Create community gathering opportunities through art, landscaping, architectural design, and coordination with major infrastructure projects.
Francis Scott Key Annex Yard
The Francis Scott Key Annex (42nd Ave between Irving & Judah) is owned by San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and is currently being used for office space and storage. In the Blueprint, we discussed the idea of creating a more useful purpose for the building. After many discussions with SFUSD, we learned that the school district does not have immediate plans to sell the property. SFUSD must first conduct an analysis about the potential need for creation of another school, and there is currently no timeline for initiating this analysis. Given this information, our office requested to move forward with temporary community use of the yard.
We partnered with the Planning Department’s Pavement to Parks program to engage neighbors on ideas for use of the yard. We held three community meetings along with the San Francisco Planning Department, SFUSD, and architecture firm, Perkins + Will, to discuss temporary investments that could be made. At these meetings, residents, neighborhood groups, and community leaders shared great ideas ranging from enhancing the well-used basketball courts to expanding community garden space.
Pavement to Parks is a program through the Planning Department that seeks to quickly and inexpensively convert underutilized space into places that enhance gathering space for the community and foster neighborhood interactions. We look forward to seeing the improvements in Fall 2015.
Streetscape Improvements
The Taraval Streetscape Improvement Project extends from46th to 48th Avenue. The renovation will provide a safer and more inviting environment for pedestrians, motorists and transit riders. Improvements include more visible crosswalks, sidewalk bulb-outs to shorten crossings at intersections, a public seating area, new landscaping and street trees, streetlight upgrades and roadway paving. Residents and visitors will also notice a tiled artwork piece consisting of three surfboards at the intersection of Great Highway and Taraval. This artwork serves as a neighborhood marker, which our office hopes to build upon along the Great Highway. This project was finished in July 2015 and we hope the improvements will attract more neighborhood-serving businesses to the area.
The Irving Streetscape Improvement Project extends from 19th to 27th avenues in the Outer Sunset district. The renovation will provide a safer and more inviting environment for pedestrians, motorists and transit riders. The streetscape project will be done in conjunction with sewer replacement, curb ramp upgrades, and road repaving from 19th Avenue to the Great Highway. The project is currently wrapping up the design phase and the streetscape improvements will include new colored concrete sidewalks throughout, sidewalk bulb-outs at the 20th, 22nd, and 25th Avenue intersections, crosswalk enhancements at 22nd Avenue, new street trees, site furnishings, and gateway features. The project is expected to advertise for construction in Summer 2015, with construction anticipated to begin before the end of 2015. Construction operations will begin with sewer work, and streetscape work will continue through 2016. The full project from 19th to Lower Great Highway, inclusive of sewer and repaving on 45th Avenue between Lincoln and Lawton, is expected to be complete by June 2017.
Parklets
Parklets can be a simple and cost-effective way to add temporary gathering space and landscaping to our neighborhood. Outdoor seating is often made possible by parklets, particularly where sidewalks are too narrow to accommodate seating. The parklet in front of Devil’s Teeth Baking Co. (3876 Noriega Street) is a great example of a success story. Almost every morning, and especially on weekends, the parklet fills with people, especially young people and families with children.
Currently, our office is continuing efforts to assist Rolling Out Café (1722 Taraval Street) in installing a parklet. The project took longer to approve due to the steep slope of Taraval Street at this location. To move the project forward, our office was able to secure the assistance of SF Public Works to help with the final design phases of the parklet to ensure the design meets all code requirements.
The owner of Rolling-Out recently received a permit to install the parklet, and will now begin fundraising to fill the gap in funding. The parklet also received additional funding from the OEWD capital grant program.
Our office will continue to work with residents and city departments to create community gathering opportunities through art, landscaping, architectural design, and coordination with major infrastructure projects.
For more information:
Taraval Streetscape Improvement Project: http://sfdpw.org/index.aspx?page=1648
Irving Streetscape Improvement Project: http://sfdpw.org/index.aspx?page=1696
Francis Scott Key Annex Yard project: http://pavementtoparks.sfplanning.org/fsk_school_site.html
