Al SAN FRANCISCO PLANNING DEPARTMENT 1650 Mission St. Mitigated Negative Declaration Suite 400 San Francisco, CA 94103-2479 PMND Date: March 13, 2013; amended on May 2, 2013 (amendments to the PMND are shown in deletions as strikcthrough; additions in bold underline) Reception: 415.558.6378 Case No.: 2011.1355E Project Title: Mission Dolores Park Rehabilitation and Improvement Project Fax: Zoning: P (Public) Use District 415.558.6409 OS (Open Space) Height and Bulk District Planning Block/Lot: 3599/001 & 3586/001 Information: Project Site Size: 700,920 (16.1 acres) 415.558.6377 Project Sponsor: Jacob Gilchrist, San Francisco Recreation and Park Department (415) 581-2561 Lead Agency: San Francisco Planning Department Staff Contact: Wade Wietgrefe - (415) 575-9050 [email protected] PROJECT DESCRIPTION: In 2008, San Francisco voters approved the 2008 Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond, a $153 million general obligation bond. The bond includes $13.2 million for Mission Dolores Park. The project sponsor, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department (RPD), would utilize a portion of the Mission Dolores Park bond money to rehabilitate the existing Mission Dolores Park (project site or the Park). The project site is at the eastern edge of the Castro/Upper Market neighborhood, directly adjacent to the western edge of the Mission neighborhood, and two blocks north of the Noe Valley neighborhood. The project site has also been identified as a contributor to a potential historic district within the Mission Dolores Neighborhood in a previous historic study.' The project site is a 700,920-square-foot (16.1 acres) city park bounded by 18th Street to the north, Dolores Street to the east, 201h Street to the south, and Church Street to the west. The project site encompasses two parcels: Block 3599, Lot 001 and Block 3586, Lot 001. The proposed project would make project site rehabilitations and improvements to the athletic courts, buildings, open space, edges and entrance points, internal circulation system, and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni) system and other Park-wide changes. Athletic court changes would include reconfiguring existing athletic courts near their existing locations and constructing a new 7,200-square-foot multi-use court near the reconfigured athletic courts near the northwest corner of the Park. Building changes would include removing an existing 24-foot, six-inch-tall, 980-square-foot building and two 10-foot-tall, 220-square-foot portable storage containers located near the center of the Park and constructing three new buildings: a 12-foot-tall, 1,250-square-foot restroom located adjacent to the southeastern side of the existing playground; a 13-foot-tall, 1,270-square-foot restroom and 1,013- square-foot paved plaza located near the reconfigured athletic courts; and a 12-foot-tall, 3,365-square-foot Carey & Co. Inc., Revised Mission Dolores Neighborhood Survey, November 11, 2009, prepared for Mission Dolores Neighborhood Association. vrsfplarninioi Mitigated Negative Declaration CASE NO. 2011.1355E May 2, 2013 Mission Dolores Park Rehabilitation and Improvement Project) operations building and 2,610-square-foot reinforced concrete platform with a crawl space built beneath the new location of the basketball court. The new operations building would be adjacent to a new 2,233- square-foot service yard and driveway from 18th Street. In addition, the proposed project would construct a new pissoir, located in the Park's southwest quadrant. Open space changes would include reduction in approximately 0.8 acre of grass or turf from various aforementioned and below changes and providing new markings for two existing off-leash dog play areas. At various edges and entrance points to the Park, the proposed project would add new ADA accessible ramps, access paths to the internal circulation system, and design changes. Internal circulation changes would include removal and widening of existing and constructing new internal pathways, for a total net increase of 786 lineal feet. Changes to the Muni system would include repaving the Muni tracks within the Park, removing the chain link structure on the existing bridge over the tracks, placing planters over and adjacent to the abandoned Muni stop under the bridge and over the stairs leading to it, and relocating the Muni shelter for the Muni stop at 20th Street and Church Street 10 feet southwest of its current location. Other Park- wide rehabilitations and improvements would include vegetation removal and plantings, grading, upgrades to the drainage and irrigation system, and adding new signage, lighting, bicycle parking, benches, picnic tables, and trash receptacles. With project implementation, the project site would remain a city park and no change in hours of operation would occur. FINDING: This project could not have a significant effect on the environment. This finding is based upon the criteria of the Guidelines of the State Secretary for Resources, Sections 15064 (Determining Significant Effect), 15065 (Mandatory Findings of Significance), and 15070 (Decision to prepare a Negative Declaration), and the following reasons as documented in the Initial Evaluation (Initial Study) for the project, which is attached. Mitigation measures are included in this project to avoid potentially significant effects. See Section F, Mitigation and Improvement Measures. In the independent judgment of the Planning Department, there is no substantial evidence that the project could have a significant effect on the environment. SARAH JONES Date of Ajdoptfon of Final Mitigated Acting Environmental Review Officer Negative Declaration cc: Jacob Gilchrist, Project Sponsor; Supervisor Scott Wiener; Shelley Caltagirone, Current Planning; Historic Preservation Distribution List; M.D.F SAN FRANCISCO PLANNING DEPARTMENT 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2011.1355E – Mission Dolores Park Rehabilitation and Improvement Project Section A. PROJECT DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................................................. 1 B. PROJECT SETTING ..................................................................................................................................... 36 C. COMPATIBILITY WITH EXISTING ZONING AND PLANS .............................................................. 37 D. SUMMARY OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ..................................................................................... 40 E. EVALUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ............................................................................... 41 1. LAND USE AND LAND USE PLANNING ......................................................................................... 41 2. AESTHETICS ................................................................................................................................. 42 3. POPULATION AND HOUSING ...................................................................................................... 49 4. CULTURAL AND PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCES....................................................................... 50 5. TRANSPORTATION AND CIRCULATION ....................................................................................... 75 6. NOISE .......................................................................................................................................... 81 7. AIR QUALITY ................................................................................................................................ 85 8. GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS ................................................................................................... 98 9. WIND AND SHADOW................................................................................................................. 110 10. RECREATION .............................................................................................................................. 111 11. UTILITIES AND SERVICE SYSTEMS.............................................................................................. 114 12. PUBLIC SERVICES ....................................................................................................................... 117 13. BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES ........................................................................................................... 119 14. GEOLOGY AND SOILS ................................................................................................................ 125 15. HYDROLOGY AND WATER QUALITY .......................................................................................... 128 16. HAZARDS AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS .................................................................................. 132 17. MINERAL AND ENERGY RESOURCES ......................................................................................... 138 18. AGRICULTURE AND FOREST RESOURCES .................................................................................. 140 19. MANDATORY FINDINGS OF SIGNIFICANCE ............................................................................... 141 F. MITIGATION MEASURES AND IMPROVEMENT MEASURES ...................................................... 142 G. PUBLIC NOTICE AND COMMENT ...................................................................................................... 150 H. DETERMINATION ................................................................................................................................... 151 I. INITIAL STUDY PREPARERS