San Francisco Land Use and Transportation Committee Meeting – April 29, 2024
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San Francisco Land Use and Transportation Committee Meeting – April 29, 2024
The Land Use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors met on April 29, 2024, at 9:45 a.m. under the chair of Supervisor Myrna Melgar, joined by President Aaron Peskin and Vice Chair Dean Preston. The committee heard two major items: a proposed ordinance to permanently close the Great Highway Extension as part of the Ocean Beach Climate Change Adaptation Project, and a hearing on the Tenant Right to Counsel program, reviewing data from its first several years. Both items received positive votes to advance to the full Board of Supervisors.
Public Comments & Testimony
Great Highway Extension Closure:
- Donna Uchida (first day at San Francisco Zoological Society) read a letter from CEO Tanya Peterson expressing concerns that eliminating the zoo’s Great Highway access points would cause traffic congestion, especially with the anticipated return of pandas and 4,000–5,000 daily visitors. She asked for continued discussions on solutions.
- Laura Walsh (Surfrider Foundation, California policy manager) voiced support for the legislation, calling the project a “poster child” for climate adaptation. She urged minimization of gray infrastructure and further analysis of seawall placement to avoid beach erosion.
- Lucas Lux and Zach Lipton (Friends of Great Highway Park) urged approval, noting the road is already eroding and that the legislation merely acknowledges facts on the ground. They emphasized that closure enables project implementation and protects critical wastewater infrastructure.
- Eileen Bogan (Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods, speaking personally) urged the committee to continue the item, arguing that the 2012 Ocean Beach Master Plan did not adequately address public safety, economic vitality, or evacuation routes. She referenced the zoo’s past use of the road for evacuations.
Tenant Right to Council Hearing:
- Over a dozen tenants, legal services staff, and advocates spoke overwhelmingly in support of the program. Tenants shared personal stories of how full-scope representation saved them from homelessness, including a senior couple who fought a retaliatory Ellis Act eviction, a teacher with family eviction history, and a disabled daughter whose case was taken by Legal Assistance to the Elderly. Attorneys and social workers stressed the need for sustained funding, competitive salaries, and expansion of rental assistance to complement legal help. No opposition was voiced during public comment.
Discussion Items
Item 1: Park Code Amendment – Great Highway Extension Closure
- Anna Roche (SFPUC project manager) and Monica Scott (Rec & Park) presented the project timeline and design. Key facts: The project has been in development since the 2012 Ocean Beach Master Plan; it will permanently close the 3,300-foot stretch from Sloat to Skyline Boulevards to vehicles and replace it with a multi-use trail, plaza, restrooms, beach access stairs, and a buried seawall to protect the wastewater treatment plant. The city has declared three emergencies due to erosion, lost 25 feet of bluff in one event, and moved 250,000 cubic yards of sand (2012–2024) plus 300,000 cubic yards from Army Corps dredging (2021). Construction is expected to start late 2025 with the road closure in early 2026. Chair Melgar noted a last-minute agreement with the San Francisco Zoo: the zoo will construct a new entrance flush with 47th Avenue and use the existing entrance as an exit, with PUC doing pre-development. Jeremy Spitz (SFPUC) confirmed the agreement. The road will remain open to emergency vehicles via the service road.
- Public comment raised concerns about zoo access and evacuation, but supporters argued the legislation is necessary to protect infrastructure and adapt to sea level rise.
Item 2: Hearing – Tenant Right to Counsel Program
- Helen Hale (Director of Residential and Community Services, MOHCD) and Aura Prochovnik (Director of Litigation and Policy, Eviction Defense Collaborative) presented program data for fiscal year 2022–23. Highlights: 84% of tenants received full-scope representation; 92% avoided homelessness; 70% of Black and Indigenous client households stayed in their homes – the highest success rate by ethnic group. The program serves 95% low-income clients (80% extremely low income). Average cost per case is about $6,300, compared to an estimated $70,000 per person for shelter and rehousing. Since Prop F passed in 2018, eviction filings dropped during the pandemic but are now rising again (1,800 cases in FY22–23, similar to FY19–20). Current annual funding is $17.7 million. Gaps remain due to capacity: only 84% get full scope; vulnerability scoring prioritizes seniors, disabled, families with children, and BIPOC tenants. A pipeline for attorneys is being built through law school fellowships. Default judgments are a concern; a motion-to-vacate program is funded separately. Supervisor Preston noted that the program is “directly saving well over 1,000 households (1,700 people) annually” from homelessness.
- Discussion included the need to maintain funding to avoid losing momentum; the importance of rental assistance (ERAP) alongside legal help; and efforts to reduce defaults through outreach and collaboration with subsidized housing providers.
Key Outcomes
- Item 1: Great Highway Extension Closure – The committee voted 3–0 (Melgar, Preston, Peskin) to send the ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation. The ordinance will appear on the May 7, 2024, Board agenda unless otherwise stated.
- Item 2: Tenant Right to Counsel Hearing – The committee voted 3–0 to hear and file the matter. No further action was taken at the committee level, but Supervisor Preston emphasized the importance of maintaining full funding in the upcoming budget cycle to avoid cuts that would undermine the program’s success and capacity.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everyone. Uh, this meeting will come to order. Welcome to the April 29th, 2024 regular meeting of the Land Use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. I am Supervisor Mirna Melgar, Chair of the Committee, joined by Board of Supervisors President Aaron Paskin, and Vice Chair Dean Preston. The committee clerk today is Mr. John Carroll, and I would also like to acknowledge and thank Kalina Mendoza from SFGov TV for staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Please ensure that you've silenced your cell phones and other electronic devices you have brought with you into the chamber today. If you have any documents to include as part of any of today's files, you should submit them to me. You can do so by bringing them forward to the rail. Public comment will be taken on each of the two items on today's agenda. When your item of interest comes up and public comment is called, please line up to speak along your right hand side of the room. Alternatively, you may submit public comment and writing in either of the following ways. You may email them to me. My email address is J-O-H-N, period C A C A R R O L L at SFGO V dot O R G. Or you may send your written comment to a U.S. Postal Service to our office in City Hall. The address is one Dr. Carlton B. Goodlit Place, room 244, San Francisco, California 94102. If you submit public comment in writing, I will forward it to the members of this panel and also include your comments as part of the official file upon which you are commenting. And finally, Madam Chair, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors' agenda of May 7th, 2024, unless otherwise stated. Okay, thank you so much, Mr. Clerk. Uh we have now item number one. Agenda item number one is an ordinance amending the park code to close the great highway extension beginning at Slope Boulevard and extending south for a distance of approximately 3300 feet to vehicles to allow for a multi-use trail and to improve shoreline resilience as part of the Ocean Beach Climate Change Adaptation Project. Making associated finding under the California Vehicle Code, making environmental findings, including adopting a statement of overriding considerations under CEQA, and making findings of consistency with a general plan in the eight priority policies of Planning Code Section 101.1. Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk. We have uh Anna Roche here from uh the SFPUC who has been managing this project, as well as Monica Scott from Reg Park. Uh and we have Jeremy Spitz here to answer questions, I'm sure. Um so uh before I let uh Ms. Rush do her presentation, I just wanted to um say a few things, colleagues, because this is in my district at this project. Um I want to note how critical this work is given the extreme impact of coastal erosion uh that we have seen over the last few years. I'm grateful that we have had the foresight to plan ahead with the Ocean Beach Master Plan to protect our wastewater infrastructure for the west side and to ensure that we have safe accessible public amenities for future generations. As you know, the district I represent is within the plan, and we also have other civic amenities like the San Francisco Zoo within the area, um, Lake Morset immediately to the west and Fort Funston to the south. Um I do have some remarks that I will wait after the presentation, but I just uh want to thank the staff at the PUC for all of your hard work uh for us today and for generations to come. Thank you so much. Um, supervisors Melgar, Preston, and Peskin. Thank you so much for having us here today to hear about this very important project. Again, I'm Anna Roche, uh project manager with the SFPUC, who's the lead agency of this multi-city agency project. I'm here today with Monica Scott, a project manager with Wreck and Park, who will be pro um presenting with me. Our partner agencies include SF Planning, SFMTA, and Public Works. Prior to being here today, this project has been approved by the SFPUC and Wreck and Park, and the EIR was unanimously certified by the San Francisco Planning Commission. We are here today to seek approval to close the Great Highway Extension, which will allow for the implementation of this project, which has been in development since 2012 when the Ocean Beach Master Plan was completed. So first, just a quick overview of the project location. This graphic represents Ocean Beach from the Cliff House at the north and Fort Funston at the south, Fort Funston being on the left side of your graphic. The dashes on the left of the slide illustrate the location of the project, which sits along the coast between Sloat and Skyline Boulevards.
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