Last month, city officials met with the Lower Haight community to gather ideas for the neighborhood's Public Realm Plan, a project that aims to increase livability with transit improvements and neighborhood beautification. Now, they've released an update on what neighbors said they want most for the project area, which includes Haight, Page and Waller streets between Divisadero and Market, as well as Duboce Park, Koshland Park and Laguna Mini-Park.
During the meeting, the Planning Department laid out 34 specific ways the Lower Haight could improve its streets, parks, sidewalks and alleyways. We've outlined a few of the biggest community suggestions below, in order of popularity. Keep in mind that these are only suggestions, and may or may not appear in the final plan:
- Better lighting in streets, sidewalks and parks
- Sidewalk landscaping: rain gardens and other greenery along sidewalks
- Green connections: landscaping and storm water management that make streets and sidewalks more pleasant and easier to navigate
- More trees along sidewalks
- Pedestrian safety
- Cyclist safety
- Active commercial building fronts: Storefronts designed in a way that gives passersby a sense of whats going on inside. This could mean a community room or a public arts facility with big windows and a welcoming exterior.
The project could also include the Safeway site on Church and Duboce, which is slated for long-term development in the Market-Octavia Plan. At a future meeting, the community will have an opportunity to decide if they'd like this area included in the plan.
The Planning Department, Public Works and the SFMTA will hold a second public meeting on the Public Realm Plan in late Winter 2016. If all goes according to plan, the project will kick off next Fall.
Lower Haight residents and merchants can share their ideas on the project's Neighborland page. The Planning Department will use this online forum and input from public meetings to devise a first draft of the Public Realm Plan; we'll keep you updated on further community meetings and other developments.