As ‘serial evictor’ backs off, SF builders are sent a message

Cancelled construction project would have blocked sunshine from Victoria Manalo Draves Park named after a Filipino-American hero.

SAN FRANCISCO— Community organizations are declaring victory after a real estate developer canceled a project that would have blocked the sun from the Victoria Manalo Draves Park in the South of Market.

Sending a message to developers in San Francisco, the organizations vowed to protect open spaces, especially those used by youth, families and seniors in underserved communities.

The developer, Golden Properties, informed residents and community groups opposed to the proposed project on 190 Russ Street that it has “decided not to move forward with the current proposed project” it submitted to the San Francisco Planning Department.

Golden Properties owner Sergio Iantorno has been tagged as a “serial evictor” for using the Ellis Act to evict long time rent-control tenants in other properties.

Community resistance

In January the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission heard two hours of testimonies from South of Market residents and community groups contending that the shadow coming from the proposed project would cause an adverse impact not only on the park, but also on the communities that use it.

The proposed project, a six-story, 10-unit market rate development on 190 Russ Street, would have blocked sunshine on Victoria Manalo Draves Park, the only multi-use full park in the South of Market built since South Park in 1855.

The park is named after Filipino American hero Victoria Manalo Draves, who won Olympic gold medals in diving for the United States in 1948, despite having suffered discrimination even as she trained for and entered the Olympics.

The commission subsequently voted unanimously to reject Golden Properties’ proposed project, based on the 1984 Proposition K Sunlight Ordinance, a voter-approved ballot measure.

Planning Code Section 295 mandates that new structures above 40 feet in height that would cast additional shadows on properties under the jurisdiction of, or designated to be acquired by, the Recreation and Parks Department can only be approved by the Planning Commission if the shadow is determined to be insignificant or not adverse to the use of the park.

Also, a recommendation from the Recreation and Parks Commission is required prior to the Planning Commission hearing.

Threats to open spaces

“Threats to open spaces combined with the lack of affordable housing are turning this neighborhood, designated as a family and youth zone, into an anti-family zone,” said Vivian Zalvidea Araullo of West Bay Pilipino. “It’s a problem not just in the South of Market, but in the entire city.”

“This is a great victory for our community. Even though oppositions and critics alike argued that the shadow impact was minimal, we are concerned by the effect of this development and other future developments around the park on the future of our community,” said Theresa Imperial of the Veteran’s Equity Center, who also noted that the proposed development did not provide for sufficient affordable housing.

“Just as it took the community to uncloak from the shadows the story of Vicky Manalo Draves in the construction of the park that bears her name,” declared Tony Robles of Senior and Disability Action, the community once again comes together to make sure that the shadows cast by unnecessary development do not cast similar shadows upon our beautiful community for generations to come.”

Despite its victory over Iantorno’s proposed project, the South of Market community is worried that three other projects planned around the Victoria Manalo Draves Park could end up casting shadows.

Study recommended

“The Recreation and Park Commission [should] engage with the community to update the shadow analysis or develop similar policies that will protect vulnerable parks in recently up-zoned neighborhoods that lack adequate open green and active spaces like the South of Market,” said Angelica Cabande of the South of Market Community Action Network.

“This kind of study is important for the community to guide and show impacts of projects that cast shadow (regardless of how small it is) in the few open space we have,” she continued.

The groups are calling on the San Francisco Recreation and Park and the City to update the shadow analysis in the Eastern Neighborhood zoning area. When the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan was passed in 2009, the shadow analysis was not updated to coincide with the changing allowable height of projects in the area plan.