The days are numbered for the 95-year-old industrial building at 363 Sixth St., as the Planning Commission has approved plans to construct a mixed-use apartment complex on the site.
Given that the 85-foot-tall building would cast a shadow on the nearby Gene Friend Recreation Center, the Planning and Rec and Parks commissions were first required to hold a special joint hearing to determine whether raising the park's shadow limit by .02 percent to allow the development to proceed would have an adverse affect on the center and its green space. While the two commissions voted 10 to 1 in favor of raising the shadow limit, the matter wasn't taken lightly.
The first major concern for the commissions was the number of developments that could also add shadows to Gene Friend and Victoria Manalo Draves Park in the near future. While presenting the prepared shadow analysis for 363 6th St., Planning Department staff noted that development plans are being drafted for at least four sites surrounding the two recreation spaces. Based on early-stage plans, three of those projects could add new shadows to at least one of the parks.
Another key issue: the idea of trading sunlight for other community benefits. While community members and commissioners widely applauded the project's developer, Realtex, for providing a laundry list of long-term benefits—including $185,000 in contributions to a variety of neighborhood recreation and youth programs, to be disbursed over the next five years—Rec and Parks Commissioner Eric McDonnell for urged his peers to strictly focus on the issue of the shadows.
“It feels like a slippery slope when we begin to add to the consideration how good the company is,” he said.
Other commissioners requested that the departments formalize a set of mitigations developers must provide in return for a shadow cap increase.
Both commissions were also careful to weigh the new building(s)' potential impacts on the possible upcoming redesign of Gene Friend Rec Center. Given that the redesign is still in its earliest phases, Rec and Parks staff asserted that they had the flexibility to design a new space that maximizes the available sunlight. Staff also noted that the project was still unfunded and not yet approved, but the department is also actively seeking available properties in District 6 that could be converted to parks.
After the commissions raised Gene Friend Recreation Center's shadow limit, the Planning Commission voted 4-2 to approve the project as a whole. Standing behind the Sunlight Ordinance, Commissioner Cindy Wu voted against both the shadow limit increase and the project. Commissioner Dennis Richards also voted against the project, voicing concerns about the building’s “pinched” units, measuring 8 feet 6 inches from floor to ceiling, and “design that’s good, but not superior.”
According to Realtex's website, the project is set to be completed in 2017.
