Skip to main content

Reimagine Potrero Yard with Us – Summer Milestones

Reimagine Potrero Yard with Us – Summer Milestones
By Adrienne Heim

A rendering of the future modernized Potrero Yard

A potential rendering of the future modernized Potrero Yard

The Potrero Yard Modernization Project will rebuild the existing Potrero bus yard to ensure we maintain our bus fleet as efficiently as possible and enhance the facility’s resilience to climate change and other natural disasters. The Project will also ensure our staff is able to perform their work in a safe and efficient way and address the City’s broader goals for new housing and affordable housing.  The Project has issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ), an important step for modernizing the yard.

The Project Concept

The modern yard will be able to store 213 buses, increasing capacity by approximately 50%.

In addition, the facility will include the following features:

  • LEED Gold Certification
  • An elevated structural and seismic building standard
  • Infrastructure for battery-electric buses
  • Centralized location for Street Operations - Muni’s “first responders”
  • Centralized, modern space for Muni operator training
  • Active ground floor uses on Bryant, and possibly 17th streets

“This exciting project will help fix two of the city's most pressing issues: lack of affordable housing and unreliable transit service,” said Alexander Hirji, Potrero Yard Neighborhood Working Group member and San Francisco Youth Commissioner. “The yard portion of the Project allows the SFMTA to maintain buses effectively, send them out to the riders, and it allows for future bus technology innovations in years to come. Up top, the affordable housing portion allows this city to make strides toward its goals for providing quality affordable housing to residents. This project will shape the Agency for many decades, and in a good, sustainable, and equitable way.”

An image showing a three level bus yard with mixed-use housing on top

A modernized Potrero Yard would have multiple uses.

Housing on Top of the Yard

An image of the Potrero Yard

Potrero Yard is home to much of Muni's trolleybus fleet

The SFMTA is proposing up to 575 rental units of housing with an initial affordability target of 50%. The city’s committed to addressing the shortage of affordable housing and is therefore challenging potential developers to seek additional funds to maximize the affordability percentage, up to as much as 100% affordable. Many factors informed the proposed project’s size and unit count, such as building height, massing, financial feasibility and shadows on Franklin Square.

Two months ago, virtual community conversations were hosted to provide a refresher about the project and discuss where we are in the process. If you were unable to attend, please listen to the June 6 conversation to hear the project team and members of the community discuss the project. 

We’re excited to announce that we’ve achieved three major milestones last week:

  1. The Project’s Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was issued to begin the developer procurement process followed by a press release

The RFQ is the first of a two-step process to bring a developer partner under contract with the city. This stage is to pre-qualify a group of professionals who have the experience and financial backing to successfully complete this project. Ideally, we will end up with three qualified developer teams. 

The second step is to ask those pre-qualified teams for project proposals as part of the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage, which will end up in the selection of a single developer partner.

  1. Special legislation was introduced by the Board of Supervisors last Tuesday, August 18, to set rules for a long-term agreement with a developer team that would design, build, finance, operate and maintain the new yard.

The legislation obligates the project to prevailing wages, a Local Business Enterprise (LBE) program, the city’s local hire policy and first source hiring ordinance. The ordinance also allows payment of a design stipend for up to two unsuccessful respondent development teams. This special legislation will first be heard by the Budget and Finance Committee consisting of Supervisors Walton, Fewer and Mandelman.

  1. A meeting to introduce all the topic areas that will be covered in the environmental impact document (referred collectively as the “project scope”) will be held by the San Francisco Planning Department on Wednesday, September 2, beginning at 6:00 p.m. 

You may also view a video presentation by SF Planning for the project and provide comments to cpc.PotreroYardEIR@sfgov.org concerning the scope of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) until 5:00 p.m., September 18.

The meeting event will take place on Zoom: https://swca.zoom.us/s/92577630432/ Meeting ID: 925 7763 0432, or join by phone at 1.888.475.4499.

The purpose of the meeting is to collect comments from other regulatory agencies and the public on the draft scope. This is an opportunity for the public to add topic areas that SF Planning may not have included in their initial scoping process. More information can be found at the Planning Environmental Review Documents page under Potrero Yard Modernization Project – 2019-021884ENV.

Community Outreach

We will be tabling on Labor Day weekend, September 5 and 6, from noon to 5:00 p.m. at John O’Connell High School (Harrison Street between 18th and 20th streets) for the Carnaval San Francisco Latino COVID-19 Healing & Recovery – Salud es Poder event hosted by CANA-Carnaval San Francisco in partnership with the San Francisco Latino Task Force, community based organizations, health providers, and San Francisco City Departments.

We’re also planning to host English- and Spanish-language virtual community events to discuss the second step of the developer procurement process, the RFP, which we hope to issue in early 2021.

Learn more about the project by visiting www.sfmta.com/PotreroYard.

For more information, please email PotreroYard@sfmta.com or call us at 415.646.2223.

 



Published August 27, 2020 at 06:53AM
https://ift.tt/34OCz63

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New top story from Time: ‘It’s a Catastrophe.’ Iranians Turn to Black Market for Vaccines as COVID-19 Deaths Hit New Highs

https://ift.tt/3AODY94 In January, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the sudden announcement that American and British-made COVID-19 vaccines would be “forbidden” as they were “completely untrustworthy.” Almost nine months later, Iran is facing its worst surge in the virus to date — a record number of deaths and infections per day with nearly 4.2 million COVID-19 patients across the country , and a healthcare system near collapse. “It’s a catastrophe; and there is nothing we can do,” said an anesthesiology resident in one of Tehran’s public hospitals who due to the current surge is tasked to oversee the ICU ward for COVID-19 patients. “We can’t treat them nor help them; so all I can ask people to do is to stay home and do whatever it takes to not get exposed.” The doctor requested anonymity in order to speak freely; others interviewed by TIME asked to be identified only by their first name. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The scale of the crisis is such ...

BRT Service on Van Ness to Begin Tomorrow

BRT Service on Van Ness to Begin Tomorrow By Jiaying Yu Tomorrow, April 1, we will cut the ribbon on San Francisco’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor on Van Ness Avenue. The public is invited to join and celebrate this historic moment in front of the War Memorial. The ribbon-cutting will include speeches from local and state leaders, performances from local musicians and giveaways. After the ribbon is cut, there will be an inaugural ride on the new Van Ness BRT corridor to North Point where the celebration continues with live music.    BRT service on Van Ness is part of Muni’s Rapid Network, which prioritizes frequency and reliability for customers. Muni and Golden Gate Transit customers are expected to experience 32% shorter travel times. With dedicated transit lanes in the middle of the road, enhanced traffic signals with Transit Signal Priority and new platforms and shelters, the Van Ness BRT corridor will be the fastest way to travel north-south in this part of...

Ride to Chase Center Events Along the New T Third

Ride to Chase Center Events Along the New T Third By Christopher Ward Starting January 7, take the S Shuttle Mission Bay on the new T Third line via Central Subway to Chase Center events. Service on the new T Third Line from Chinatown Rose-Pak to Sunnydale starts January 7. With it , new event service to Chase Center will also start via Central Subway on the S Shuttle Mission Bay. During events at Chase Center, shuttles will operate between Chinatown-Rose Pak Station and UCSF/Chase Center every 10 minutes. These shuttles will start approximately two and a half hours before an event and continue for two and half hours after an event. From Chinatown to Chase Center, riding the S Shuttle Mission Bay takes about 20 minutes. Best of all, your Chase Center event ticket is your Muni fare. No additional Muni fare needed ! Both electronic and physical tickets for events – including Warriors games, concerts and other events – will serve as  proof of payment  for Muni serv...

Supreme Court to hear plea against UGC guidelines today as students oppose circular on final year exams https://ift.tt/30023ug

The Supreme Court on Monday is set to hear petitions challenging the UGC guidelines, which made it mandatory for universities to conduct their final year exams by September 30. The petitions would be heard by a three-judge bench of the top court, comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah. The plea was filed by 31 students across several universities in India. The students, in their petition, had challenged the UGC guidelines for being arbitrary as it would compel students to appear for exams amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

FOX NEWS: Top baby names list for 2021 reveals familiar trends For the second year in a row, these two names are the most popular for girls and boys – leading BabyCenter's Top 100 Baby Names list.

Top baby names list for 2021 reveals familiar trends For the second year in a row, these two names are the most popular for girls and boys – leading BabyCenter's Top 100 Baby Names list. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/CFenBRh

New top story from Time: George Floyd Was ‘Terrified, Scared,’ Says Witness Who Recorded Derek Chauvin Kneeling on His Neck

https://ift.tt/3dcqgTi Darnella Frazier, the teenage witness who took the famous video of George Floyd being crushed into the ground by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020, took the stand in Chauvin’s trial on Tuesday and described Floyd as a “man terrified, scared, begging for his life.” Frazier, who was 17 when the incident took place, was not shown on camera and only her voice was heard during her testimony. In the midst of her testimony, Frazier was soft-spoken and at times wept she when she recounted the events of that day. She told the prosecutor that on May 25, she was walking to the Cup Foods grocery store with her 9-year-old cousin to get some snacks. Outside the store, she saw Floyd on the ground with Chauvin on top of him and told her cousin to go inside the store so that the younger child would not see what was happening. “I heard George Floyd saying I can’t breathe, please get off of me. I can’t breathe. He cried for his mom. He was in ...

West Bengal: 2 cobras found in classroom in Jalpaiguri district https://ift.tt/3f3G7Cz

Two cobras were found in a classroom of a school in West Bengal''s Jalpaiguri district, officials said on Monday. The cobras were spotted by children who came to play in the playground of the school at Dhupguri on Sunday and they alerted the elders.

'General Bajwa was perspiring, his legs were shaking': Pakistan MP recalls IAF pilot Abhinandan's release https://ift.tt/3mwtYu5

Speaking in the National Assembly, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ayaz Sadiq took a dig at the ruling Imran Khan government revealing some behind the scene developments in the country when Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was captured by the Pakistani forces last year.

New top story from Time: More COVID-19 Vaccines Are in the Pipeline as the U.S. Effort Ramps Up

https://ift.tt/3aJMahk A huge U.S. study of another COVID-19 vaccine candidate got underway Monday as states continue to roll out scarce supplies of the first shots to a nation anxiously awaiting relief from the catastrophic outbreak. Public health experts say more options in addition to the two vaccines now being dispensed — one made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, the other by Moderna — are critical to amassing enough shots for the country and the world. The candidate made by Novavax Inc. is the fifth to reach final-stage testing in the United States. Some 30,000 volunteers are needed to prove if the shot — a different kind than its Pfizer and Moderna competitors — really works and is safe. “If you want to have enough vaccine to vaccinate all the people in the U.S. who you’d like to vaccinate — up to 85% or more of the population — you’re going to need more than two companies,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, told The Associated P...

FOX NEWS: Olympic gymnasts sound off on the evolving leotard: 'Power and prestige goes with those leos' The world may have grown accustomed to seeing Olympic gymnasts wearing leotards as they compete for the highest honor in the sport, but these garments haven’t always been the first pick for women.

Olympic gymnasts sound off on the evolving leotard: 'Power and prestige goes with those leos' The world may have grown accustomed to seeing Olympic gymnasts wearing leotards as they compete for the highest honor in the sport, but these garments haven’t always been the first pick for women. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3BQEKE3