Hunters Point Bridge Gets Green Light

Supes don't nix controversial span; Lennar project rolls forward
By: Zusha Elinson

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors let forth a torrent — no, a flood — of amendments to Lennar's massive waterfront development project Tuesday.

And Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, as he told The Bay Citizen he would last week, introduced one to take a controversial bridge over Yosemite Slough out of the project altogether. But it didn't get far. The Board voted 6-5 against nixing what environmentalists dubbed the “Bridge to Nowhere.”

The bridge is a relatively small piece of Lennar’s 10,500-home project, to be built on the old Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. But environmentalists have vigorously opposed plans to span the mouth of the Yosemite Slough — a San Francisco Bay inlet bordered by a state park. They say the bridge will damage wetlands and wildlife, and ruin the view.

Now, the project will go ahead with at least a 41-foot wide bridge that only allows buses, ambulances, bikes and pedestrians to cross. Board President David Chiu's own amendment to limit the bridge to that width passed. If the 49ers decide not to move to Santa Clara and build a new stadium, then the bridge could once again balloon up to 81 feet wide, wider than the Bay Bridge, if the board allows it.

The Sierra Club, Arc Ecology and others had pushed for no bridge. Club member Arthur Feinstein has said that the bridge will damage tidal mudflats and block views and migratory birds. Last week, Feinstein said that the Sierra Club was prepared to sue the city if it went forward with the bridge.

Obstacles to getting rid of the bridge quickly piled up at Tuesday’s meeting. The city attorney’s office said that the board would have to send the whole environmental impact report back to the planning department if it wanted to scrap the bridge. And Michael Cohen, Mayor Gavin Newsom’s top economic advisor, said that the bridge was “fundamental to the financial and land-use underpinnings of this project.”

Cohen and developer Lennar have long said that the bridge is needed to connect the development to the rest of the city and to a new transit center in Hunters Point. They contend that going around Yosemite Slough would be too onerous, especially for businesses setting up shop in the new development.

Currently Lennar and the California State Parks Foundation, which is restoring the state park around the slough, are in talks about the design of the bridge. The foundation initially fought the bridge, but dropped its opposition once Chiu effectively whittled the bridge in half.

The no-bridge move was just one of eight amendments proposed by Mirkarimi, including giving the board a final say if Lennar wants to make changes to its plan for the development. Supervisors David Campos, Chris Daly and David Chiu also offered their own amendments putting the finishing touches on a project that has been a decade in the making. 

Tuesday's vote reflects the board's final approval of Lennar's environmental impact report. The Board will vote on the whole project Aug. 3.