A rendering of Baker Beach Green Street improvements on El Camino del Mar
between the Lands End trailhead and the Legion of Honor
On Thursday, October 17, the SFPUC is hosting a public meeting about their upcoming Baker Beach Green Street project, designed to manage stormwater and improve water quality at Baker Beach.
The project is focused on enhancements in two corridors: El Camino Del Mar between the Legion of Honor and the Lands End Trailhead, and on Sea Cliff Avenue between 25th and 26th Avenues.
From the project website:
During heavy rains, stormwater can overwhelm the City’s combined sewer system and contribute to neighborhood flooding and discharges into the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean. Rain gardens, permeable paving, and other green infrastructure technologies are stormwater management technologies that take advantage of the natural processes of soils and plants to slow down and divert stormwater runoff so it does not overwhelm the sewer system. Green infrastructure also cleans stormwater onsite before it enters our sewer system.
The Baker Beach Green Street is one of eight green infrastructure projects the SFPUC is planning to build throughout the City in the next few years. These projects are part of the Sewer System Improvement Program (SSIP), a multi-billion dollar citywide investment to upgrade our aging sewer infrastructure now and for generations to come.
The project’s goals are to improve water quality at Baker Beach and China Beach and reduce localized flooding by integrating rain gardens into existing parkland and neighborhood, and introducing permeable concrete to reduce stormwater runoff.
The October 17 Community Open House will be the first community gathering about the project, which is in planning mode until next summer. Designs will be finalized from Summer 2014 to Spring 2015, with construction kicking off in summer 2015 and lasting until Summer 2016.
The meeting will take place from 6:30pm until 8pm at Katherine Delmar Burke School, 7070 California near 32nd Avenue.
Thanks to reader Amy for the tip.
Sarah B.
I cannot believe HOW MUCH the Presidio has been sanitized lately. DOwn to removing any leaf debris from the forest floor. I have been walking through there a couple of times a week for over 20 years now, and the place is a shadow of it’s former self. It’s becoming like a “disney forest”. I know I am not alone when I say I am mortified at the clear-cutting of the cypress along the North-East side. Seems like everything is done to optimize views of of the GG bridge. Is the Presidio Trust only interested in doing things for tourists?
Perhaps they are trying to minimize fuel for fire in the forest? Many of the trees are quite old, possibly at the end of their expected life span? I’m not sure where the clear cutting took place? The biggest problem I’ve noticed is the removal of the vegetation around and below the new outlook east of and above Baker Beach along Lincoln, which is now under repair.
Here is the scene today, for comparison.
I’ve always felt that that road is far too wide for its purpose–probably a legacy of when it ran all the way to Point Lobos. So it makes a lot of sense to reduce it, even just from a maintenance cost perspective. Why pour a bunch of extra asphalt when you don’t need it?
What I’d really like to see, though, is some improvements to the area around the fountain at the Legion of Honor, which seems like it could be really spectacular with a bit of work. It would be a great place for something like a formal garden, complementing the building and making great use of the views.
@alai: great idea about the garden. And nothing would make me happier than if they demolished that ugly, completely incongruous-to-the-setting orange sculpture that looks like something salvaged from a construction site. I remember when they installed it. Everyone within earshot was something between puzzled and disgusted.
@ Roz, Amen! The entire city is being sanitized for the pleasure of soulless, homogenized resident-tourists. This is a NATIONAL PARK!!! It should be over-grown and resemble…wait for it…NATURE!
Someone needs to stand up to the DPW/Planning dept. who are green-lighting these vanity projects.
Leave it to people like @Haz Been and @Roz to turn a bit of good news about street greening into some nasty ad-hominem rant against the ‘newcomers’ in our city–pathetic.
Yes, please, more of this! It’s inexcusable how much stormwater runs off in this city. Our streets are way, way, way too wide and all that does is encourage drivers to speed and fail to pay attention to other users.
@roz – I’m a resident in the Presidio. Three years ago a tree fell and missed our home by just 10 feet and demolished our car. The reason the Presidio is doing overdue tree maintenance is that the U.S. Army was remiss is doing it in the years it occupied the area. Almost all the trees in the Presidio were planted at the same time about 150 years ago by the military. Many varieties are not native to California and many are at the end of their lifespan and are very dangerous during storms.