Streetsblog tipsters have been sending numerous emails about a public meeting tonight at UCSF's Mt. Zion campus auditorium, concerned that a proposed 6-story building with 7 levels of parking that will add 230 new parking spaces.
According to UCSF spokesperson Barbara Bagot Lopez, the meeting is the first step in the public outreach process to build the public garage on a vacant lot at 2420 Sutter Street.
"The UCSF Mecial Center has an interest in getting parking for their patients," said Bagot-Lopez. "This is not a staff garage, this is a public garage."
"Anyone who lives or works nearby can tell you how hard it is to find
parking," she added. "All the merchants we've talked
to are very supportive of having more public parking in the
neighborhood."
At the meeting, UCSF planning staff will present details about the facility, including possible architectural models. UCSF expected to build six stories of parking above ground, two below ground.
While Bagot-Lopez acknowledged that UCSF, as a state entity, is not bound by local planning code restrictions from the Planning Commission, she said they would still go through standard environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.
"We are conducting a public process, even though we are not required,"
she added. "We have been working really hard on being good neighbors"
She also said the institution was very proactive encouraging staff and students to take the bus to their facility. "We have a robust program for alternative modes of transportation," she said. "We encourage our staff and faculty to avoid using a single-occupancy
vehicle. Our transportation department is very serious about that."
The meeting tonight is at the UCSF Medical Center at Mt. Zion, Herbst Hall & Auditorium, 1600 Divisadero Street, starting at 7 pm.
