SAN FRANCISCO ARTS COMMISSION
MEETING OF THE CIVIC DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE

Monday, June 21, 2021
2:00 p.m.
Remote Meeting via video and teleconferencing

Minutes
 

Commissioner Stryker called the meeting to order at 2:03 p.m.
 

1. Roll Call
   (:22)

Commissioners Present
Kimberlee Stryker, Chair
Yakuh Askew
Yiying Lu
Abby Schnair
Paul Woolford

Staff Present
Joanne Lee, Deputy Director of Programs
Alyssa Ventre, Commission Secretary
 

2. General Public Comment
   (6:08)

There was no public comment.
 

3. Muni Metro East Expansion Project – Phase 2
   (7:15)

Erica Ruiz, Project Manager, SF Public Works
Anthony Esterbrooks, Landscape Architect, SF Public Works
Tess Kavanagh, Project Manager, SFMTA

The project team presented the location of the site to be in the Central Waterfront neighborhood of San Francisco near Pier 80 and Islais Creek and at the corner of Cesar Chavez and Maryland St. The site is a 4-acre lot currently being used as storage for MTA. The team reminded the commissioners that this is a temporary project, which will be used primarily for bus charging. The site has three buildings--a bus wash, fare collection area, and an employee facility. The project team focused on responding to previous commissioner feedback that included reconsidering the awning design, ensuring that busses would have enough space to move comfortably throughout the site, and to revisit public art at the site. The team met with Public Art staff and determined that art enrichment funds would be pooled for a site that had more public interface. The team also informed commissioners that they did turning studies to examine how buses enter the lot and how they would move around the site. They reassured commissioners that there would not be any issues with bus movement on the site. Regarding the awning design, the team adjusted the design from a pitched awning to a horizontal awning that they feel works better with the industrial nature of the site. They described the material for all three buildings as being aluminum siding and explained that they will be using SFMTA’s brand colors—openings will be red and walls and roof will be grey. They stated that they will extend the current fencing along the new edge of site to remain consistent. They discussed the bioswale plantings to consist of native and drought tolerant plants and the Maryland St trees to be the Arbutus Marina which does well with tough soil conditions

Commissioners thanked the team for a clear presentation and a thoughtfully considered project. Commissioners commented on the length of the operations building and asked how the team is thinking about wayfinding for such a large building. Commissioners also recommended that the team look at SF Center for the Book’s stencil design on the exterior of their bulding for possible ideas for the three site buildings.

There was no public comment.

Commissioner Schnair, seconded by Commissioner Woolford moved to approve Phase 2 of the Muni Metro Expansion Project as presented.

The motion unanimously carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Stryker, Askew, Lu, Schnair, Woolford
 

4. YBI Westside Bridges Retrofit Project – Phase 1
   (31:04)

Eric Cordoba, Project Manager, SFCTA
Liz Hirschhorn, TIDA
Kevin Conger, Landscape Architect, CMG Architects
Muzae Sesay, Commissioned Artist

The project team introduced the project as being located in the middle of the Bay on Yerba Buena Island. They presented the project as a seismic retrofit of Yerba Buena Road, which includes the removal of seven of the eight existing bridges, constructing retaining walls in their place, and retrofitting the eighth bridge. The team explained that six retaining walls will be constructed—one will be a shotcrete wall and the others will be cast in place concrete walls. They informed the commissioners that there is a future project plan for a multiuse pathway that will run along the lower wall, which informs the context of this project. The artist stated that their goal is to create a functional design that visually pushes the wall structures back into the island, to seamlessly integrate the infrastructure with subtle art and design sensibility. They stated that the shotcrete wall will be carved to look like 3D rock formations layered with colored stains that reflect the landscape. They described the other walls as being a mixture of cast in place line work and stains subtly alluding to the boats in the bay and the sunset seen from the island.

Commissioners commended the team on a wonderful concept sensitive to the different viewpoints from where the project will be seen. Commissioners asked for clarification on the design of the shotcrete wall. They also asked about the timing of multiuse pathway, and asked the team to consider whether or not the pathway will obstruct the view of the walls and the design. They also asked about the maintenance plan for the project and whether or not the color will be impacted by years of direct weather. They expressed that while they enjoyed the project narrative; it was difficult to follow and suggested presenting precedent images and material samples at next phase of review.

Public Art Director Susan Pontious explained that because these are federal transportation funds, “artwork” cannot be funded using these funds. With this in mind, the project is being considered as a design intervention to help infrastructure recede into the landscape while also providing visual interest to those close by.

There was no public comment.

Commissioner Schnair, seconded by Commissioner Askew moved to approve Phase 1 of the YBI Westside Bridges Retrofit Project as presented with the understanding that the artist will consider the feedback given by the committee in future development of this project.

The motion unanimously carried by the following vote:
Ayes: Stryker, Askew, Lu, Schnair, Woolford
 

5. Visual Arts Committee Update
   (1:22:11)

Commissioner Schnair introduced special guest Public Art Director Susan Pontious to present the Public Art Annual Report for FY21.

Commissioners thanked Director Pontious for her presentation and for all of her incredible work with the SFAC over her 30-year tenure.

There was no public comment.
 

6. Staff Report
   (1:36:15)

Deputy Director Joanne Lee reported on approving two Administrative Reviews. The first was the Maxine Hall Health Center Project which came in for a Post Phase 3 review. The design of building shifted to continue the ribbon window pattern across the entire east façade. The second project was brought for review by the PUC, who owns the land in the town of Moccasin, CA where the state runs a fish hatchery. The state architect is leading the design and construction of mechanical improvements on the fish hatchery and is installing a pre-engineered metal canopy.

Additionally, Deputy Director Lee reminded commissioners that she is working on strengthening the language in the CDR guidelines around Post Phase 3 reviews and in particular ensuring that project managers come back to CDR with any value engineering updates and changes. She stated that she is also clarifying the process for Art Enrichment funds to ensure project managers are coordinating with Public Art staff earlier in the CDR process. She also mentioned that she is implementing an online portal for the request for review form, which will make it easier for teams to update their information for each phase of review.

Commissioners thanked Deputy Director Lee for her thoughtful work on updating the CDR Guidelines.

There was no public comment.
 

7. New Business and Announcements
   (1:42:10)
   
   There was no new business or announcements.
   
   There was no public comment.
    
8. Adjournment
   (1:42:37)

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:54 p.m.
 

Posted 7/4/2021 at 3:33 p.m. mw
 

Archives Available
A recording of this meeting will be available online after the meeting at the following address: https://sfgov.org/arts/civic-design-review-committee-audio-archive

Language Access
Translated written materials and interpretation services are available to you at no cost. For assistance, please notify Maysoun Wazwaz, maysoun.wazwaz@sfgov.org.

我們將為閣下提供免費的書面翻譯資料和口譯服務。如需協助 Maysoun Wazwaz, maysoun.wazwaz@sfgov.org.

Materiales traducidos y servicios de interpretación están disponibles para usted de manera gratuita. Para asistencia, notifique a Maysoun Wazwaz, maysoun.wazwaz@sfgov.org.