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City and County of San Francisco Planning Department Brannan Square Mixed Use Development DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 99.173E State Clearinghouse No: 99092089 DOCUMENTS DEPTc FEB 2 2 2000 SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY Draft EIR Publication Date: February 19, 2000 Draft EIR Public Hearing Date: March 23, 2000 Draft EIR Public Comment Period: February 19 to March 24, 2000 Written comments on this document should be sent to: Hillary Gitelman Environmental Review Officer San Francisco Planning Department 1660 Mission Street San Francisco, CA 94103 5/S SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY REFERENCE BOOK Not to be takenfrom the Library i SANFRANCISCOPUBLICLIBRARY City and County of San Francisco Planning Department Brannan Square Mixed Use Development DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 99.173E State Clearinghouse No: 99092089 Draft EIR Publication Date: February 19, 2000 Draft EIR Public Hearing Date: March 23, 2000 Draft EIR Public Comment Period: February 1 9 to March 24, 2000 Written comments on this document should be sent to: Hillary Gitelman Environmental Review Officer San Francisco Planning Department 1660 Mission Street San Francisco, CA 94103 I I I Brannan Square Mixed-Use Development Project Draft Environmental Impact Report Table of Contents Page Summary I. 1 A. Introduction 1 B. Project Description 1 C. Main Environmental Effects 2 D. Mitigation Measures 5 E. Alternatives to the Proposed Project 8 F. Areas of Controversy and Issues to be Resolved 11 II. Project Description 13 A. Project Sponsor's Objectives 13 B. Site Location and Project Characteristics 13 C. Project Approval Requirements and General Plan and Other Relevant Policies 22 III. Environmental Setting and Impacts 31 A. Land Use and Zoning 31 B. Historic Architectural Resources 38 C. Traffic and Circulation 60 D. Growth Inducement 75 IV. Mitigation Measures Proposed to Minimize the Potential Adverse Impacts of the Project 76 A. Construction Air Quality 76 B. Noise 77 C. Traffic and Circulation 77 D. Architectural Historic Resources 78 E. Hazardous Materials 78 F. Cultural Resources 79 V. Significant Environmental Effects Which Cannot be Avoided if the Proposed Project is Implemented 80 VI. Alternatives to the Proposed Project 82 A. No Project Alternative 82 B. Reduced Development Alternative 83 C. Full Preservation Alternative 85 VII. EIR Authors 88 99.173E Brannan Square i Table of Contents Page VIII. Appendices 90 Appendix A: Initial Study Appendix B: Architectural Definitions Appendix C: Certificates of Appropriateness Filed in the South End Historic District Appendix D: Distribution List List of Figures Figure 1 Project Location 14 Figure 2 Site Plan 15 Figure 3 Proposed 200 Brannan Street, 1 Federal Street and 41 Federal Street; Lots 24, 18 and 15; Ground Level 18 Figure 4 Proposed 200 Brannan Street, 1 Federal Street and 41 Federal Street; Lots 24, 18 and 15; Upper Floors 19 Figure 5 Project Elevations: Brannan and Delancey Streets 20 Figure 6 Proposed 250 Brannan Street, Lot 25, Ground Level 21 Figure 7 Project Elevations: Federal Street 24 Figure 8 Project Sections 24 Figure 9 Site Photos: From Brannan Street 32 Figure 10 Site Photos: From Delancey Street 33 Figure 1 1 Site Photos: From Federal Street 34 Figure 12 Photo Location Map 35 Figure 13 Photomontage Looking Northeast from Brannan Street 54 Figure 14 Photomontage Looking Southwest from Brannan Street 55 Figure 15 Existing Transit Service and Stop Locations 62 List of Tables Table 1 Existing Plus Project Intersection Levels of Service 67 Table 2 Existing and Interim Cumulative Intersection Levels of Service 68 Table 3 Existing and Future (Year 2015) Cumulative Intersection Levels of Service 69 3 1223 05340 3615 99.173E Brannan Square ii SUMMARY I. INTRODUCTION A. This document is a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) prepared in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the proposed adaptive reuse of two buildings, the demolition oftwo buildings, andtheconstructionoftwonewbuildingswithsubterranean parking. CEQA requires that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) be prepared for any project to be undertaken or approved by a local or State agency that may have a significant effect on the environment (California Public Resources Code, section 21000). An application forenvironmental evaluation forthe Brannan Square Project (the "Project") was filed on March 22, 1999. On the basis ofthe Initial Study published on September25, 1999, the San Francisco Planning DepartmentandtheSan FranciscoRedevelopmentAgencydeterminedthatan EIRisrequired. (See AppendixAfor a copy ofthe Initial Study.) The Lead Agencies responsible for preparing the EIR on the Project are the Planning Department for the City and County of San Francisco and the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. This EIR is intended to provide sufficient and accurate environmental documentation to allowthe San Francisco Planning Commission andthe San Francisco RedevelopmentAgency Commission to make an informed decision concerning the proposed Brannan Square project. PROJECT DESCRIPTION B. The projectsite is located in the southeastern end ofthe block bounded by Bryant, Delancey, Brannan, and Second Streets, and comprises fouradjacent parcels thatoccupyabouta quarterofthe block. The site is located in the South of Market Planning Area, in the South End Historic District, and partlywithin the South Beach Subarea ofthe Rincon Point-South Beach RedevelopmentArea, which is located on the northeastern waterfront of San Francisco. The approximately 139,437-square-foot site is located on Lots 15, 18, 24, and 25 in Assessor's Block 3774. The site is currently occupied by a vacant three-story brick warehouse, an occupied three-story cement light industrial/warehouse building, a vacant one-story cementwarehouse, and a collection ofseven vacant one-story warehouse buildings arranged around a central courtyard and enclosed by a concrete perimeterwall. The project sponsor, LNR-Lennar Brannan Street LLC, proposes to demolish the perimeter wall and existing buildingsat200 BrannanStreetandthe41 Federal Streetbuilding, adaptivelyreuseandexpand 99.173E BrannanSquare 1 Summary I. the buildings at 250 Brannan Street and 1 Federal Street, and construct two new buildings to provide a mixed-use development containing 9 live/work units, 242 residential units,1 129,300 square feet of multimedia/businessservice use, a5,000-square-footrestaurant/neighboring-serving retailspace, and 5,000squarefeetofstorage space. Ofthe242 residential units, 51 would qualifyas affordablehousing units. The project would also include a total of up to 419 parking spaces and three loading spaces. Eight existing buildings on the site, totaling 81,450 square feet, togetherwith the perimeterwall at200 Brannan Street, would be demolished to accommodate the proposed construction. The completed projectwould include one five-story building, one-four-storybuilding, and two three-story buildings that would provide a total of approximately 370,000 square feet of occupiable space and about 178,800 square feet of parking and loading, for a project total of about 548,800 square feet. The proposed project buildings would be designed to be compatible with the historic characterofthe buildings in the historic district. Project construction would take approximately 26 months. MAIN ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS C. This environmental impact report for the Brannan Square project focuses on the issues of historic architectural resources and transportation. All other potential environmental effects were found to be ata less-than-significantlevel orto be mitigatedtoaless-than-significantlevelwith mitigation measures to be implemented by the project sponsor. (Please see the Initial Study, included in this document as AppendixA, for analysis of other environmental issues.) In addition, this environmental impact report discusses land use impacts for informational purposes, although they were found to be less than significant in the Initial Study. Land Use Theproposedproject, a mixed-useddevelopmentinfouradjacentbuildingswithatotalofapproximately 370,000 square feet of occupiable space, would result in an increase in intensity of land uses on the project site. However, the projectwould not alterthe general land use pattern ofthe immediate area, which alreadyincludesa mixtureofuses, including commercial and residential usesandofficebuildings ofvarying sizes. 1 The Rincon Point-South Beach Redevelopment Plan limits the number of residential units on Lots 24 and 18 to 242 units (191 + 51). 99.173E Brannan Square 2 Summary I. Historic Architectural Resources The proposed project would create a significant impact on historic architectural resources because it would demolish the exterior facade wall at 200 Brannan Street, which has been rated a Contributory structure to the South End Historic District in which the project site is located. The demolition of the facade wall would constitute a significant environmental impact, and the loss ofthatwall would have a significantimpactupon the South End Historic District. TheSouth End HistoricDistrictwould, however, retain its integrityas a significant historicresource. The projectwould constructa partial addition on an adjacent Contributory building at 250 Brannan Street, which would be a less-than-significant impact. New fenestration would be constructed on the south side ofthe 1 Federal Building which is also rated a Contributory building. All Contributory buildings would be adaptively reused and it is the project sponsor's intention that any renovations would be performed in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Although a sawtooth roof would be removed from the rear portion ofthe 250 Brannan Street building to accommodate a new partial third story, the roofhas been substantiallymodifiedfrom itsoriginal condition,which includedglasssidelights and was covered with tin. Therefore/its removal would not compromise the historic integrity of the building andwould notbe a significant impact. The building at41 Federal Streetwould be demolished, however, itis rated a Non-contributory building, so its removalwould notconstitute a significantimpact. Transportation The projectsite is in a somewhatcongested area, with some ofthe area streets usedforvehicle access tothe BayBridge andotherfreewayon-ramps inthe PM peakhour,whichfrequentlycreateslongdelays during this period. The projectwould generate about 353 new vehicle trips and 194 newtransittrips in the PM peak hour. Projecttrafficwould result in some increase in average vehicle delay, causing the level of service at the signalized Brannan Street/Second Street intersection to deteriorate from LOS D to LOS E. This would be a potentially significant impact. Implementation of the recommended — mitigation the addition of left-turn lanes to the eastbound and westbound approaches to the — intersection could improve the intersection function to LOS D and reduce the impact to less-than-significantlevels. However, implementationofthismitigationmeasureiswithinthejurisdiction ofthe Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT), which also has responsibility to maintain an adequate supply ofon-street parking. The decision as to whether or notto implementthe mitigation measure in the future would require a balancing by DPT of parking demand/supply and traffic flow consideration. Given the uncertainlyoverwhetherthe mitigation measurewouldbeimplemented, theproposed project could have a significant effect upon traffic level of service at the intersection of Brannan and Second Street. Thedegradationofperformanceattheunsignalized BrannanStreet/DelanceyStreetintersection from LOS C to LOS D would be a less-than-significant impact and would not require mitigation. The LOS at the other study intersections (Brannan/The Embarcadero, Bryant/Second, Bryant/The 99.173E Brannan Square 3 Summary I. Embarcadero, and Second/King) would remain unchanged. The increases in delayatthese signalized intersections would be less than 1 second and would not be noticeable to most drivers. Under cumulative (Year 2015) traffic conditions, operations at intersection of Brannan Street/Second Street would deteriorate to LOS F. The levels of service at the Bryant/Embarcadero and Second/King intersectionswould decline from LOS C to LOS E and D, respectively, byYear2015. The unsignalized Brannan Street/Delancey Street intersection would also deteriorate from LOS C to LOS D. The project contributionofvehiclestotheseintersectionswouldbecomparativelysmallandwouldnotbeconsidered a significant project impact. The approximately194 net new PM peak-hour MUNI transit trips generated by the project would not increasecapacityutilizationofthefourMUNIscreenlinessurroundingdowntownbymorethan 1 percent, and all screenlines would operate below 87-percent capacity. Therefore, the project would not cause a significant impact on MUNI operations. Similarly, the project's regional transit ridership ofabout 28 PM peak-hour riders would not increase capacity utilization on any of the regional transit carriers providing servicetothe East Bay, South Bay, and North Bay; therefore, effects on regionaltransitwould not be significant. Future cumulative (2015) increases in ridership would exceed capacity on three of the MUNI screenlines, aswell as on EastBay-bound BARTtrainsandACTransitbuses. Allthreetransit agencies would need to increase capacity to accommodate the growth in ridership. However, the proposed project's contribution to cumulative increases in transit demand would be small (less than 1 percent) andthe conditions in 2015wouldoccurwith orwithoutthe project. The projectwouldtherefore not have a significant impact on transit services and capacity. The project would create a combined short- and long-term demand for parking of about 495 spaces. Mostofthis demandwould be satisfied bythe up to436 on-site parking spaces thatwould be provided bythe project. The excess demand of 55 to 95 spaces would not be considered a significant effect of the project. The proposed off-streettwo loading docks and three van-size loading spaces would meet both loading demand and the Planning Code requirement. Neither pedestrian nor bicycle conditions would be substantially affected by the project. In summary, with the adoption of a mitigation measure to add left-turn lanes at the intersection of Brannan/Second Street, the projectwould notresultin a significantimpacton traffic, transit, circulation, or parking. 99.173E BrannanSquare 4