India Basin Working Group (IBWG) Meeting
Official Meeting Minutes – FINAL
September 29, 2017, 6pm – 8pm, The Shipyard Storehouse
BUILD Attendees: Michael Yarne, Lou Vasquez, Grant Barbour, Courtney Pash, Victoria Lehman
IBWG Attendees: Sue Ellen Smith, Jill Fox, Michael Hamman. Richard Laufman, Sean Karlin
1. Where does the IB project fit into Build priorities and into Yarne’s priorities?
- IB is Build’s largest & most ambitious project—we have the most to gain if it succeeds (and the most to lose if it fails). We love the project and the neighborhood.
- IB has the full attention of all BUILD partners and staff, not just Michael, Courtney and Victoria.
- Now that Courtney is back from maternity leave, she will resume her role as the primary IB point of contact, as Senior Project Manager: Courtney’s email is courtney@bldsf.com and phone is 415-551-7626.o LouandGrant,twoBUILDpartners,willalsorampuptheirinvolvement— they plan on attending most of the community meetings moving forward. This will allow for a graceful hand-off of responsibility when Yarne phases out after entitlements. Grant’s phone # is (415) 551-7614.
- Michael remains a full share owner in India Basin LLC, the development entity of the India Basin project, and will continue to oversee the IB team through final entitlements (anticipated in 2nd quarter of 2018, but this depends on the quantity and quality of comments on the DEIR during the comment period).o Post-entitlements,MichaelwillnolongeroverseetheprojectteamandLou will take over his oversight role.
2. How does Yarne’s status impact the schedule or other factors of the IB project?
• Yarne’s new status does not affect the schedule or any other factors in the project. We continue to work hard to obtain entitlements and build the project.
3. How is “affordable” defined as it pertains to this project? •
•
•
•
The San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing & Community Development
(MOHCD) uses federal income standards, published annually, to determine the
maximum allowable rent levels and/or sales prices for all “affordable” units in San
Francisco. MOHCD approved maximum rents (or sales prices) assume that a
household should pay no more than 30% of its total income on rent and/or a
mortgage.
BUILD will be required to provide a range of affordable rental and for-sale units.
Likely income levels are:
“Missing Middle” 80% to 120% Area Median Income (AMI), currently
$92,250 to $138,350/year for a 4-person household (HH).
Traditional Low-Income (50% AMI)
•
currently $57,650/year for 4-person HH. Note: At 50% AMI, not below 50%.
We are working on a partnership with MOHCD to provide the majority of our
affordable units offsite within a mile radius of the India Basin site. Some portion of
the affordable units will also be developed on-site.
•
For the on-site units, we are considering partnering with Habitat for Humanity to
develop for-sale affordable family housing. These units would need to be located in
a single multi-family building.
- How many and what is the planned size of the affordable units, bearing in mind our long- time request for fewer, larger units?•
- What are all the income strata and residential unit size now planned throughout the India Basin project, by phase?• •
- How do community amenities (for example: infrastructure improvements, commercial space, and parks) fit into these phases?•
• •
- Why are the affordable units being placed only on Innes Avenue?• •
- What is the height, bulk, architecture of the affordable units?• •
•
- What is the street front plan for the affordable units (for example: garage doors, setbacks, street-front retail, lobbies)?•
Overall, the unit mix for the affordable units should match the unit mix of the
market rate portions of the project. We hope the on-site affordable units will be
family-sized: 2- and 3-bedroom units.
The phases are not fixed, but flexible. We haven’t come to a final determination on
the phasing at India Basin. We are negotiating “front-loading” the affordable
housing units off-site.
The residential market will ultimately determine the income strata on-site.
The DA will allow flexible phasing of the build out of the project and mandate that
each individual Development Phase Application provide its pro rata share of
ground floor retail, parks, infrastructure, transportation improvements and
affordable housing, based on the number of total number of units and/or
commercial floor area proposed in each phase.
We aren’t sure of the exact timing and size of each phase. This will be dependent
on the real estate market and investor interest.
We hope to memorialize a process for special IBWG “preview” of each draft
Development Phase Application before we submit to the Planning Department for
formal approval.
We are still in talks with MOHCD about the best way to approach this site. It’s too
early to say where the on-site affordable units will be.
We are studying a 75-unit affordable building on site that partially fronts Innes.
We like this site due to its proximity to the future transit plaza and the fact
that it’s integrated into the overall village plan.
o
There are no design plans for any of affordable buildings yet—they’re simply
conceptual massing studies for one on-site and one off-site building.
Anything built on-site will be subject to the DA’s strict Design Standards &
Guidelines (DSG) document and must receive separate approval by the Planning
Department.
We are studying the feasibility of developing approximately 300 units of mixed-use,
mixed income (upper, middle and low-income) housing off-site, within a 1.5-miles
from India Basin.
All buildings on-site, including any affordable buildings, will be subject to the DA’s
strict Design Standards & Guidelines document and would need a separate
approval by the Planning Department after the DA is approved. Therefore, the
affordable buildings won’t be any different, architecturally, then the market rate
buildings.
10.Will the affordable units be rental or purchased?
•
11. Will there be any restrictions on owners living in the units?
•
12. What is the impact of affordable units on the Master HOA / CFD / Mello Roos payments we have been told will be paying for park and open space creation and maintenance?
• •
•
All off-site affordable units will be rental, but we are exploring a partnership with
Habitat for Humanity to develop all on-site affordable units as family-sized home
ownership units.
All renters and/or purchasers will be subject to conventional credit checks, etc.
For renters and/or purchasers of affordable units, each household will have to
submit proof of income to MOHCD to pre-qualify to apply for any affordable unit.
We then will run additional background checks, etc., for any renters.
We have proposed the creation of Mello-Roos Community Facilities District (CFD).
CFDs impose a special tax onto the City’s regular semi-annual property tax roll
and are collected by the Assessor, but the funds are set aside solely for the
purposes of maintenance and operations of public areas within the District.
We are assuming that all buildings pay their fair share of CFD taxes based on floor
area, so the affordable units wouldn’t necessarily “impact” the CFD.
Because the total affordable rent and/or sale price is capped by MOHCD
there can be no “pass through” of special taxes.
13.
What is the overall status of the CFD planning?
• •
o
We are actively negotiating a comprehensive public benefits package with the
Mayor’s Office, of which the CFD is one very important (and expensive) public
benefit component.
The more affordable housing that the City demands, the less money is available for
the CFD to fund park maintenance and operations. The Supervisor has shown
interest in the CFD, as has RPD. We need your support to ensure that our
affordable housing costs don’t crush the CFD.
14.
to our community in December 2016?
What mitigation are you making for changing the phasing from the phasing promised
In December 2016, we spoke generally about phasing, and explained the concept
of “flexible phasing” that will be written into the DA.
Specific phasing was never promised and we are still refining our phasing plans.
Ultimately, we will build what the market demands—and all of the potential early
phases include mandatory ground floor retail.
The DA will require proportional community benefits and amenities like parks and
infrastructure.
We are aligned with IBNA in our desire to provide retail as soon as feasible.
•
• •
• •
15.
sidewalk, weeds)?
• •
When are you cleaning up the property you own (for example: billboard, unpassable
Reach out to Courtney with any property issues.
All the billboards are expired. We could terminate them, we could put up our own
signs on the billboards, or we could donate the billboard sign to a non-profit for a
6-month period, or whatever makes sense. Tearing them down may also be an
option.
16. When are you providing the long-promised interim activation (like Hayes Valley or the Yard in Mission Bay), especially activating the corner of Arelious Walker and Innes Avenue?
• •
We continue to pursue plans for interim activation, but due to our bandwidth we
will start after entitlements approval.
We won a grant from an art foundation to design and build a “pop-up” pavilion at
the end of Arelious Walker. It is currently on hold until we get through the EIR
and approvals.
Would you consider purchasing / leasing the existing commercial storefronts along
18. Will you publicly support long-promised interim park activation to connect India Basin Shoreline Park and India Basin Open Space through 900 Innes land?
•
19. Given the large changes in Build Inc personnel, affordability plans, and building phasing, when can we expect another India Basin community-wide presentation?
• •
20. Can Build Inc provide, in writing, their new plans and promises discussed at this Working Group meeting?
• We will make it a habit to send out meeting minutes following our meetings.
Other Comments
• BUILD distributed the attached packet.
o TheDesignStandardsandGuidelines(DSG)areintendedtoachieveadesired
architectural quality and land use for the site.
o Theactualphasingremainsuncertain—thefinalsizeandnumberofphaseswill
be driven by market demand and financing opportunities. We want to build out the project as efficiently as we can, but we are subject to economic cycles like all businesses.
o StillworkingthroughouraffordablehousingplanwithMOHCD&OEWD.These negotiations will likely last until the end of December or even early January.
o OurDraftEIRcommentperiodendsonOctober30,andthereisanOctober19th Draft EIR public hearing. Our Planning Commission date will be delayed if we receive a large number of comments during the 45-day period—accordingly, we
17.
Innes Avenue (some are illegally occupied residential) for interim activation?
We continue to explore this option. We were unable to pursue the former café on
Innes due to the extreme code violations.
Grant has started to reach out to the landlords of the vacant commercial spaces
but we prefer to act as a facilitator and any input from IBNA on potential operators
for these spaces would be helpful.
• •
If you’re referring to completing the bike path through 900 Innes, the massive EPA
brownfield clean-up effort will prevent this from being built early on, but we will
talk with RPD to see if we can find a temporary solution that limits site exposure,
but allows for pedestrians to cross through the site.
We plan to present to the larger IBNA group on November 4th.
However, we don’t believe that there have been many “large changes” since the last
time we presented.
ask that IBNA consolidate comments into a single letter. This hearing is intended as an alternate means to submit comments beyond written comments, which are due on October 30.
• BUILD will present at the November 4th IBNA meeting.