regarding citywide and downtown growth, land use, urban form, shadows, historic resources, and the public realm (streets and open spaces). The Planning Department would like to hear your comments. Stay tuned to this website for additional documents and information.

A public plan kickoff meeting was held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on July 25, 2007. the meeting was attended by over 200 people. Click here to view the powerpoint presentation from that meeting.

The consultant team is now under contract and is working with Planning Department. The team is led by EDAW (planning, urban design, landscape architecture), and also features DMJM (architecture, engineering), Robin Chiang & Co. (urban design, architecture), Economic and Planning Systems (economic and financial analysis), and Nelson/Nygaard (transportation).

The planning process is expected to proceed expeditiously, with core recommendations of the plans complete by summer 2008. The Planning Department will hold a full complement of workshops to solicit public input on the development of these Plans.

A tentative schedule of the process is:

There will be numerous opportunities for the public to get involved and provide feedback at every stage of plan development. Multiple public workshops will be held throughout the planning process. The same consultant team will also be assisting the Department on the Railyards Study, though these are completely separate and independent planning efforts. Please check back soon for a list of upcoming events and feedback opportunities.

Get Involved!

To be added to the mailing list to be kept informed of upcoming workshops, please send an email to Joshua.Switzky@sfgov.org.

Please indicate if you want to be notified of all workshops, or only those pertaining to the Transit Center District.

Links and background information:

Presentations & Project Materials:

Public Meeting presentation on Quality of Place, Sept. 17, 2008 - 7.7 MB

Draft Historic Resources Survey (July 2008)
Draft Context Statement - 6.2 MB
Draft DPR Forms - 30.5 MB

Notice of Preparation of Environmental Impact Report (NOP)
for Transit Center District Plan and Transit Tower (July 20, 2008) - 1 MB

Public Meeting presentation on Initial Findings & Proposals, April 30, 2008
Part 1 - 3.5 MB
Part 2a - 8.5 MB
Part 2b - 2 MB
Part 3 - 2.5 MB
Urban Form Simulations
Downtown 2035 Growth/Capacity Analysis - 1.75 MB

Introductory Public Workshop Presentation, July 25, 2007 - 10.5 MB

Informational Presentation to the Planning Commission, February 1, 2007 - 9.4 MB

Consultant RFPs & Scope:

EIR Consultant RFP
RFP - Transit Center District Plan and Transit Tower EIR - Amended 8-24-07 103 kB
RFP - Appendix A Part 1 - 138 kB
RFP - Appendix A Part 2 - 592 kB
RFP - Appendix C - 162 kB
RFP - Appendix D - 179 kB
Questions & Answers - Transit Center District Plan and Transit Tower EIR - 26 kB

RFP Pre-Bid Presentation August 7, 2007 - 5.7 MB

EIR Consultant RFP Bidder's Conference Sign-In Sheet - 360 kB

Planning Consultant RFP - 657 kB

Scope of Work for Downtown Growth Forcasting and Analysis - Seifel Consulting - 72 kB

Informal RFP for Shadow Methodology and Preliminary Assessment - 156 kB

Background:

Mayor’s Interagency Transbay Working Group
Final Report - 55 kB
Graphic Presentation ( click on “Item 8” )

Transbay Joint Powers Authority—Transit Center Program

San Francisco Redevelopment Agency—Transbay Redevelopment Project

Rincon Hill Plan